Cherry Outlook for 2017 Pt 2

Cherry Outlook for 2017 Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Our record setting Winter has delayed the budding, blooming, and harvest of growers across the state.

Northwest Cherry Growers' president BJ Thurlby says yes, we've had record-setting cold weather, but it's not all bad news ...

BJ THURLBY ... "But the trees got huge rest, so that's a big positive because they'll put out better fruit when your trees have the right amount of chilling hours. You know now, we're hoping, the big key is, what we don't want to see what our friends from Michigan just saw, which was, a warm week and then the buds all started to open up and then it gets cold again. So, that's kind what we've got our fingers crossed, but right now a normal crop for us, we export 30 percent, but a normal crop now is 20-million boxes of cherries and we think we've got all that right now if not a little bit more, so things look good"

Thurlby says the likely extension of the growing and harvest season could be a good thing ...

BJ THURLBY ... "One of the trends we saw from really 2009 through 2012 and 13, was huge volumes of cherries, because we were late like this those years and we had cool Springs, so we ended up with three-four-million boxes in August where the last three years we haven't shipped hardly a single box in August. So, this year that's going to be a change, I think, with us a little bit later. I do think we're going to see fruit well into the middle of August if not the third week of August this year."

Thurlby says harvest usually begins in early June, but he now hopes things get started early enough to be in full swing by the 4th of July, a big holiday for Cherry growers.

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