Many of you at home are probably getting your buckets ready, looking forward to coming up to Door County and pick some cherries, however you'll still need to wait. Cherry farmers have been nervous since January when we had temperatures of 20 below zero, afraid that the cold would damage the cherry trees. Some of the sweet cherries did receive some damage but the tarts came out fine. In the spring and early summer, Mother Nature wasn't too nice either. Consistent two to three days periods of rainfall was promoting disease growth which required farmers to take action in order to prevent any further damage. Terry Sorrenson, cherry farm own of Soren’s Valhalla Orchards tells us to keep the risk of infection down several things are done, including keeping tree space, pruning, controlling your height, and using preventative measures such as fungicides and some organic compounds. To assist farmers with their cherry crop, weather weather data is put into computer models to project any possible issues. The weather station records, temperature, dew point, the amount of rainfall, and the duration. This data is then computed into a complex of weather models that base everything in terms of disease and insect pressure. Lately the weather has been cooperating better with farmers, warmer and dry days is whats needed. The trees bloomed at the end of may, about 10 days later than normal. That is carrying over to the harvest times as well. Right now its expected to be around the 26th of July when harvesting will start. Its just a matter of making sure mother nature cooperates for at least the next 7 to 10 days Mid 80s, no humidity, some rain in the morning another one or two times would be perfect from now and harvest times. So while you’ll have to wait until later this month, we are still expecting a good crop yield this year.
Many of you at home are probably getting your buckets ready, looking forward to coming up to Door County and pick some cherries, however you'll still need to wait. Cherry farmers have been nervous since January when we had temperatures of 20 below zero, afraid that the cold would damage the cherry trees. Some of the sweet cherries did receive some damage but the tarts came out fine. In the spring and early summer, Mother Nature wasn't too nice either. Consistent two to three days periods of rainfall was promoting disease growth which required farmers to take action in order to prevent any further damage. Terry Sorrenson, cherry farm own of Soren’s Valhalla Orchards tells us to keep the risk of infection down several things are done, including keeping tree space, pruning, controlling your height, and using preventative measures such as fungicides and some organic compounds. To assist farmers with their cherry crop, weather weather data is put into computer models to project any possible issues. The weather station records, temperature, dew point, the amount of rainfall, and the duration. This data is then computed into a complex of weather models that base everything in terms of disease and insect pressure. Lately the weather has been cooperating better with farmers, warmer and dry days is whats needed. The trees bloomed at the end of may, about 10 days later than normal. That is carrying over to the harvest times as well. Right now its expected to be around the 26th of July when harvesting will start. Its just a matter of making sure mother nature cooperates for at least the next 7 to 10 days Mid 80s, no humidity, some rain in the morning another one or two times would be perfect from now and harvest times. So while you’ll have to wait until later this month, we are still expecting a good crop yield this year.
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