Late cherry harvest could be good news

While this year's cherry harvest is running almost three weeks later than normal, it's shaping up to be a decent year for growers around Flathead Lake.

According to Dale Nelson, president of the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers, this year's cherry harvest will be the latest in at least 15 years, but that could be good news for the cooperative.

"Late is good for us," Nelson said. "In the cherry business, you either want to be the first guy to have fruit or the last guy."

The late harvest in Montana will still come after the Washington harvest, which is also running late. Flathead growers say that's ideal because their fruit will be the last to hit the market in North America.

Nelson attributed the delay here to an unseasonably long, cold spring. None of the Flathead Lake orchards were expected to begin picking fruit before July 30, he said, with the majority beginning around Aug. 7 or Aug. 8. In most years, the Montana cherry harvest is usually wrapped up by Aug. 10.

"We have some people who won't even begin picking until Aug. 12 through the 15," he said.

Cherries grown in or near Polson are usually the first to ripen, followed by orchards in Finley Point, Blue Bay, Yellow Bay and Woods Bay. Orchards on the west shore follow the same south-to-north progression, Nelson said.

Heidi Johnson, who owns The Orchard at Flathead Lake in Yellow Bay, said her harvest likely wouldn't begin until the end of the first week of August.

"We usually have one orchard that we begin picking right around now," she said.

While growers had anticipated a heavy crop at the beginning of the year, Nelson predicted the Flathead Lake harvest will come in under 2 million pounds, compared to an average of 2.5 million pounds. Last year, local orchards produced 2.7 million pounds.

This year's lighter crop is largely blamed on the "June drop," when cherry blossoms that didn't get pollinated fell off the trees. Johnson said her Lambert cherries were noticeably affected by the drop, but other tree varieties were, for the most part, well pollinated.

"We had been concerned about how cold it was during blossom time, but we ended up having a nice stretch of warm weather there, so the bees did get the job done," she said. "I think the harvest will be kind of average."

Despite the reduced volume, the large size of the cherries could men most orchards will still generate a fair profit. Bigger fruit is worth more per pound, Nelson said.

"Usually when the crop is a little lighter, the cherries are bigger, so it kind of evens out," he said. "We should have some nice, big, crunchy cherries this year."

For the first time, the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers has arranged to have their cherries available in all Montana grocery stores this year. Charlie's Produce will deliver cherries to stores all around Montana and in neighboring states along Montana's borders. Fresh cherries could be in stores throughout the state by Aug. 4, Nelson said.