Cherry harvest gets underway almost two weeks early

Flathead cherry season is in full swing, almost two weeks earlier than normal.

“It’s the earliest I’ve ever experienced,” Jerry Bowman of Bowman Orchards said. Bowman has be growing cherries in the Flathead for almost 50 years.

He said their typical start date for picking on their orchard south of Bigfork is July 20. This year they started on July 6.

Most growers along the lake began picking last Monday, and have now been at it for a week said Ken Edgington, a member of the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers Association board of directors.

An unseasonably warm June is the likely cause for the early harvest, Edgington said.

Despite an early start, and an early November freeze that damaged numerous cherry trees, Edgington said the crop is looking good.

“The fruit looks nice this year,” Edgington said, “The crop size is down a little because of the freeze we had early last November. But sometimes that works to our favor because you don’t want a tree to have too much fruit on it because that makes big fruit.”

The frost in November damaged buds that would become cherries, causing trees to produce less fruit. That, in turn, allows the tree to put more energy into the buds it does have and produce bigger, sweeter cherries, Edgington said.

“The cherries that are going to market are big and they’re nice,” Edgington said. 

Normally the Flathead Valley produces between 2.5 to 3 million pounds of cherries, Edgington said. But this year the number will likely be lower. 

The lessened amount is due not only to the November freeze, Edgington said, but also because many orchards are in the process of starting new varieties of cherries.

A lot of growers have been taking out old trees and cycling in new ones, which can take between five and seven years to produce a lot of fruit.

“That affects volume too,” Edgington said.

However, Edgington said the small harvest isn’t likely to be noticed in the local market. 

“The local people and the tourists coming through probably won’t see any of that,” he said. But he remarked, a lot can still happen to change the outcome. “Always keep your fingers crossed until it’s over.”

Growers have already had rain to contend with since picking began. Rain can cause cherries to split, and ruin them for selling.

While things are still going well despite Mother Nature’s obstacles, Edgington does advise that anyone who normally visits the Flathead in late July or early August to buy cherries to come earlier.

“I have a feeling by the end of July, a lot of the cherries will probably have been picked,” he said.