Orchards look promising

By MIKE RICHESON

Bigfork Eagle

After a successful pollination period, orchard owners are now crossing their fingers and praying for a strong harvest.

“We might have a better than average year,” Flathead Lake Cherry Growers’ Association (FLCGA) president Dale Nelson said. “Everything went so good for the pollination. The weather was warm and we had a fast bloom. It looks like ideal conditions.”

The biggest year on record for the growers’ association was about five million pounds of cherries, but the past five years have yielded closer to three million pounds per year.

About 100 cherry growers are in the FLCGA, which equates to 95 percent of the commercial growers circling the lake.

“We’re just a fraction of the [overall] cherry market,” Nelson said. “What’s unique about us is that we are one of the last sites in North America to pick our cherries, and we don’t have as much competition. It’s best to be the first or the last.”

Most of the cherries from orchards around Flathead Lake are sent to Washington for production and then shipped around the world. Buyers of area cherries include major chains such as Costco, Walmart and Krogers.

Two key steps are required at the beginning of the cherry season: pruning and pollination.

Honey bees were brought in from Montana beekeepers and turned loose onto the orchards. If the weather had been too cold, the bees would have refused to work. But orchards last week were buzzing with the sounds of thousands of bees moving from blossom to blossom.

“So far, they look to be pollinated well,” Vern Childress, a liason for the pest management area, said. “The trees are looking healthy, and folks got into their orchards and did some pruning.”

Now, the biggest threats remaining to the crops are freak hail storms, a cold snap or excessive rain during harvest. The rain can cause the cherries to split.

One way the growers’ association combats rain during harvest is to have a helicopter on call 24 hours a day.

If, for example, it rains in Yellow Bay, the helicopter is dispatched and hovers over the orchards to blow the water off of the trees. The helicopter is a small design that will create enough wind to get rid of excess water, but will not damage the trees.

But for now, orchard owners like Welton Crosby are busy watching their trees flower and hoping for the best.

“This will be a good year, judging by the blossoms,” Crosby said.

Crosby’s two-acre orchard is home to 127 trees that grow Royal Ann and Lamberts. Most of his cherries went to Great Falls last year, but he isn’t sure how he’ll sell his cherries this year. Crosby said he may put up a stand or pursue marketing his homemade cherry ice cream topping.