Okanagan Valley | Cherry production is an art and a science but in the end it’s all about the weather
KELOWNA, B.C. — Growing fruit is an art and a science for Kelowna orchardist Nick Kiran.
He contemplates the weather, the bugs and the heat as he inspects big clusters of delectable cherries hanging invitingly from his trees, hoping everything comes together before harvest in mid-July.
“You have to be on top of things because you are dealing with nature,” he said.
“It is fun and very creative to grow fruit. It is very chemistry oriented now — where you spray this or that — and if you don’t, it is game over.… It is the best product in the world because of the knowledge and the chemistry behind it, so the fruit is grown properly.”
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Cherries have become big business in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. A cornucopia of the luscious red fruit is now available from the end of June until the beginning of September, thanks to years of grafting, breeding and selecting the most promising varieties.
Orchardists grew 6.1 million pounds of cherries last year worth $7.6 million, according to the B.C. agriculture ministry.
Diversification into numerous varieties of cherries and apples has revived the province’s fruit growing regions after years of hardship, in which markets were poor and Mother Nature always seemed to work against producers.
There once were only two cherry varieties, but now about dozen types ripen throughout the season, said Hank Markgraf, an apple grower and field manager for the B.C. Tree Fruits Co-operative, which has 580 members.
“In the last eight or 10 years, a lot more cherry production has gone in and apple production has come out,” he said.
“Guys who never grew cherries before are now growing cherries.”
Fruit production must bend to the whims of nature.
For example, all fruit production may be less than anticipated this year because of a cooler than normal bloom period.
Cherry growers want moist weather in May and June and dry conditions at harvest. If harvest weather is wet, growers may use giant fans or specially equipped helicopters to dry fruit at the critical times.
At the end of June, Kiran was closely watching the 2,000 cherry trees he planted 12 years ago.
“A week from now you won’t recognize these cherries. With the heat, they just go kaboom because the sugar builds up and they expand,” he said.
He hires 60 people who start picking at 5 a.m. and end around noon to beat the heat and protect the fruit. Finding pickers has not been a serious problem in recent years. Many are students from Quebec or temporary foreign workers from Mexico and Jamaica.
Social media has changed the labour movement because farmers and workers can text each other to find out when crops are ready so that pickers arrive when they’re needed.
Kiran has lived in the area for more than 40 years and primarily grew apples until adding the 10 acres of cherries. Replanting new apple varieties and adding cherries cost him close to $2 million.
He relies on metered irrigation water, so conservation is necessary. His allocation from the South East Okanagan Irrigation District is two and a half acre feet.
Insects are a constant threat. The cherry fruit fly can be controlled, but a new invader from Japan, the spotted wing drosophila, is damaging crops. Every load sent to the packing house is checked for this pest.
Cherries are a delicate crop, and Kiran has to spray at the right time to protect against fungi and insects. Dropping the spray program could be costly.
“For that $100 you save, you lose $100,000. That is a business decision,” he said.
He follows a four times a year fertilizer program that includes adding micronutrients such as zinc, copper and sulfate, which makes buds stronger and hardy enough to survive winter.
Traditional cherries were 2 1/2 centimetres in diameter but new varieties are larger and crunchier. Quality is everything and makes a difference in producer payments.
“In the old days, nobody thought about what quality was. They thought about quantity. Bring it in and ship it out,” Karin said.
Work is year round because all the trees need to be pruned in winter. Open wounds where branches were trimmed may lead to disease if trees are cut when the weather is too warm.
“If you make a wrong cut, the tree is over,” said Karin.
Next year’s fruit buds are already forming so pruners cut away extra branch growth to expose them to light.
“The trick with pruning is to have a healthy balance of two-, three- or four-year-old wood for cherries and to make sure we grow enough one-year-old wood that will become two-year-old wood for cherries next year,” said Markgraf.
If this care is not taken, the result could be damaged fruit with splits or other flaws that have no value.
Karin lost 60,000 pounds of cherries last year because of weather problems, poor markets and no pickers.
Growers carry crop insurance and hope.
“Hope is the only thing growers have. Hope for the best, hope for next year,” Karin said.
