January 22, 2016
CapitalPress.com
5
Sweetheart overtakes Bing as popular cherry variety Apple tree
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
Sweetheart has overtaken
Bing.
That’s what several hun-
dred growers heard at the
Northcentral
Washington
Stone Fruit Day, sponsored
by Washington State Univer-
sity Extension and the Wash-
ington State Fruit Com-
mission, at the Wenatchee
Convention Center on Jan.
19.
Sweetheart, a late vari-
ety red cherry originating
in Summerland, B.C., in
1994, overtook Bing in Pa-
cific Northwest production
in 2015 or perhaps in 2014,
said B.J. Thurlby, president
of the State Fruit Commis-
sion and Northwest Cherry
Growers.
While he didn’t have red
cherries broken down by
variety, the largest shippers
all told him they had more
Sweetheart in 2015 than
Bing, Thurlby said.
“It’s a trend growers need
to understand when they are
looking at what to plant,” he
said.
WSU’s cherry breeding
program began in 1949 and
one of its first releases was
Rainier. The program’s goal
is to breed early varieties
that are crack resistant and
Little Cherry
Disease
spreading in
Wenatchee
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Little Cherry Disease is
now about 1,000 acres in
Wenatchee and spotted wing
drosophila was a bigger prob-
lem in 2015 than the previous
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Little Cherry Disease
has been increasing slowly
throughout Central Washing-
ton since 2009 or before with
Wenatchee as the hot spot, Tim
Smith, WSU Extension tree
fruit specialist emeritus, said
during the Northcentral Wash-
ington Stone Fruit Day at the
Wenatchee Convention Cen-
ter, Jan. 19.
It’s hard to know how ex-
tensive it is because not every-
one reports it, but it’s probably
resulted in about 1,000 acres
of cherry orchard removal in
the past several years in the
Wenatchee area, said Andrea
Bixby-Brosi, a research asso-
ciate at the WSU Tree Fruit
Research and Extension Cen-
ter in Wenatchee.
The incurable pathogen
comes in three strains and re-
sults in small, bitter-tasting
fruit that’s unmarketable. It
moves back and forth between
neighboring orchards despite
removal and replanting, Smith
said. It’s not a good idea to
replant right after removal, he
said.
The disease is spread by ap-
ple and grape mealy bugs and
roots growing into each other.
Bixby-Brosi and WSU en-
tomologist Elizabeth Beers
are involved in a three-year
research project funded by
Washington, Oregon and Cal-
ifornia to better understand
and manage the disease.
Symptoms of small, bit-
ter fruit usually show up two
weeks before harvest but
some infected trees are with-
out symptoms, she said.
“We want to come up with
a way for growers to know if
they have symptomless trees
and how many to remove and
where to look,” she said.
Beers talked about spotted
wing drosophila, saying 2015
was the worst year for the pest
in cherries since it arrived in
Central Washington in 2010.
There were 317 packing
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previous high of 44, she said.
Early warmup of spring tem-
peratures last February and
March probably accelerated
the pest’s launch out of winter
dormancy, she said.
Entrust, Delegate, Exirel
and Warrior are insecticides
that do well in combating
spotted wing, she said. Pesti-
cides vary in length of effec-
tiveness and growers have to
weigh cost versus value of
crop, she said.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Ana Capi picks Rainier cherries at Prey Orchard in Orondo, Wash., last June 18. Demand for cherries
was strong last season. Growing, packing and marketing cherries was discussed at Washington State
University’s Northcentral Stone Fruit Day in Wenatchee on Jan. 19.
late varieties that are mildew
resistant for Washington and
Oregon, said Ines Hanrahan,
postharvest physiologist of
the Washington Tree Fruit
Research Commission. Size,
firmness, color and taste are
key attributes being sought.
PNW cherry crops have
grown to be in the 20 million,
20-pound box range since
2009 with a peak of 23.2
million in 2014 and a final
last season of 19.3 million,
Thurlby said. A 21.3-mil-
lion-box crop is likely this
year if recent trends persist,
he said. Following a 5.3-mil-
lion, 18-pound box Califor-
nia crop in May, the PNW
crop in June hit a record 11.9
million, 20-pound boxes but
demand still exceeded sup-
ply, he said.
Marketers and retailers
scheduled early July adver-
tising in early June based on
the belief that there would
be a lull in supply between
Bing and late varieties in
early July, Thurlby said. But
the hottest June on record
accelerated harvest, caus-
ing a market glut in early
July that tumbled prices,
he said.
“It was a real mess and
disappointing for me and
I’m sure all of you,” he said.
Volume
peaked
at
600,000 boxes shipped on
June 25 compared with a
July 25 peak two years ear-
lier and 18.7 million box-
es were shipped in a com-
pressed 60-day window, he
said. Sweetheart normally
has 80 to 90 days between
bloom and harvest but was
at 56 days, he said.
James Michael, North-
west Cherry Growers do-
mestic promotions director,
said there’s room for larger
crops given health benefits
of cherries.
Americans average 1.5
units of cherries per person
per season and if that rose
1 unit PNW growers would
have to produce 28.4 million
boxes to meet demand, he
said.
orders not
slowing
down
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
EAST
WENATCHEE,
Wash. — Orders for new ap-
ple trees aren’t slowing down
despite record Washington
apple crops in recent years,
the owner of a major nursery
says.
“I think there are probably
more trees growing (in nurs-
eries) than in quite a while.
The six haven’t slowed down
any,” said Pete Van Well,
president of Van Well Nursery
in East Wenatchee.
The six are Van Well and
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produce about 1 million trees
per year or more, said Bill
Howell, managing director of
Northwest Nursery Improve-
ment Institute in Prosser,
Wash.
The six grow fruit trees for
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west and across the nation.
Beside Van Well are: C&O,
Wenatchee; Gold Crown,
Wenatchee; Willow Drive,
Ephrata; Cameron, Eltopia;
and Brandt’s Fruit Trees, Ya-
kima.