Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/31248
Cherries Michigan growers want to market fresh cherries Are newer growing systems the key to bigger, better fruit? by Richard Lehnert F ruit growers in the northeastern quadrant of the country are witnessing the ongoing clamor for sweet cherries, from consumers wanting them bigger, darker, sweeter, for longer—and, if possi- ble, locally grown. These growers want to play a bigger part in supplying them. Michigan growers produce a fifth of the nation’s sweet cherries, about 35,000 tons a year, but mostly for process- ing. In that market, they earn 20 to 50 cents a pound, and they can sell cherries that are smaller and less likely to crack. Not surprisingly, they’re interested in the fresh market, where growers often receive more than twice that amount, and the retail market brings prices above $2.50 a pound. About 70 Michigan growers spent the day March 30 in sweet cherry orchards, not planting or pruning but study- ing what they need to do to make such a transition. Dr. Greg Lang, the Michigan State University cherry researcher who came to Michigan from the dry Pacific Northwest a decade ago, has focused his attention on finding ways to help Great Lakes area and eastern grow- ers get their fruit into this higher value market. But even he was surprised by the turnout. “I’ve never seen so much interest in sweet cherries,” he told them on their visit to the Clarksville Horticultural Experiment Station. At Clarksville, Lang has a planting that is part of an NC- 140 project in which different cherry growing systems are being studied. The researchers are located across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and are looking at what works best for their growers locally and working to perfect systems along the way (see main story “Cherry growers explore new systems”). But during lunch, local growers Mike Dietrich, from Conklin on Fruit Ridge, and Gary Bardenhagen, Traverse City, took the microphone to talk about what sweet cherry growers need to do to make Michigan sweet cher- Mike Dietrich ries develop into a mature fresh-market industry. Now, growers with good locations are selling directly to consumers from roadside stands and markets, and some distribute to grocery stores locally. Capitalize Dietrich, whose family business Leo Dietrich and Sons grows 60 acres of cherries, runs a small packing opera- tion, and also works with Don Armock’s Riverridge Produce, which wants to bring more sweet cherries into distribution centers for large chain stores. Those stores are now dominated by cherries from California and the Northwest that arrive in an organized manner and in volume. Michigan growers should be able to capitalize now, especially with rising fuel costs. They will have to pay 25 to 50 cents a pound to get cherries picked by hand for fresh market, but the incentive is definitely there, Dietrich said. The Dietrichs began adding sweet cherries to their apple operation in 2002, trying to choose among the many new varieties and planting on Gisela rootstocks with trees five to seven feet apart in rows 15 or 16 feet apart. It’s working pretty well, Mike said. They keep adding sweet cherry acres and learning on the go. He spoke about what they’ve learned at their farm. To capitalize on closeness to market, Michigan grow- ers need to pack a high quality cherry—which should taste sweeter and better than those picked greener and shipped further. Dietrich is convinced Michigan sweet cherries taste better, and that western growers pick cherries a little too early to get the best flavor. Dietrich thinks the West Coast growers produce firmer cherries, so Michigan growers need to handle theirs bet- ter to keep firmness. Pick them quickly, early in the day, and get them hydrocooled and refrigerated. Preserve the firmness. Be careful in harvesting. Keeping the stems on may or may not be necessary, but for a variety like Regina, the flesh tends to tear if the stem is pulled off. In the Dietrich orchards, a field manager oversees pickers to make sure they’re not letting quality suffer by “hogging” off the cherries, picking fruit in clusters and ripping off spurs and leaves. Large cherries Shoot for large cherries, 10½ row or larger, he said. Growers can get away with 11½-row cherries, but 12-row now looks too small to modern consumers. You have to prune to get those large cherries, some varieties harder than others. The Dietrichs prune in spring and again in August. Varieties that have looked good at Dietrich’s include Attika and Regina, and he believes the new varieties from Cornell University—the Pearl Series—might fit. Sam is 30 MAY 15, 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com RichaRd LehneRt