04/26/05 Field report - Yakima Valley region

04/26/05 Field report - Yakima Valley region

Fieldmen across the fruit growing region have noted how the extreme changes of weather the last two months have caused changes in the usual schedules for chemical application, as well as bloom. What once was as much as almost a two week gap this year between average year schedules for bloom and chemical applications has been significantly narrowed due to the recent cooler weather. REDMAN: The crop is probably more like last year now. We were really ahead, but now we're back to four days or so ahead of normal I should say. And Gip Redman, Field Services Manager for Holtzinger Fruit Company in Yakima says right now is a critical time for this year's cherry crop. It is not just watching out for mildew due to the cool weather, cherries are coming out of the husks. And the next month should give a preliminary indication of what this year's cherry crop should look like. REDMAN: Because of protracted bloom, we have different sizes and quite probably the different sizes are going to fall off later in May. If too much of that falls off, in some cases the crops going to be a little light so we're still assessing exactly how big the cherry crop is. Redman also agrees with fieldmen in other fruit growing regions that the changes of weather has benefited in getting base chemical applications on. And that should aid in holding back what is expected to be a very heavy pest population this year.
Previous Report04/25/05 CAFTA-D.R. and the apple industry
Next Report04/27/05 U.S. apples back in Japan?