Strong Cherry Crop for 2016

Bob Lautenbach of Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery & Market in Fish Creek said the county dodged a bullet on July 12 when major rainstorms that hit the rest of the state didn’t make it here.

“We don’t want rain right now,” he said. “Sweet cherries crack after a heavy rain so it was nice we didn’t get any. We’re actually picking our sweet cherries right now.”

Thanks to a mild winter and plenty of rain during the growing season, Lautenbach said the cherry crop is about a week early. He expects his tart cherry crop will be ready next weekend.

“It looks like a real nice crop,” he said. “The cherries are a nice size with all the rain we’ve been getting. They’ll be really nice and ripe next weekend. We’re looking for a great harvest and a great season. I think people will be happy with the fruit.”

But he wasn’t sure about Southern Door, which received at least 3½ inches of rain on July 11.

“No problems with the rain,” said Gary Alexander of Alexander’s Cherry Orchard in Brussels. “It helps the cherries for size, and I have a lot of young trees that like the rain.”

Alexander said the tart cherry picking began on July 8.

“We’ve got a pretty good crop this year and we’re going full swing now,” he said.

Alexander added that he hopes to have cherries through the weekend, “but that depends on customers.”

Terry Sorenson of Soren’s Valhalla Orchards on County J south of Sturgeon Bay said this is “one of the biggest crops we’ve seen in years,” which he attributes to a milder winter and good weather during the bloom.

However, he said there is a difference between quantity and quality. He fears that with the six inches of rain the area has received since July 1, there could be some quality issues at the processing plant. He’ll begin tree-shaking operations to harvest tart cherries on Monday.

Sorenson has 75 acres of tart cherries and one acre of sweet cherries. Sweet cherries in particular do not do well with rain near harvest time. Excess water through rain causes sweet cherries to crack.

Because he serves on the national Cherry Marketing Institute Board and the USDA Cherry Administrative Board, Sorenson keeps his finger on the pulse of the entire industry. He said northwest Michigan’s cherry crop was recently hit hard with hail.

He advises the pick-your-own crowd, “We’re going to have lots of pails.”