Mother Nature challenges cherry growers

Jul. 16—TRAVERSE CITY — Most farmers will tell you there's no such thing as a "normal" growing season.

But local cherry growers said it's been an exceptionally challenging 2024 for Northern Michigan's signature fruit. A combination of warm, wet, windy and humid weather this spring and early summer ramped up disease and insect pressure on this year's sweet and tart cherry crops, as area growers race against the clock to close out this year's cherry harvest over the next two to three weeks.

"It's been an endurance race, and we're going to take it as far as we can," Peninsula Township cherry grower Isaiah Wunsch said. "We're going to run out of quality before we run out of cherries."

Local agriculture officials said Mother Nature helped created a roller-coaster growing season for regional cherry growers this year, starting with the mild 2023-24 winter season which didn't sufficiently kill off disease and pest pressures in the orchards. Despite the mild winter, the cool spring helped the cherry crop avoid any significant frost damage. But warm, wet and humid conditions set in early this summer which fostered the onset of disease and insect challenges to the cherries, including brown rot and spotted wing drosophila (SWD), an invasive pest first detected in Michigan in 2010 that can damage mid- to late-summer fruit crops.

"This has been one of the hardest seasons we've had in several years, for sure," said Nikki Rothwell, coordinator of the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station located in Leelanau County's Bingham Township. "If you weren't on your game this year, it's been a challenge... the farmers are tired."

Nationally, the tart cherry harvest is projected to total around 222 million pounds, according to the Michigan Ag Day website. Some 182 million pounds of that total will be produced by Michigan growers, an increase of nearly 38 percent from last year's crop. So while the yield of this year's harvest looks strong, maintaining the quality of the fruit against disease, insect and weather conditions has been the top priority for growers this year.

Rothwell said almost 14 inches of rainfall has been recorded at Research Station so far this year — the 30-year average for Traverse City is just over 12 inches. But she noted that rainfall totals have varied widely over the region — some farms have received significantly higher rain amounts created by the convection-generated storms spawned by hot and humid conditions. The Research Station recorded inch-plus rainfalls on May 27 and June 22, and more than eight-tenths of an inch on June 25.

"It's a lot," she said.

Humidity has also been a problem. Rothwell said there have only been five days since the start of the harvest in July where relative humidity levels less than 60 percent were recorded at the station. Recent weeks have consistently seen relative humidity levels in the 70 to 80 percent range, according to Michigan State University's weather data page at enviroweather.msu.edu , including a reading of more than 97 percent during June 22's 1.52 inch rainfall.

"We've had (excessive) high humidity," she said.

The periodic rains limit the effectiveness of the fungicides and insecticides that growers use to keep their fruit free from diseases and pest damage. Mark Miezio, president of Cherry Bay Orchards based in Suttons Bay, said he has five spray operators who've worked more than 80 hours a week to keep pace with the pest and disease problems. He's applied twice as many applications to his sweet cherry crop this year compared to 2023 — further escalating the costs for producing a healthy cherry crop.

"None of it is cheap," Miezio said. "We're trying to stay on top of it the best we can."

Several windy days as the fruit ripened in late June have also been an issue, growers said. That creates a condition called "wind whip" where cherries are bruised and damaged from banging against each other and the host tree, particularly in exposed areas of an orchard.

Miezio said the tricky growing season has cherry farmers prioritizing their younger orchards where the healthier trees are less impacted by the weather. He's also leaving some fruit on trees that are near wooded areas where SWD infestations are more prevalent.

But even with all the challenges, growers said there's plenty of fruit on the trees, as the warmth and moisture are producing much larger cherries than is typically seen in a heavy crop.

"There are more cherries than a lot of growers estimated," Miezio said. "Usually when you have a whole bunch of cherries, you have smaller cherries. But that's not the case this year."

The warm, wet summer has growers pushing to get the harvest completed before the cherries get too ripe on the trees.

"We're trying to get them off the trees as fast as possible," said Jack King of King Orchards in Antrim County, which grows about 50 acres of sweet cherries and another 70 acres of tarts. "We've had to work really hard at it this year."

King agreed with other growers that the unpredictable weather this year has been a challenge. Some of the heaviest rains weren't predicted in weather forecasts, making it harder for growers to prepare for and react to weather events.

"It seems like we're having a tough time getting an accurate forecast," King said.

Wunsch said he saw similar weather surprises on the Old Mission Peninsula.

"We've had, almost weekly, a weather event that's literally not been on the radar," he said.

Despite the challenging growing season, King said business has been brisk at his family's farm markets on US-31 and M-88 in Antrim County. Visitors are starting to stream in for u-pick cherries this month, and he's particularly excited about a new Balaton cherry variety at the farm that has a darker color, thicker skin and meatier texture than a traditional tart cherry.

"They're big, they're beautiful, and they're absolutely gorgeous," he said.

The weather conditions are expected to improve as the cherry harvest pushes on. Humidity levels are expected to drop significantly this week, along with several days of dry weather in the forecast after today through the weekend. Fickle weather is nothing new to Northern Michigan farmers, who are used to persevering through less-than-ideal growing seasons.

"We can be discouraged if we want to," Miezio said. "But there's still a nice opportunity to work on our crop and try to get our cherries taken care of."