CHERRY PRODUCTION TRENDS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

The sweet cherry industry of British Columbia (BC) is relatively small, but planting surveys have shown a rapid increase in cherry acreage. The increased acreage is due to a late season market niche when prices are good. The introduction of late season varieties such as `Lapins’, `Skeena’, `Sweetheart’ and `Staccato’ from the Pacific AgriResearch Centre (Summerland) breeding program has allowed BC growers to harvest cherries into August. The change to late season varieties has brought prosperity to many progressive growers after a period of time when cherry production was declining due to poor prices with early season varieties and problems with fruit quality. The move to late season varieties has some major drawbacks, such as the control of cherry fruit fly over a more extended time period. The move to new late season varieties has been accompanied by higher tree densities utilizing tree training techniques from high density apple orchards. Growers have continued to plant trees on Mazzard rootstock to avoid problems with fruit size often seen on dwarfing cherry rootstocks. However, interest in dwarfing rootstocks and even higher tree densities remains high.