Varietal Considerations Due to the current economic reality surrounding Royal Ann production many Wasco County growers are considering the removal of part or all of their Royal Ann production. With this decision, however, come many other decisions including variety and rootstock selection for the replanted block.
In the past, variety choice would have been easy, with Bing being the only acceptable alternative to Royal Ann. Many, in fact, are considering Bing, because of grower familiarity and confidence towards the variety. However, Bing may not be the best choice as a replacement for a Royal Ann block.
Most Wasco County Bing cherries harvest within a one-week time period and overlap the harvest in Yakima and lower Wenatchee. This timing creates a large volume of cherries reaching the market simultaneously, thus providing reduced returns for many Wasco County growers.
In addition, labor management becomes more difficult when the harvest period is compressed. Not only is there an increased need for labor but without the early harvest that Royal Ann provided, growers may have difficulty attracting enough pickers to harvest their crop. In order to attract pickers, growers may want to consider an early ripening variety or leave enough Royal Ann trees to attract the needed labor.
A third consideration is the susceptibility of Bing to rain cracking. Relying solely on a lone variety means that a single rain event can destroy the entire crop. Many of the new varieties either display some resistance to rain cracking or ripen when rain is less likely to occur.
So what are these new varieties and how can growers be assured that they will succeed when there is limited experience in growing and marketing these cherries? In response to the second question, it is obvious that there is no guarantee. However, each variety listed has been tested or evaluated to some extent. Some are currently in commercial production in this or other parts of the world and each has attributes that make it an attractive option.
One of the most important attributes is that none of the listed cherries ripen with Bing, a distinct market advantage since this generally means that with proper site selection these varieties will miss the mid-season glut. The other major attributes of these cherries are size and in many cases rain crack resistance. These attributes alone, however, will not ensure the market success of any cherry. Only time and experience will determine which survive. Personally, I believe there is room in the market for at least one variety per harvest window. This means that Wasco County producers could supply the market with varieties that ripen from June to August.
In selecting varieties, harvest gaps should be carefully avoided since pickers may leave if laid off for short periods while waiting for varieties to ripen. The following varieties are listed in order of ripening and are currently available, albeit some on a limited basis.