CHERRY PICKING AT THOMPSON'S FARM

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correctly picked cherries to the left incorrect pictured below
When you pick cherries correctly , there are only 1 or 2 cherries with the
stem. When you are picking leaves or the wooden spur , you are damaging the tree.
of course do take care not be break the limbs, there should be plenty of fruit to reach from the ground as we do not allow ladders
come early when it is hot , its always nice early in the day in the orchard

do not pick cherries with the spur and leaves, the wooden spur is where cherries will grow next year

above is a photo of INCORRECTLY PICKED CHERRIES, we stress this at our farm because you are not professional cherry pickers and of course you do not know that picking off the spur, (the wooden thing that holds the cherries together) will damage the tree. Cherries will not grow there next year. You pick just the cherry and the stem. Not the spur and leaves. Many farms will not allow upick in cherries for this reason. We think you just need to know. We grow several varieties of cherries. The sweet varieties are Bing, Rainier, Lapin and Sweetheart. The sour cherries are Thomcinn and Montmorency. Cherry season usually begins in late June and continues into early July. Depending on the weather we can harvest between 1 to 4weeks. During that time we will "hopefully have at least two upick weekends. This depends on crop size and weather conditions. I have an email list that sends a notification of crop availability and I also announce on this site , The weather plays a significant role with growing tree fruits. We need to get through the winter without damaging cold. We need to get through the spring frost while the fruit is blooming and is really small. At that time we use wind machines to bring warmer air from above and that can raise the temperature a few degrees , and that can make all the difference. Then we need good pollination weather, not too much wind or cold so the bees are happy.. Once the crop is on the trees we need warm weather to grow large cherries. Also if the crop is very heavy we might have to thin cherries off of the trees, but this is expensive and will be only moderately successful. For cherries especially we fear rain. A small amount of rainfall will not damage the crop, but too much rain can devastate the fruit. Too much water on a cherry and it will split and be ruined. Heat can shorten our harvest season by ripening the fruit too fast. Our valley can be dry and hot and while that makes for excellent and sweet fruit it can also be a problem. With all the problems we still manage a crop nearly every year, some bigger and some smaller but tree ripened cherries can be worth all the trouble.

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