Cherry trees slammed by virus in Oregon, Washington this year. Is the harvest ruined?
If you stop at a fruit stand in Washington or Oregon this year, you might notice fewer cherries than normal, and the ones you do find may not be as sweet.
Why?
A virus that has commonly plagued cherry harvests in California and Canada is wreaking havoc on the Northwest’s cherry trees, forcing growers to chop down infected trees, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
“Little cherry disease” hasn’t reared its ugly head in Washington since the 1950s, when acres of trees were cleared out in orchards around the state, according to Washington State University. The virus makes cherries smaller and more bitter because it reduces the sugar content of the fruit, WSU says.
Since the disease can spread like wildfire from tree to tree in an orchard, trees that become infected with the disease have to be chopped down, according to the Associated Press. Symptoms vary between the types of cherry trees; Lambert and Bing, which are highly susceptible to the virus, look smaller with lighter colors, while Van and Sam might reach normal size, but the flavor is still affected, WSU says.
“They’re small and pale, but they’re either bland or bitter,” Tianna DuPoint of WSU Extension in Wenatchee, Washington, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “So they won’t hurt you if you eat them, but they’re not marketable.”
Officials in Oregon and Washington say that the disease has already substantially depleted this year’s harvest, according to the AP. Forty million pounds of cherries have been axed from orchards, Oregon Public Broadcasting said.
The end of May is usually when growers harvest the cherries, according to AP. This year’s crop is down about 20% compared to a record-setting harvest in 2017, AP reported.
Little cherry disease is spread by insects such as leafhoppers and mealybugs, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Washington, Oregon and California produce 90% of the country’s cherries, the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center said.
Cherry exports to China will be down this year because of the trade wars and the coronavirus pandemic, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. But growers still expect to ship at least 2 million boxes of cherries to South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, Oregon Public Broadcasting said.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Cherry trees slammed by virus in Oregon, Washington this year. Is the harvest ruined?."