As the cherry season enters the last few weeks of harvest in Australia, growers may soon have a little free time to do some valuable reading about cherries. Although the recently released book, Sweet Cherries is based on cherry growing in the USA, two of the authors, Lynn Long and…

John Baker of Produce Marketing has kindly made available the 2020 season review by NorthWest Cherries.Much information about season timing, production volumes (including data from California) and consumer preferences are shown.Timing of the pandemic in relation to the cherry season in our two countries is different because the northern hemisphere…

It is well documented that Bartlett pears in California set fruit via vegetative parthenocarpy —that is without pollination or fertilisation. University of California researchers described this phenomenon in 1954.

Australian cherry growers remain concerned about the availability and willingness of harvest labour—not just for their crop, but for all crops that need fruit pickers. Cherries in particular have a short shelf life and harvesting cannot be delayed more than a day at the most during the warm to hot…

Benefits of chemical thinning: To achieve good thinning and fruit quality, all chemical thinners need to be applied at the appropriate physiological stage and under the climatic conditions best suited to each chemical. Choice of thinning chemical is important, as some cultivars do not respond well to some chemicals.

In the early 20th century, researchers in California, Germany, South Africa and Australia reported that Williams’ fruit had no seeds. The full name of the variety, Williams’ Bon Chretien, is also referred to as WBC or Bartlett. The term parthenocarpy was introduced, and is defined as the development of fruit…

Understanding the mechanisms involved in flowering and fruit set can help orchardists to manage crop loads, resulting in improved yields, fruit quality and returns.

There has been a great effort by Cherry Growers Australia in recent weeks to focus growers to adequately prune for improved quality, to fine-tune nutrition for improved quality, and to assist with the management and timing of application of growth regulators for increased firmness and quality.However, there might be some…

Apple and cherry growers have greater control over bud break, flowering and time of maturity when they apply Waiken. Depending on when it is applied, it can be used to bring forward, or to delay bud-break.

Crop load has been managed over the last 25–30 years by pruning and chemical thinning, followed up with hand-thinning.

Cherry fruit buds that formed during last summer are showing great promise across most of the cherry growing regions of Australia.

Apple and cherry growers have greater control over bud break, flowering and time of maturity when they apply Waiken.