The impacts of an early July heat wave on Northwest fruit remain unclear, but Oregon blackberries experienced yield losses.

Tree fruit seems to have emerged relatively unscathed and temperatures above 100 degrees aided grape development in Washington, experts said.

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Many growers, especially east of the Cascades, are ready to protect their fruit with overhead cooling and fogging systems, as well as shade netting, said Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington Tree Fruit Association.

Berries

Julie Pond, executive director of the Northwest Berry Foundation, said Oregon blackberry growers may have experienced fruit losses ranging from 15% to 30%.

“There’s a lot still to be determined,” she added.

Darcy Kochis, administrator and marketing director for the Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission, said damage is still being assessed and is variety and region specific.

Pond said blackberries such as Columbia Star, with larger canopies, fared better, while Marionberry and Black Diamond, with fruit more exposed to the sun, were hammered.

Initial blackberry picks this season were so heavy keeping up with processing proved difficult and that may offset damage, Pond said.

Oregon raspberries, a much smaller business concern, saw losses the last few picks, Pond said.

Temperatures were slightly cooler in Washington’s raspberry country, where fruit had sunburn that would hamper quality but not yield, said Henry Bierlink, Washington Red Raspberry Commission executive director.

Strawberry season was wrapping up and blueberries weren’t especially impacted, though growers hustled to harvest before the heat, Pond said. Blueberry growers also have more overhead cooling than other berry segments.

Pond added there’s a bright side to the warm weather, as it caused a crash in the population of spotted wing drosophila, an invasive fly.

Wine grapes

Washington wine grape development lagged this season, said Colleen Frei, executive director of the Washington Winegrowers Association.

“A bit of this increased heat allowed our vineyards to catch up,” Frei added.

Growers felt the heat was relatively normal, she said.

Katie von Bargen, communications director for the Oregon Wine Board, said there weren’t significant concerns about the heat wave negatively impacting the quality or yield from Oregon vineyards.

“It is early enough in the growing season and development of the wine grapes to handle a heat wave of this nature,” she added, in an email.

Tree fruit

Apple growers are used to heat so a few days of scorching weather wasn’t concerning, said Jennie Strong, spokeswoman for the Washington Apple Commission.

“With newer high-density orchards and newer varieties being put into the ground growers are also using means to protect the fruit such as overhead irrigation and shade cloth,” Strong added, in an email.

Another mitigation strategy for apples is sunburn spray coatings, according to Washington State University Extension. Growers sometimes use a combination of tactics.

The pear industry also wasn’t worried. “If you recall the heat dome that occurred in late June of 2021, pears fared well through that event, which was hotter and longer in duration,” said Jim Morris, spokesman for Pear Bureau Northwest.

Cherry harvest is underway, but DeVaney said he hadn’t heard of instances of fruit drying up, which occurred during 2021.

“With temperatures dropping down, I think that’s encouraging,” he added.