Mike Omeg grows nearly 30 different cherries in Orchard View Farms’ experimental plot near The Dalles, Ore., which functions as an open air laboratory. ”There’s always going to be 200 varieties for every one worth considering,” Omeg said. (Kyle Odegard/Capital Press)

DALLESPORT, Wash. — Washington State University scientist Per McCord, the only public cherry breeder in the U.S., sounded like a proud but judgmental father.

As he stood in an experimental orchard, the Columbia Gorge wind rustling through the trees, he told growers about the advantages and drawbacks of new varieties R3, R19 and R29.

The cultivars could be released soon but don’t have commercial names yet.

McCord said there’s no single perfect variety of sweet cherries — farmers need a portfolio of outstanding fruit to pick every day from June to late July.

Depending on the cherry type, harvest may take just a few days to 10 days.

Early season Chelan and mid-season Bing are the Pacific Northwest’s top cherries, but farmers want better fruit and a longer season.

Cherry varieties have proliferated in recent decades, but those haven’t outshined the mainstays, so McCord and adventurous growers are trying to deliver new and improved fruit.

The ideal cherry

Experts said new cherries need characteristics shoppers prefer, including deep red color, consistently large size and great taste, whether that’s sweet or balanced.

“The consumer wants a firmer textured cherry. They want some crunch,” McCord said.

Firm cherries also work better for packing, and growers are looking for strong cropload, vigor, disease resistance and self-pollination from new trees.

Strong stem retention also is critical, which flummoxes some farmers because it has nothing to do with the fruit.

“People’s vision of a cherry is a cherry with a beautiful green stem,” said Mike Omeg, director of operations for Orchard View Farms, headquartered in The Dalles, Ore.

Ed Ing, director of product for Mount Adams Fruit, which operates a cherry packing facility in Dallesport, Wash., said the search for new varieties has been constant during his 40 years in the industry.

Unlike apples and some other fruits, sweet cherries are marketed as a whole. The category, not individual varieties, is the star.

Bing replacement needed

Farmers hope to replace Bing, which is the most produced cherry in the U.S. but lacks the size or yield growers need and cracks easily in rain.

Replacing Bing would bring a massive change. The variety, developed in the late 1880s in Oregon, has ruled the fresh market segment for decades.

The heart-shaped dark red cherry has been so dominant the timing of other varieties’ harvests is described in comparison. Chelan, for example, is Bing minus 10-12 days.

Harvest timing critical

The harvest timing for new varieties is key, as farmers want to stretch out their cherry crop.

That allows orchard owners to hire fewer seasonal workers and retain crews.

Lengthening harvest also stabilizes prices by spreading out the arrival of fruit in the market.

Currently, some cherries are harvested in August, but they are challenging to grow and don’t store well.

“The most room to improve is on the late side,” McCord said. “We could routinely get more into August at some locations in the Pacific Northwest.”

Shift already underway

Movement to a longer season and new varieties has long been underway, said Tim Dahle, a cherry grower whose business is The Farmer in The Dalles.

Dahle said he started as a field hand in 1979 about 90% of cherries were Bings or Royal Anns, the latter of which were processed and often made into Maraschino cherries.

Royal Anns aren’t grown much in the area anymore.

A shift toward the more valuable fresh market changed orchards and today processed cherries largely come from the sort out at packing houses.

With Bing cherries, farmers would need huge crews for just two weeks of harvest.

Chelans gained momentum in the 1980s after being released by Washington State University. They’re now so important early season varieties might be compared to their harvest window.

Chelans are not as big as Bings, but they’re not a bad cherry, and they allow a farmer to have a smaller crew,” Dahle said.

Chelans can get into market earlier, bringing economic advantage to growers, said Ashley Thompson, Oregon State University Extension Service tree fruit horticulturalist.

With Chelan, Bing and other varieties, farmers harvest cherries for a month to six weeks and then can switch to other crops such as pears.

Ing said there now are at least 20 varieties common in the Pacific Northwest, including eight grown in large quantities.

“Everybody’s goal is to have a longer harvest, to have more diversity, so if one cherry doesn’t turn out well, you have others that do,” Ing added.

Lengthy timeline, still a gamble

McCord said it takes about 20 years to bring a variety to market — seedlings take three to five years to develop any cherries whatsoever.

Even with the lengthy timeline, farmers view new varieties as a gamble that can bring unpleasant surprises.

Mike Jones, a farmer for Cascade Fruit, said he planted a block of Ebony Pearl with a magnificent fruit set, but the trees dropped most of their cherries.

He and his wife are both nearing their 70s, and they don’t want to rip out and replant orchards.

“We don’t have that much time,” Jones said.

Black Pearl, with a harvest between Chelan and Bing, is firm and large and seems to have become popular, said Dan Erickson, who is semi-retired but owned and operated Knob Hill Orchards in The Dalles, Ore., and Dallesport, Wash.

“There’s a lot of possibilities, but I’m a grower that likes to see somebody else try them out first,” Erickson added.

For many farmers, that’s either Dahle, who grows 20 varieties of cherries, or Omeg, who oversees the largest cherry operation in Oregon.

Both partner with WSU and OSU on studies of “open” varieties of cherries.

Orchard View’s cherry lab

Omeg is a fifth-generation cherry grower who manages 3,600 acres near The Dalles.

In 2018, he merged his family farm with a local packing house to scale up and protect both businesses.

At Orchard View, Omeg tests both public and proprietary “club” varieties — if there are royalties, he prefers simple payments that occur when trees are purchased.

Omeg grows nearly 30 different cherries in Orchard View’s experimental plot, which functions as an open air laboratory.

He can work with varieties for several seasons before deciding to pursue them commercially.

“When we plant an orchard, it’s a 20- to 30-year decision. You can’t go back on that,” Omeg said.

Orchard View grows trees commonly used in California, such as Royal Hazel and Royal Sonia, and those behave differently in Oregon than in warmer climes to the south.

New contenders

Dahle said open varieties Lapins and Sweetheart would be the most prominent newcomers in the past 40 years.

Sweetheart cherries are sweet like their name and arrive three weeks later than Bing.

Lapins are more productive and produce bigger cherries than Bing, arriving slightly afterward, but they don’t ship as well, Dahle said.

Transporting cherries is critical because about 30% of the Northwest crop is exported.

“How are we going to get this fruit across the ocean for three or four weeks on a ship and how is it going to look when we get there?” Thompson asked.

Omeg said open varieties Black Pearl and Burgundy Pearl have been around since the 1990s, but farmers became interested in them about 10 years ago when seeking a cherry to fit exactly between Chelan and Bing, Omeg said.

Of the varieties that McCord outlined during an OSU cherry preharvest tour in late May, Omeg thought R29 held the most promise, in part because of its slightly later harvest than Bing.

R29 is a self-fertile cherry with large fruit size, strong vigor and heavy cropload.

“After a few more years of data, I’d be very comfortable planting that,” Omeg said.

Still, he’s always cautious. Despite Chelan and Bing’s flaws, few cherries can match their value.

“There’s always going to be 200 varieties for every one worth considering,” Omeg said.