—story by Kate Prengaman
—photo by TJ Mullinax
At the 82nd annual Cherry Institute, held in Yakima, Washington, on Jan. 10, the cherry industry celebrated with the crowning of the 2025 Cherry King. Mike Taylor of Stemilt Growers, the 2024 Cherry King, presented the crown to plant pathologist Gary Grove, who spent 38 years at Washington State University working to help cherry growers manage powdery mildew.
“You might not know this year’s Cherry King, but his work is (felt) on your bottom line,” Taylor said. “Mildew is a curse, and when it’s bad, it’s a killer. It’s tough on the receiver, it’s tough on the grower and it’s hard on the packing room — and so the work you have done is tremendous.”
Grove, a native of Ohio, followed his plant pathology degree west to a postdoctoral research position at the University of California, Davis, and embarked on cherry powdery mildew research when he joined WSU in 1986. He retired at the end of 2024, but Grove came to the Cherry Institute to give a few final talks on the lessons learned during his career, before heading to the Caribbean to follow his passion for scuba diving.
Before his crowning, Grove told growers that the key to managing powdery mildew is strong year-over-year management through carefully planned spray programs that manage for the development of resistance and are applied with good coverage.
“The best way to minimize the overwintering inoculum going into the growing season of 2025 is to have effectively managed it in 2024,” Grove said. “It’s an ongoing process linked through years.”
Grove also thanked the industry for the recognition and the collaboration over the years.
“It means the world to me,” he said. “I don’t think I ever had anyone say no to me when I asked for a place to do cooperative research.”
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