—by Ross Courtney
The Suite Note variety, a driverless tractor and research updates highlighted the annual preharvest cherry tour June 7 near The Dalles, Oregon.
Dave Meyer of High Rolls Ranch told growers and industry reps his Suite Note cherries mature a few days before his Bings. He planted the vigorous variety in 2008 and has recently hedged and pruned heavily to make sure light reaches the centers of the trees. He also has recently topped the trees to keep them shorter, so his workers can use shorter ladders.
They look “like marshmallows on sticks” during the transition, he said with a laugh.
He likes the variety, but he does not plan to plant more because he does not need more midseason volume.
Ashley Thompson, the Oregon State University tree fruit extension horticulturist who organized the tour, told the crowd she has been receiving a lot of calls about Suite Note, released in 2012 by the Summerland breeding program in British Columbia.
Growers also watched a demonstration of a Monarch tractor, an autonomous, electric vehicle towing a mowing deck through a young cherry orchard and honking to alert bystanders as it moved from one row to another. The vehicle was brought by the Wy’East Resource Conservation and Development Council, which demonstrates electric agricultural tools to Oregon farmers.
Research updates on pest and predator population studies, information about Oregon’s new agricultural overtime requirements and samples of two new unnamed varieties from Washington State University’s breeding program rounded out the agenda. •
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