Early Bloomers

The spring bloom is a beautiful time in the valley with thousands of trees covered in pink and white petals and aromatic breezes joining the drafts blowing off Flathead Lake. Though it’s still early for the flower petals to be filling yards all over, signs are everywhere that it isn’t far off. 

“Trees are just now coming into bloom. Just opening up,” Ken Edgington said.

Last week began the early bloom for many of the trees in the Flathead valley. 

According to Edgington, a cherry grower and orchard owner in the Yellow Bay area, the early bloom is a critical time for the cherry trees. The warm weather allows the trees to start opening up and also gives bees a chance to start pollinating. With lower temperatures, the trees come alive slower and the bees don’t come out at all. “What we would not want to happen right now would be a hard freeze,” Edgington said. 

With future temperatures forecasted in the 60s and 70s, a hard freeze is highly unlikely. And with 2015 setting record high temperatures and this year’s unusually warm spring, Edgington said his first cherry blossoms are a week ahead of schedule. As far as what this points to, he doesn’t have a clear answer. “Whether this means we will harvest a week early, we’re unsure.”

Edgington said growers won’t be able to know when harvest time will be until after the trees come into full bloom. And even with forecasts showing warm temperatures and an abundance of sun, Mother Nature can throw in some unexpected twists. 

Until then, the growers are preparing the orchards by cleaning the grounds, pruning the trees, and spraying nutrients such as nitrogen and copper to help the trees move along through the early season.

Though this time of year tends to be slower than the rest of the cherry season, it doesn’t mean the growers aren’t working. 

“Growing fruit,” Edgington said. “It’s a tough business.”