"Cherries Under Plastic" Bring Premium Prices

Cherries Under Plastic Bring Premium Prices CROPS New Techniques Growing cherry trees under plastic lets Molly Brumbley charge a premium for her crop Her Haygrove high tunnels protect both the fruit and the customers who come to her family’s pick-your-own fruit farm “We get a lot more rain than in most commercial cherry growing regions ” says Brumbley “We have a small acreage so we wanted high density production If you get a week of rain when the fruit is ripe you’ll lose the crop “You can basically design it yourself with leg height and width options ” she says “Mine is 900 ft long with three 28-ft wide bays It’s just shy of two acres That’s unusually long for a solid stretch of poly but there happened to be a spot on the farm that was available and a good site for trees ” Fitting into the rest of the farm was important and a main reason Brumbley went with cherries in the first place Her parents Phil and Ruth Ann Johnson have operated Walnut Springs Farm for the past 35 years They still manage the strawberry plantings a sister manages raspberries and a cousin manages the blueberry portion of the business “Sweet cherries fill a niche for us in the picking year after strawberries finish and before raspberries start ” explains Brumbley “Cherries are always in demand because of their health benefits People like the fact that they can pick good quality cherries and their kids can run around while it’s pouring down rain ” Brumbley and her family planted 1 000 trees digging holes and staking each tree She only lost 10 thanks in part to the tunnel’s protection “I think we got better root growth They are well established and big enough to withstand disease ” says Brumbley Over the past 7 years she has thinned the covered orchard to about 860 trees She also prunes them vigorously keeping them short and open Thinning and pruning gives the trees more light and better airflow for reduced disease and better spray penetration when needed “We had a year with high temperatures and humidity and the trees trapped the humidity ” recalls Brumbley “We had lots of brown rot problems After that year we took the tops off the trees ” The tunnels offer plenty of room for a tractor and sprayer to go through the bays between rows of dwarf cherry trees Brumbley credits the Haygroves for reducing the need to spray yet making it easy to do so “We aren’t organic but we do limited spraying ” says Brumbley “Keeping direct moisture off the trees helps We worked with consultants to pick the most dwarfing rootstock and varieties known for winter hardiness bacterial canker resistance and survivability ” The Haygrove high tunnels were also designed for survivability Steel hoops connect to ground anchored 5-ft tall posts that form sidewalls for each bay Each 900-ft long bay is covered with a single sheet of plastic that leaves a space open near the gutter between bays Netting over the open space and the ends keeps freeloading birds out Brumbley designed the Haygrove to handle high winds adding additional wires to the system that holds down the plastic “We’ve incorporated some high tensile fencing into our design ” she says “I went to the extreme when it comes to strength ” Even so the long sheet of plastic is rolled back up and over the hoops of each bay before hurricane season starts in the late summer The manual process involves hiring locals to help with long poles with U-shaped ends The job takes several hours a day for several days in a row The long rolls of plastic are stored in the gutters between bays and under dark plastic covers to protect them from the sun “Haygrove tunnels were developed by farmers and have proven to be very well built ” she says “My setup has exceeded my expectations ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Walnut Springs Farm 3910 Blue Ball Rd Elkton Md 21921 ph 410 398-3451; molly@strawberryfarm com; www strawberryfarm com

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