(Len Villano)
Ready, Set, Bloom!
April showers bring May flowers and, hopefully, a big year for cherry blossoms
Spring has been equated with Door County cherry blossoms for decades, and for good reason. The fragrant, tender blossoms fill the local orchards both with scent and a postcard perfect picture — mounds of white lacy blankets draped over trees. It is a welcomed sight that long time cherry grower Dale Seaquist thoroughly enjoys each year.
“You go out in the orchard when the snow white blossoms are out and the trees are like a big snowball — there is nothing more beautiful,” Seaquist said. “The birds are singing. The blossoms are beautiful. It is just a remarkable sight.”
And Dale, at age 78, should know. He was literally born into the cherry business and happily took to it, including adding to the operation his sons and grandsons — the sixth generation of Seaquists. Seaquist Orchards maintains 1,000 acres of cherry trees and a popular roadside market — Seaquist Orchard Farm Market, Highway 42 in Sister Bay.
The Seaquists’ adventure into cherries started with a three-day journey — the length of a trip to Sturgeon Bay nearly 115 years ago when news that A.L. Hatch and Professor E.S. Goff had planted a new type of crop. Dale’s great grandfather and grandfather made the trek and returned with a plan for planting 700 trees at the cost of six cents each.
“Pretty soon they had more fruit than they knew what to do with it,” laughed Dale. A boat was used to haul the fruit away to Marinette and Escanaba. Dale’s father planted his own trees in 1912, and Dale followed suit in 1950.
Although providing most of Wisconsin’s cherry crop, Seaquists have also encouraged a new crop of orchard owners. Jim Seaquist, Dale’s son and general manager of Seaquist Orchards, provided Terry Sorenson, the current president of the Wisconsin Cherry Growers Association, with plenty of encouragement in his new endeavor.
Sorenson, who has planted 70 acres of young cherry trees, did not have a family history of cherries to lean on, although he is a self-proclaimed “plant geek” with an agronomy degree. His interest in cherries peaked when he tended a neighbor’s orchard for two seasons when a medical emergency arose. “If you are going to grow something, you should be growing something you can’t grow somewhere else—and here, in Door County, it is cherries,” Sorenson said. Now Sorenson also looks forward to a spring of billowing white blossoms in his own orchard.
Flowery fanfare
The flowery site that reoccurs each spring in Sorenson’s and the Seaquists’ orchards is not only pretty, it is purposeful as well. The tiny white petals are the showy kick-off of an entire series of events in the fruit’s development. As an added bonus, the blossoms attract insects, waving them in for the critical pollination work.
Spring is when the cherry blossoms fanfare shows, but their life cycles begin the previous August with the last crop and are dependent on the conditions the cherry trees experienced the year before, explained Dick Weidman, superintendent of the Peninsular Agricultural Research Station, which began researching cherries in 1922.
“It is not just a spring event for blossoms. The tree gets set up the year before during the previous crop and is affected by how heavy a crop it had and the conditions in late summer and fall. A tree starts forming flower buds soon after the vegetative, non-fruiting growth in mid or late July. Blossoms (for the following crop year) compete with the current crop,” Weidman said.
Blossoms are also affected by cold winter temperatures — cherry buds have a maximum low temperature survival of minus 15 to 20 degrees — as well as spring frosts and pollination, or lack thereof, in order to develop properly and produce fruit.
“We try to take care of our trees in a manner that they can survive winter,” Seaquist said. “And hopefully that will be the case.”
Sometimes, those hopes are dashed.
In 2008, extreme weather conditions resulted in a near total loss of the cherry crop in Door County. After a normal production year in 2009, orchard owners saw a lack luster year in 2010 that harvested just 5.3 million pounds of cherries — about half a normal crop. Local cherry growers are hoping that 2011 is a year to make up for lost revenue.
“Not only do we expect a large return crop in 2011 — because typically that is what follows a poor crop year — but the market looks fairly strong as well,” said Sorenson.
And Weidman agrees that the elements seemed lined up for a good bloom and a typical crop.
“There was ample moisture and a fairly decent growing season this past year, so I would say, based on that, those cherry buds went into winter in pretty good shape,” said Weidman. “Barring extreme winter weather, we should have a good bloom and crop in 2011.”
“All we can do is hope for the best,” said Seaquist, “and plan for it to go good.”
The scoop on Door County cherries…
Cherry blossoms are typically found mid to late May in Door County, depending on weather conditions and location. Orchards on Lake Michigan or further north on the Peninsula can be as many as 10 to 20 days later than the bloom in Southern Door County. Check the Wisconsin Cherry Growers Association’s website for bloom and harvest updates, to find cherry growing operations to visit, delicious cherry recipes, and the history of cherry growing in Door County at wisconsincherries.org.
Seaquist Orchards tends to cherry trees from Sturgeon Bay to Ellison Bay and on both sides of the Peninsula as well with the majority of their crop being the tart Montmorency cherry. Dale Seaquist favors the Montmorency cherry because it is grows well in Door County, is durable to handle being mechanically shaken from the trees, and is an excellent variety to be used as an ingredient in desserts, jellies and jams. Seaquist Orchards produce 60 percent of the cherries grown in Wisconsin and their fruit is shipped all over the country. To find out more, visit their website at seaquistorchards.com or contact Seaquist Orchards Farm Market at (920) 854-4199.
