On August 2 in Mendoza, Argentina, cherry orchards began to bloom, marking the beginning of what will be the 2024-2025 season.
Although most of the orchards are in phenological stages prior to flowering, we spoke with Carolina Johnson, technical manager of the firm Fragapane Hnos., who gave us more details about what is currently happening in the cherry orchards on the other side of the mountain range.
«In the case of our producers in the northern area of Mendoza, some are in the swollen bud phenological stage and others are practically entering the balloon stage. So far, things are similar to last season, but in a few weeks we will see how the temperatures are from mid-August to September to be able to infer how the campaign is going compared to last year. In the Uco Valley area, we are still in the swollen bud stage and with good hours of cold.", commented the agricultural engineer.
Among the concerns for this season, as in Chile, are the frosts at the end of winter and beginning of spring, and the zonda wind.
«In this regard, the concerns depend on the production area. Frost is always a constant threat. Then, for early varieties, a Zonda wind can ruin the production of some early producers, as happened last year. And finally, rain can always affect us, especially late varieties grown in the Uco Valley. Let's hope that this year, with La Niña, we don't have so much rain in December.», added the technical manager of the firm Fragapane Hnos.
This year, we expect to start harvesting between October 26 and 30 for the northern zone varieties such as Early Burlat, Frisco and Brooks and in early November with Royal Down and Santina, to end the cherry season with Sweet Heart from the Uco Valley at the beginning of January.
Fragapane Hnos is a company that produces, packs and exports fresh fruit, with cherries as its star variety.
«We process fruit from our own production and from third parties. We work with the following varieties: Early Burlat, Brooks, New Star, Royal Down, Santina, Frisco, Kordia, Sonata, Lapins, Bing and Sweet Heart. We have around 50 hectares in full production, including our own and those of our producers, plus around 10 hectares that are not yet in production. This year, new plantations have also been made to continue increasing our productive surface area.», concluded Carolina Johnson, technical manager of the firm Fragapane Hnos.
