Photo: Ross Duncan

Farmers are busy drying out cherry trees in the Central and North Okanagan.

“The cherries are doing better than my stress level,” said Alan Gatzke, of Gatzke Farm Market in Oyama.

The orchardist said some strong wind has kept the precious fruit from splitting following heavy rain.

“For the most part, a combination of temperature, cherry maturity and particularly how the rain has fallen, followed by wind has meant minimal damage to the crop.”

Cherries in the northern half of the Valley ripen later than those in the south.

“Only the earliest varieties are at risk,” said Gatzke. “I've only seen one crack so far.”

Many farmers are “blowing” with helicopters or fans, although the trees have not held the water, due to the wind.

“The wind has made a lot of difference. It has saved me $1,200 an hour,” Gatzke said.

"We've been blowing water off the trees with (fans) pulled by tractors," said Sukhpaul Bal, of Hillcrest Farm Market in Kelowna and president of the B.C. Cherry Association. "So far things look good.

"Mostly, we have the later varieties that ripen in August," he added, explaining the late crop misses the rainy season.

Meanwhile, orchardists with multimillion-dollar investments have those choppers in the air.

“Carr's Landing yesterday looked like Vietnam,” said Gatzke, as he described a number of helicopters buzzing cherry orchards in that area.

Gatzke expects his team will be picking early variety cherries by Thursday and later varieties in about 10 days.

“The forecast continues to cause me concern,” he said.

"It's a high-risk, high-reward fruit," said Bal. "You are dealing with a sensitive crop, and rain can damage it."