Cherries!

I have been anticipating the arrival of our cherries this year for awhile now. I had big plans for cherry preserves, cherry pie, eating fresh picked cherries.... A couple weeks ago, the cherries started ripening and I knew the time to pick would be coming soon! Occasionally, I'd go into the yard and sample a couple that were ready. Earlier this week, however, I started noticing a few of the cherries looked moldy.

Hmm, strange.

Sadly, this mold stuff started to spread to a majority of the cherries. We are guessing that it is Blue Mold Rot:

• Blue Mold Rot – Most critical disease affecting cherries. It is caused by various molds and begins as a small, round brown spot on the fruit. The pulp underneath this brown spot is moist and a light brownish color. As blue rot mold progresses in cherries, it turns white and forms a bluish-green residue on the outside ultimately rotting the entire fruit.

Today, Todd and Tobey came over to help us pick through all the moldy cherries to get a few good ones. We got 6 quarts total. Not too bad, but when I consider last year's bounty (see last year's post here) it makes me sad.

A Few Good Cherries

With 3 quarts of cherries each, I'm hoping to at least make a small batch of preserves and Tobey was talking about making a couple pies.

Madi was sad too because she enjoyed eating the cherries as they fell from the trees.
Hopefully next year we won't have this problem. Until then, I will be trying to figure out what causes this Blue Mold Rot.