Cherry Cheaters
I love fresh, sweet cherries, but I hate to grow them. It’s kind of ironic, considering that the trees like the climate here in Northwestern Oregon so much that they’ve managed to escape into the wild and dot the countryside like a native species. The reason they’re so difficult for growers is because of the cherry fruit fly, which exists in all of the cherry growing areas of the United States. There’s just no way to get fruit without maggot control, which usually entails spraying. It’s unfortunate that worm-invaded cherries don’t handle like other fruits with worms. An apple or pear with a worm in it? Cut it out and just start eating. Cut a cherry to remove the worm? The seed takes enough space away from the delicious fruit; no one wants to start digging around creatures, too.
In my research I’ve turned up individual varieties of other fruits resistant to insect pests that bother their species in general. For instance, there are apples and pears avoided by codling moths, grapes that Japanese beetles ignore, and more . . . but a cherry resistant to cherry maggots has yet to make itself known. So because one of my goals is to grow fruit without using spray, I have taken to looking for other ways to get cherry flavor--sans worms.
