Start by pruning to eliminate potentially small fruit. The days of a moderate-sized cherry crop in the Pacific Northwest are gone, short of widespread weather events that reduce the crop. With more than 50,000 acres of sweet cherries planted in Washington and Oregon, last year's record-setting crop of 23.2 million 20-pound boxes will be more common as young orchards planted to high density come into full production. "We've got a lot of cherries planted," said Lynn Long, Oregon State University Extension educator for Wasco County. "Nowadays, when we have a moderate- to large-sized crop, we have difficulty selling all of the fruit. We don't need more cherries on the market. What we need are high quality cherries for the market."
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