The cherry trees in Hungary are flowering up to ten days earlier, which points to a possible early start to the open field harvesting. Peter Kelemen, from the Medifruct cooperative in Hungary: "This season the time of the start of flowering is around 10 days earlier than the last five year average. In the past flowering started at the beginning of around 5 April. It is now advancing and up to 10-15 days earlier."
He says the greenhouse grown cherries are done flowering. "The open field flowering in Hungary depends a lot on the location in the country. At the moment in the West of the country the flowering is a little more advanced. In the East there's a three to five days delay. For the early varieties they are close to full bloom in the west, while they are starting to bloom in the east. This week is the start of blooming around 25-26 March for the early varieties. Then we are expecting blooming to continue, depending on the weather, for the next three to four weeks."
Early blossom in a potted variety.
During the transition between seasons, Hungary, like the rest of Europe, is seeing differing and unpredictable weather patterns. "At the moment it is unusually warmer in March. Climate change is causing uncertainty that is not forecastable. It is difficult to tell what will happen. We had a few days of night frost that lasted one and a half weeks, which was very serious. In some parts of the country it reached -5 C while in most regions the temperatures were -2 C, that happened all before blooming. It is difficult to quantify the effects. I don't think there's a catastrophe. But it is unclear how this will affect volumes. We will wait and see," says Kelemen.
He says last season's 2023 cherry crop was generally below the average. The majority of Hungary's cherries are sold on the local market. "Some fruits end up in export to the countries around us that include Poland, Slovakia, Croatia and little bit to Germany."
Bumblebees are pollinating the cherry trees in Hungary.
Finally Kelemen foresees an earlier start to Hungary's cherry season. "According to our experience some of this early flowering will be lost, but all in all at moment we see a 10-14 days of advance flowering. We expect a harvest that is at least a week earlier than normal. I think the very first cherries from Hungary will likely be picked around 10 May. The main volume is expected from around 25-30 May, then it will be on the market for the next three weeks following that. If the weather during the rest of spring is hotter than average, the harvest season can even be more advanced," states Kelemen.
For more information:
Peter Kelemen
Medifruct
Tel: +36 06 30 336 4775
Email: medifruct@medifruct.hu
www.medifruct.hu