{"id":146305,"date":"2026-05-19T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/no-fruit-at-california-u-pick-cherry-farm-after-warm-and-short-winter\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:03:19","slug":"no-fruit-at-california-u-pick-cherry-farm-after-warm-and-short-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/no-fruit-at-california-u-pick-cherry-farm-after-warm-and-short-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"No fruit at California u-pick cherry farm after warm and short winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

\n

On weekends in May, cars usually pour out of Villa del Sol Sweet Cherry Farms and into the dirt parking lots on both sides of the two-lane road. Yes, they grow cherries in Southern California \u2013 in Leona Valley, in the high desert west of Palmdale. For weeks at a time, hundreds of families flock there during off-picking season. not this year. <\/p>\n

“Sad news,” orchard owner Gary Schaefer said on an outgoing voicemail left for would-be pickers. “Last year we had such a warm winter that we didn’t get a cherry crop this year. This is the first time in 23 years.”<\/p>\n

in Los Angeles County, average temperature<\/u><\/a> Temperatures in the six months from October to March were 4 degrees warmer than the 30-year average, and the warmest on record in 131 years. brought cold unprecedented heat<\/u><\/a> Throughout the western United States. <\/p>\n

\n
<\/picture>\n
\n
Schaefer’s cherry orchard doesn’t have any fruit to pick this year, but he still plans to sell honey from the bees that pollinate his trees.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Research shows that climate change is bringing Hot<\/u><\/a> And Less<\/u><\/a> Winters.<\/p>\n

Schaefer noticed that he could wear a T-shirt instead of the usual hooded sweatshirt and knit cap while pruning trees. Among the trees, he noticed that poppies and other wild flowers bloom very early in January. <\/p>\n

However, from their perspective, this far exceeds the climate changes seen for decades.<\/p>\n

“It may be that global warming is happening, but, you know, in my 73 years, I’ve seen it go up and down, up and down,” he said. “It is what it is.” <\/p>\n

He and his wife, Maxi Case, have 3,600 cherry trees on the 25 acres they own in Villa del Sol. website<\/u><\/a> The largest u-pick cherry orchard in Southern California.<\/p>\n

This spring they were as full of flowers as ever, so Schaefer rented about 100 beehives and the bees got to work pollinating. But trees never bear fruit.<\/p>\n

Schaefer and Case sent an email to their regular customers and also posted a message on their website: “We have no cherries at Villa del Sol in 2026.” <\/p>\n

“As you know, we need many cold hours in the winter and the weather was very warm this year.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Panoramic <\/picture>\n
\n

Villa del Sol Sweet Cherry Farms is the largest cherry orchard in the Leona Valley, with approximately 3,600 trees. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Cherries and other stone fruits, including apricots and plums, require a certain number of chilling hours. Depending on the type of cherry, the trees here require between 500 and 500 per winter. 700 hours<\/u><\/a> Temperature between 32 degrees and 44 degrees.<\/p>\n

Although much of Southern California is too warm for this fruit, Leona Valley is located at an elevation of approximately 3,500 feet, making for cool nights. <\/p>\n

There are some other small cherry orchards in the valley. Even their trees did not bear fruits.<\/p>\n

Extreme weather wasn’t just an issue for cherries in this part of the state. California’s warmest March on record, followed by April rains, also affected the cherry season in the Central Valley, reducing harvests across the state, said Chris Zanobini, executive director of the California Cherry Board.<\/p>\n

People also visit the u-pick orchards in Cherry Valley in Riverside County. But this year Guldseth Cherry Orchard made a similar announcement website<\/a> That “we have no cherries for 2026.”<\/p>\n

Each year, when families wander through the gardens of Leona Valley with red buckets, it is not unusual to hear Spanish, Persian, Korean and Japanese as well as English. Southern Californians compare notes on their favorite cherry recipes. <\/p>\n

Workers bend down branches with a hook-shaped tool made from PVC pipe, allowing people to reach for a handful of cherries.<\/p>\n

As people return to the scales with their buckets filled with red Bing and Brooks cherries and yellow Rainiers the fallen fruit gets crunched under shoes. People say that the taste of these cherries is very intense. <\/p>\n

Schaefer, who started the garden<\/u><\/a> In 1999, he said that it had become so popular that he stopped advertising about 15 years ago. “It’s a life in itself.”<\/p>\n

Leona Valley will still hold its 53rd annual event Cherry Parade and Festival<\/u><\/a> On June 6, a program that began as a way to attract visitors to u-pick farms. There will be riders, floats and mariachis, and vendors serving deep-fried cherry burritos and cherry lemonade. <\/p>\n

\n
\"A <\/picture>\n
\n

The Leona Valley Cherry Parade and Festival is planned for June 6, 2026, even though there are no cherries to pick in area orchards this year. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

At his roadside stand, Schaefer still plans to sell honey from the bees that pollinate his trees.<\/p>\n

He is 72 years old and does most of the farm work himself, weeding, pruning, repairing water lines and applying fertilizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are giving them a lot of fertilizer and water,\u201d he said. “The trees are looking happier today than they have in a long time.” <\/p>\n

This gives them hope for the next year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On weekends in May, cars usually pour out of Villa del Sol Sweet Cherry Farms and into the dirt parking lots on both sides of the two-lane road. Yes, they grow cherries in Southern California \u2013 in Leona Valley, in the high desert west of Palmdale. For weeks at a time, hundreds of families flock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[747,15663,5007,3904,1889,32014,2662,4419],"class_list":["post-146305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-verse","tag-california","tag-cherry","tag-farm","tag-fruit","tag-short","tag-upick","tag-warm","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146308,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146305\/revisions\/146308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}