The company Güizzo Frutas Frescas S.A., located in Mendoza, will begin the commercial cherry harvest tomorrow, October 19, and for the third consecutive year it manages to start in week 42.

“We started the season with varieties from the Royal series which have shown a very good adaptation to be harvested in the northern area of ​​Mendoza starting from week 42. This year in particular we are starting the harvest two days earlier than last season, which marks the earliest record in recent years,” says Nicolás Güizzo, Technical Manager of the Mendoza company.

He adds that “Mendoza has the particularity of ensuring a good entry into the dormancy period with a winter cold supply that exceeds 400 hours of accumulated cold. Added to this is a good accumulation of hours degree days starting in August, which allows most of the early varieties to show interesting yields with very good quality and especially with well-anticipated harvest dates compared to other productive areas.”

The firm established in Mendoza more than 40 years ago has specialized in the production of early cherry varieties. These are sold entirely by air to the European Union, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and the Far East, in addition to supplying the main retailers and wholesalers in the Argentine domestic market.

Today they manage cherry production on 50 hectares distributed mainly in the areas of Luján de Cuyo and Valle de Uco located in the province of Mendoza.

As for the most cultivated varieties of cherry trees, there are Royal Dawn, Brooks, Nimba, Pacific Red, Santina and Lapins – among others.

Engineer Nicolás Güizzo adds that “in recent years the company has been making an important conversion in order to cultivate new early varieties with the idea of ​​being able to advance the start of the harvest to week 41 in Mendoza in a few years.”

Also “trials are being carried out with varieties with low winter cold requirements in a non-traditional area for cherry trees such as the northwest of Argentina where we believe that in about four years we will be able to harvest cherries during weeks 40 and 41.”

“We are very focused on the objective of anticipating the start of the harvesting campaign by the first half of October, since consumer markets have practically no supply of this fruit,” he concludes.