Calcium sprays make cherries firm but brittle, like glass. Copper sprays create firm fruit that's elastic and resilient, like a tire. Apply copper throughout the season for fruit that survives shipping without cracking.
working with AEA taught me, especially with John Kempf, is that, you know, traditionally we make fruit firm in cherries by utilizing calcium. We put a lot of calcium sprays on, and so we would just dump that stuff on there. And what we learned is that it does make the fruit firm, but it also makes it very susceptible to damage. And so a fruit that has been made hard by forcing calcium into the fruit is like a glass ball. If you drop a glass ball, it's just going to shatter. It doesn't have resiliency, can't go through all that banging around, getting packed and, and, uh, shipped. But you can make fruit firm by having copper as well. If you have sufficient copper levels, you can make these fruit firm. And fruit that's firm from copper like these, uh, working with Jim, you know, he recommended additional copper sprays, and we've been doing it for the whole season. You end up with fruit that's firm, but it also has give. It's almost like a tire. If you go up and kick a tire, it's firm as can be, but yet it can— if you bounce a tire right here, it bounces right up.
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