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DOOR COUNTY -- Door County is among the top cherry-producing regions in the United States, but this year, cherry growers say they're bracing for a bad season. However, they're not blaming recent dry weather conditions throughout the state, but rather, the early warmup back in March.
Bob Lautenbach of Lautenbach's Orchard in Fish Creek says the 2012 cherry crop in Door County has all but failed.
"This is the worst year I've ever experienced here, in all the years I've been growing cherries. Normally we'd have about eight to 10 million pounds. This year the prediction is about half a million pounds," Lautenbach said.
It's not the weather now, but the weather earlier in the season that killed off the buds.
"Primarily because of the warm winter, because of the trees. The trees didn't harden off. We had a very warm March, where we had some 80 degree weather. Cherry trees kind of woke up. Then it got cold, and we had many nights of frost, and that destroyed the little pistol inside the blossom that killed the cherry," Lautenbach said.
Growers say cherry trees should be orange this time of year, and covered with cherries. This year, it's hard to even find one cherry on some trees.
"Maybe we'll have a scavenger hunt for cherries this year," Lautenbach said.
Lautenbach's Orchard probably won't have pick-your-own cherries this year. However, inside, the store is stocked with cherry-flavored products made from last year's crop.
Tourists say they're not disappointed by what they've found.
"It's disappointing because I know what it does to the economy, and that's not good, but Door County is so beautiful, and we just got here and there's so much to see," Dennis Lake said.
Lautenbach says there's one good side to having fewer cherries.
"The cherries are going to be very large because there's not a lot of them on the trees. The quality is going to be really good this year," Lautenbach said.
Growers say they'll try to keep their crop in Door County this year for tourists and locals to enjoy. Growers say demand is growing because of the health benefits of cherries.