Cold Snap Leaves Slim Pickings at Leona Valley Cherry Orchards : A winter hot spell followed by a frigid spring have devastated this year’s ‘U-pick’ season.

If this were a typical spring, Tom and Betty Wade would be getting ready to throw open the gates of their Leona Valley cherry ranch and let paying visitors fill their buckets.

But thanks to a jolt of spring chill, the Wades and many of their neighbors find themselves fruitless or nearly so just as the “U-pick” season in this valley--which has about 8,000 cherry trees on 35 ranches--should be in full swing.

Normally, these U-pick ranches draw thousands of visitors from throughout Los Angeles, Kern, Orange and Ventura counties.

The Wades, whose 20-year-old family orchard has more than 200 cherry trees, are declaring a 100% crop loss. Some of their neighbors have fared a bit better, seeing about half of their cherry crop survive. A few of the more fortunate growers in this scenic foothill community, just west of Palmdale, have managed to open.

Hot weather in late February and early March triggered an early bloom on the cherry trees, but frosty nights and a rare Easter snowfall quickly followed, which devastated the fragile new fruit.

“You have these little green peas, and you’re waiting for them to get larger,” Betty Wade said.

The popular, later-ripening Bing cherries that managed to fight off the frost are expected to ripen about now, two weeks to a month after they usually are available for picking.

Some longtime growers in the area say this year’s cherry crop might be the worst in 20 to 30 years.

“The little bit of fruit we have is not ripening,” said Joe Dymerski, who has about 60 cherry trees outside his Leona Valley home. “I have probably 30% of what I should have in a normal year.”

Like most Leona Valley growers, Dymerski runs the orchard as a hobby and a small side business--not the family’s main source of income. Still, the trees need water, fertilizer, pruning and weeding--expenses that this year’s meager harvest might not cover.

This spring has been particularly rough not only on cherries but on peaches, pears and apricots grown in the area, said Gary Mork, a county agriculture inspector assigned to the Antelope Valley since 1976.

“I don’t remember seeing orchards completely wiped out, as I’ve seen this time,” Mork said.

The losses have varied dramatically from orchard to orchard, he added, because of slight differences in elevation and weather conditions.

Most of Los Angeles County never gets cold enough in winter to support cherry crops. But Leona Valley, tucked up against the mountains and no stranger to snow, provides a near-perfect climate.

Now the valley has an annual spring parade in honor of the crop, and even a cherry hot line, (805) 266-7116, which tells the public when the orchards are open and how to reach them.