I'm in Portland, across the river. Little difference in the climates of the two WA cities. Vancouver has slightly higher peak summer temperatures. The Gorge itself is an entirely different climate. The humid event you mention, the high-angle mid-spring sun that strikes damp ground and pavement, causing steam, is not the same as muggy days experienced in much of the southern and eastern U.S. Both plums and cherries do well in the Portland metro region. Most years sweet cherries will split in June rains, but are still edible if gathered quickly. Pears and apples do well also. Peaches and apricots are very iffy, not reliable here on the West side. Caneberries and grapes do well. A variety of minor fruits such as asian pears, mulberry, persimmon, etc., do well also.

I grew Thompsons Seedless, Flame, and Black Monukka years ago just north of Pasadena. It wasnÂt hot enough here to sweeten Thompsons, but Flame and Black Monukka were just okay, not as good as supermarket grapes, and only half the size, without spraying with gibberelic acid. I have grapes this year on Kyoho and Concord Seedless, but they arenÂt ripe yet, and have been shopping for grape vines myself. California grapes that have good reviews on the Internet are: Crimson Seedless, Diamond Muscat, Delight, Summer Royal, Thomcord, and Black Emerald. Lon Rombough, an Oregon grower, who wrote The Grape Grower, recommends seedless Jupiter, Neptune, Vanessa, Venus; and seeded New York Muscat, Gold Muscat, Muscat Hamburg, Swenson Red, Price, and Foch (juice). David Karp, the fruit detective, calls seeded Alexander Muscat "the standard of high flavor" in grapes. IÂm putting in an intensive planting of all of them, and will be yanking whatever doesnÂt taste wonderful. Grapes are really easy to root from cuttings, grow fast, but will be a year or two before they are old enough to produce grapes. Here is a link that might be useful: Rombough's grape website

My Crimson Seedless vine isn't PD infested at this time, and this doc gives me some some hope that it might be somewhat resistant. That said, this Summer I finger smashed a lot of sharpshooters feeding on the vine. Some days I smashed as many as 10 within an hour. This is really a shame as CS has given me super sweet grapes that are still holding well as we speak. What a heart breaker it would be to lose this vine. It seems odd/questionable that nurseries would even sell PD prone grape varieties in areas that are known to carry the disease.

Cane pruning increases the yield of some varieties that don't have fruitful buds when spur pruned. When last yrs canes are cut back to 3-4 buds for spur pruning of certain varieties, those buds don't produce fruit. Those are the varieties that should be cane pruned. For many cultivars either method works. Yield can be easily adjusted with cane pruning based on how many buds are left and how many clusters are removed. Getting yield isn't the issue. The issue is how many clusters can one leave without reducing quality, sweetness, too much.