Crops Damaged, but Apples Doing Well
Linda Shihata holds a Jonagold in her left hand and a 1.13-pound honey crisp in her right hand. (Photo by Ted Pennekamp)
Some area corn germinated while still on the stalk. (Photo by Linda Shihata)
Recent rains have put a
damper on harvest expectations
Apples,
however,
have done quite well
By Ted Pennekamp
What was once considered a very promising season has now been scaled back a bit for most area farmers due to too much rain in recent weeks.
“We had a terrific growing season. You couldn’t ask for better,” said Crawford County Agent Vance Haugen. “But, the last three weeks with the heavy rain and flooding have subdued things.”
Haugen said that area farmers were looking at a bumper crop due to a high amount of moisture this summer. Now, however, the yield for most farmers will be down from what had been expected. “It depends upon where a farm is located, but my rough assessment would be that most yields will be down by 10 to 15 percent,” he said.
Haugen noted that some farms in low lying areas may face a bigger crop loss due to flooding and crop damage. He said he knew of at least one farm where there were ears of corn under water for a time. There are also fields in the county that had ears of corn germinating while on the stalks due to rain getting into the ears.
“It will take awhile to assess it all,” said Haugen. “The majority of farms should be OK. There will be some with more loss, however.”
Another potential problem caused by excessive moisture is molds and fungal diseases growing on crops, Haugen said. Crops with molds and fungus may not be saleable. Mold or fungal diseases will probably not be detected until the crops are harvested.
The good news is that it is expected that there will be several days of good drying weather.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Haugen said. “In another three or four weeks, we’ll know an awful lot more.”
The high moisture this summer and the heavy rains in recent weeks weren’t bad news for all crops. Apples, for example, did quite well.
“It’s been very timely rain, and it’s produced very big apples,” said Linda Shihata of Shihata’s Orchard north of Prairie du Chien on Limery Road.
Shihata said that honey crisp are exceptionally large this season, and Cortland, McIntosh, Jonathan and Jonagold are bigger than usual as well.
“Our U-Pick has been quite popular this year,” said Shihata, who noted that the only minor problem with the larger apples is that they fall to the ground more easily than in other years.
“They got so big that just a little puff of wind is knocking some of them down prematurely,” she said, in noting that most pickers have been getting out early and are getting good apples off of the relatively soft ground as well as from the trees.
