By RHIANNON BRANCH

FarmWeek

Weather conditions and disease have created hurdles for Illinois strawberry producers this season.

Austin Flamm with Flamm Orchards in Union County said their struggles began early when a disease called Neopestalotiopsis infected greenhouses in Canada where the Flamms purchase their plugs.

“Of the 100,000 plants for our early variety, we only planted 35,000 of them and of those 35,000, I’d say there was less than 5,000 that survived,” Flamm told FarmWeek, noting a late start to the picking season due to poor stands.

He said frequent rains and disease pressure from high moisture conditions impacted the crop all season.

“Right now, our production has fallen off a lot,” Flamm said. “It seems like the plants didn’t put on flowers a month ago when they needed to be putting on flowers, so we’re seeing the negative effects of that now.”

The Flamms still have berries and are picking fresh ones each day, but supply has not met demand.

“We’ve had to pretty well turn off our wholesale business in order to supply our retail business,” he said. “We are going to be done (harvesting) sooner than later compared to most years, and our supply is going to stay limited going forward, I’m afraid.”

John Heider with Heider’s Berry Farm in McHenry County said winter was the rough stretch for his 18-acre patch.

“We lost quite a few plants because we had no snow cover when it was minus-10 degrees,” Heider told FarmWeek. “We also lost some about three weeks ago when we had a frost that wasn’t really forecasted, so we weren’t prepared to cover them.”

But he said they are still expecting a decent crop.

“When you lose the early blossoms, the later blossoms that are normally smaller will then be bigger because they didn’t have to compete with the early big ones,” Heider said. “So, we won’t be short of supply. We think we’ll be in good shape.”

It could be a couple more weeks before berries are ready to pick in northern Illinois.

“Last year we started picking on the 31st of May, which was the earliest we ever started,” Heider said. “This year, we’re expecting around the 15th of June just because it’s been a cool, late spring.”

Greg Anderson with Triple M Farm in DeWitt County said the risk of weather variability is a big reason why he chose to grow 8,000 strawberry plants hydroponically in vertical stacks.

“It’s a little bit more maintenance but we have less environmental risks for weather and bugs,” Anderson told FarmWeek, noting that this year’s crop looks good.

It also allows Triple M Farm to expand its U-pick season to six months.

“We opened about a month ago, and every weekend we’ve been picking up the pace,” Anderson said. “With a little luck, it won’t slow down all the way through October.”

Each of the three growers are also focused on caring for other specialty crops and plants as the calendar turns to June.

Flamm is expecting an above average peach crop and lighter turnout for apples. Raspberry harvest will begin at Heider’s in late July and Anderson’s crew has started planting 20,000 mums for the fall season.

This story was distributed through a cooperative project between the Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.