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They've been waiting on the weather
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| A farmer works in a field near Buesing Road, near Merrill. Many Klamath Basin farmers are getting a late start with their fields because of heavy rainfall in recent weeks. |
Published May 28, 2003
Basin farmers delay field work while the soil dries after a late springBy BRIAN COLE
H&N Staff Writer
Tulelake potato grower John Bowen is running about a month late.
He usually begins working his fields in mid-April. But late rains have kept him from getting a timely start.
Anyone trying to work the ground last month would have bogged down in the mud - which is particularly bad for potato growers.
In the fall, Bowen makes rows in his fields, this way "you get a fairly clod-free field," he said. "In the spring we fertilize those beds. Typically we start them in mid-April, put fertilizer on them, and then we plant around the first of May."
Bowen, 75, has been growing potatoes in the Basin for the past 50 years - except in 2001, when there was no irrigation water.
But this year, his rows were too wet.
"When it got to be May we had to go ahead with the fertilizer and hope it dried enough for the planter to run without getting stuck," Bowen said. "Machinery gets stuck in the mud. Plus, it will create clods, the very problem we try to prevent in the fall."
Plus, when the ground is too wet, the seed doesn't go down as deep as it needs to, causing more cullage, that is, unsuitable spuds.
When potatoes sit too high in the ground sunlight turns them green, making for fewer marketable potatoes. Clods also create more cullage.
Cullage - green, malformed or too-small tubers - have to be sold to potato processing companies, and "there's no money in it," Bowen said.
The profit for potato growers comes from the big, consistently shaped potatoes that sit in the produce sections of supermarkets.
The last time Basin farmer got this late of a start was 1998, Bowen said.
On the other hand, the late start means that less Klamath Project water has been used so far this year.
"Were starting late enough in the season, there should be enough irrigation water from the Klamath Project," Bowen said. "Of course, we don't get any credit for that."
Merrill Hay and Cereal grains grower Nancy Kandra agrees.
"In a normal year we start irrigating in mid-April," she said. "This year we started (Tuesday)."
Kandra said she and her husband, Steve, have been set back about a week or two. That could be just enough to keep them from getting the fourth cutting of alfalfa they usually get in September.
The Kandras have about 900 acres. But they have leased out all but their 400 acres abutting Tule Lake.
"Alfalfa is a perennial, and it needs moisture and sun to grow," Kandra said. "The warmer days now are good, but it delays when we can cut it. Usually we cut in the middle of June, in July, in August and one more in September."
But it's not all business for the Kandras.
Waterfowl on and about Tule Lake love the Kandra's alfalfa, which each year eats about $20,000 worth. And that's okay.
"We love having the birds," she said. "We are feeding Honker babies right now. They're very cute. Plus deer herds come in and birth in the alfalfa. They like the camouflage."
Basin farmers delay field work while the soil dries after a late springBy BRIAN COLE
H&N Staff Writer
Tulelake potato grower John Bowen is running about a month late.
He usually begins working his fields in mid-April. But late rains have kept him from getting a timely start.
Anyone trying to work the ground last month would have bogged down in the mud - which is particularly bad for potato growers.
In the fall, Bowen makes rows in his fields, this way "you get a fairly clod-free field," he said. "In the spring we fertilize those beds. Typically we start them in mid-April, put fertilizer on them, and then we plant around the first of May."
Bowen, 75, has been growing potatoes in the Basin for the past 50 years - except in 2001, when there was no irrigation water.
But this year, his rows were too wet.
"When it got to be May we had to go ahead with the fertilizer and hope it dried enough for the planter to run without getting stuck," Bowen said. "Machinery gets stuck in the mud. Plus, it will create clods, the very problem we try to prevent in the fall."
Plus, when the ground is too wet, the seed doesn't go down as deep as it needs to, causing more cullage, that is, unsuitable spuds.
When potatoes sit too high in the ground sunlight turns them green, making for fewer marketable potatoes. Clods also create more cullage.
Cullage - green, malformed or too-small tubers - have to be sold to potato processing companies, and "there's no money in it," Bowen said.
The profit for potato growers comes from the big, consistently shaped potatoes that sit in the produce sections of supermarkets.
The last time Basin farmer got this late of a start was 1998, Bowen said.
On the other hand, the late start means that less Klamath Project water has been used so far this year.
"Were starting late enough in the season, there should be enough irrigation water from the Klamath Project," Bowen said. "Of course, we don't get any credit for that."
Merrill Hay and Cereal grains grower Nancy Kandra agrees.
"In a normal year we start irrigating in mid-April," she said. "This year we started (Tuesday)."
Kandra said she and her husband, Steve, have been set back about a week or two. That could be just enough to keep them from getting the fourth cutting of alfalfa they usually get in September.
The Kandras have about 900 acres. But they have leased out all but their 400 acres abutting Tule Lake.
"Alfalfa is a perennial, and it needs moisture and sun to grow," Kandra said. "The warmer days now are good, but it delays when we can cut it. Usually we cut in the middle of June, in July, in August and one more in September."
But it's not all business for the Kandras.
Waterfowl on and about Tule Lake love the Kandra's alfalfa, which each year eats about $20,000 worth. And that's okay.
"We love having the birds," she said. "We are feeding Honker babies right now. They're very cute. Plus deer herds come in and birth in the alfalfa. They like the camouflage."
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| Workshop set for seed producers |
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