Message:
Ida farmer Tim Janssen, with the help of his 11-year-old son, Jared, brought about 100,000 tomato plant transplants to K&B Plants Monday, where they can be stored while he waits for his fields to dry. Recent heavy rains have thrown off many planting schedules and it has damaged some newly planted crops. The cold has compounded the problem, Mr. Janssen said, by interfering with the plants' ability to extract the proper nutrients from the soil.
Three inches of rain are keeping growers out of Monroe County fields
By DEAN COUSINO
Area farmers like Tim Janssen and William Stotz can't wait to get back into their soggy fields. The question is when? After being swamped with up to 3 inches of rain since Saturday, most fields looked like small lakes and ponds Monday during the heart of the planting season. "We don't need it to continue," Mr. Janssen said Monday. "If it does, we could be falling (way) behind." The Monroe grower and his brother, Dave, planted 500 acres of field corn, 150 acres of soybeans and 55 acres of tomatoes for processing before the storms hit. But they still have a majority of their crops to put in the ground yet. "I've still got 245 acres of tomatoes to go in yet," Mr. Janssen said. "I've been raising tomatoes for 21 years. ... You have to (stagger) the planting. We can't put them in all at once or they'd ripen all together." He still has about 150 acres of corn to plant plus more soybeans. But it may not be until the weekend before he can get back in, and then only on the well-tiled fields. "The biggest thing is the cool weather," he noted. "It's not usually this cold. The (tomato plants) we have in are turning a little yellow from a lack of nutrients. We need it to warm up a bit." He's holding the remaining tomato transplants he has at Bill Albring's farm in Temperance until the fields are ready. Unfortunately, the plants are at the ideal height for planting and further rain delays could stunt their growth. Mr. Stotz has most of his tomatoes targeted for the fresh market planted. But it's his prized sweet corn that he's most concerned about. Although he planted four acres, he still has about five acres of the crop to get in yet. "I may have to pick up some shorter-season seed," the 47-year-old Ida grower said Monday. "I'll probably end up switching to earlier varieties to avoid a gap in harvesting it this summer." Normally he makes five separate plantings of sweet corn to assure the crop ripens at different times in July and August. So far, he has two plantings completed and three to go. "There's still some standing water on the fields," he said. "It's been so cool... it just doesn't seem like we've had any spring weather." The Darling Farms near Maybee got 2.7 inches of rain last weekend. That brought planting of grain to an abrupt halt. "There's water standing in fields we've never seen flooded before," Joanne Darling said Monday. "We had frost Saturday morning. It's just been a crazy spring." Her husband, Elgin, broke his arm in a fall two weeks ago that has only made matters worse. Their son, Doug, is helping the family to plant their crops and his. "There's water in every field along S. Stony Creek Rd.," the younger Mr. Darling said. Mr. Janssen spent more time in his shop Monday waiting for the fields to dry. Despite forecasts for more rain this week, he was optimistic. He said many growers have battled wet springs before and are not ready to panic just yet. "We're in a slowdown, not a panic," he said. "Every year it's something else. We've always fought through it. If we can get some drying out, we'll get through this, too." İMonroe Evening News 2002
Here is a link that pertains to this Message: Online article: