Mother Nature very nearly provided an almost perfect spring for potato growers. That was, of course, until the rain hit late last Wednesday night.
For producers, it was a case of being so close to completing harvest, they could already taste the deep-fried french fries at the end of the rainbow.
“We’re in that 85-90-per-cent finished range,” said Edzo Kok, executive director of the Potato Growers of Alberta, on the progress of the 2011 seeding campaign. “We’re pretty close. Most of the guys would have been done by Saturday.”
Many growers have completed seeding operations, while others have a few acres left. All in all, 2011 has been heaven to potato growers compared to last spring, when spring rain and snow storms hit heavy.
“We’re a week to 10 days behind normal, but we’re definitely ahead of where we were last year.”
An added bonus this spring has been much warmer temperatures than 2010. Last year featured cold conditions early around the clock, while the thermometer has read above 20 degrees Celsius a few times already.
“The soil conditions, once we got going, were very nice,” Kok said of 2011 seeding conditions. “The soil temperatures were nice with the warm soil. Last year we seeded in cold soil. We’re pretty happy with where we’re at this year.”
Warmer soil conditions help the potato tubers get the start they need.
“The tuber sprouts quicker,” said Kok. “The warm temperature wakes up the seed piece. If you put it into cold soil, it’s just like transferring it from one form of storage to another.”
In terms of moisture levels, Kok said it is no surprise those are very solid this spring, especially deep into the soil. With 14 days without any moisture, however, until last week’s rain, Kok added fields in the area had dried up.
“The rain is good for some, because the top six inches of the soil had been dry.”
In fact, it was nearly to the point local canals were about to be employed.
“Some guys would have started irrigating next week if we hadn’t got any rain,” said Kok. “We won’t have to put a lot of water on in the early going now.”