Byron Winney has to be an optimist – he couldn’t survive otherwise.
A freak, 15-minute hail storm on July 24 wiped out a year’s worth of work and income.
Fields normally filled with you-pick customers in early August were closed this week and will only be open weekends, beginning this Friday.
“They’ll probably be gone the first day,” said Winney, owner of Bacon Hill Blueberries, just off Route 32. “I just was not expecting a hail storm of that magnitude. It’s the first one in 21 years. The bright side is, following an extreme crop loss it’s very common to have a fabulous year the next year.”
So while berries are few and far between on most plants, in his mind’s eye he envisions a glorious sea of blue at this time next summer.
The hail storm came on a Friday afternoon, accompanied by a tornado warning, on Opening Day of the Saratoga Race Course season. Compounding problems, Winney’s farm, like many in the area, had already experienced considerable losses from last winter’s frigid weather.
“The blueberry crop was down about 40 percent in Eastern New York because of the extreme cold,” said Laura McDermott, Washington County Cornell Cooperative Extension agent.
The hail dealt Winney’s farm a near-fatal blow, at least as far as this year’s harvest is concerned.
“Eighty percent of what was ripe was knocked to the ground,” he said. “All hail storms are not created equal. This one was wicked. It was real localized.”
However, Winney’s family has been farming in the Hudson Valley since 1652 and he’s run Bacon Hill Blueberries since 1973, so he knows how to take a long-term view of things.
The farm has about 50,000 blueberry plants on 40 acres. This spring alone Winney planted 4,200 new bushes on 3.5 acres, an $80,000 investment.
He grows nearly two dozen varieties that ripen at different times to keep business steady throughout the season, which typically runs from July 4 into early September.
However, this summer’s hot humid weather caused some mid-season berries, such as Blue Crop, Blue Ray and Blue Jay, to ripen early. So fruit that might not have matured yet most years, was knocked to the ground by the recent hail storm.
The ground beneath plants is littered with tens of thousands of berries that can’t be sold. Even Winney’s popular retail stand has none available.
It’s a major disappointment to area residents who look forward to filling their freezers with berries that are used throughout the year, especially the Christmas holidays, for pies, cakes, muffins and other baked goods.
“They’ll just have to go without unless they can find them somewhere else,” Winney said.
Some late-season varieties, such as Elliot and Aurora, are loaded with berries, which could help salvage what’s left of the 2015 season.
Bacon Hill Blueberries is by far the largest grower in this part of New York, drawing customers from the Adirondacks to the Capital Region.
Winney knows all the tricks of the trade when it comes to raising berries. The year before planting, he tills fields, eliminates weeds and brings and the soil pH down to an acidic 4.5 level, which blueberries like.
“The pH is the most important thing of all,” he said. “Then the first couple of years we pull off all the flowers, so all the plant’s energy is used for getting bigger and developing a good root system.”
Also, Winney only buys plants from reputable Michigan-based dealers to keep fields disease-free.
Of course, sometimes Mother Nature does the unexpected, throwing things at him like the July 24 hail storm. To Winney, it’s all part of the business.
Earlier this summer, Bacon Hill Blueberries and Cornell Cooperative Extension hosted a gathering of growers from throughout the Hudson and Mohawk valleys to discuss techniques for raising different types of berries. He mentors several people just getting started in the business.
“I tell them: ‘For every acre you plant, I’m going to plant three.’ They can’t keep up with me,” Winney said smiling.
Source - http://www.saratogian.com/
