Could the dry spring we’ve had this year be trouble for southwest Michigan crops? MSU Extension viticulture specialist Mike Reinke tells us it has been a very dry spring with only about two inches of rain recorded since early April in Grand Rapids. Normally, there would be ten. However, at this point, he says fruit crops don’t appear to have been damaged yet.
“So far, the mature blocks of fruit have been doing OK,” Reinke said. “I’m hearing signs of maybe some small cherries right now as they go through that final sizing at harvest time, but the plants themselves are not stressed to where it’s going to cause problems in the future.”
Reinke says right now, it looks like yields will still be fine, although the quality of some of the fruits, like blueberries and cherries, could be affected if it doesn’t rain in the next month or so.
“The number of fruit will be pretty decent, but the size may be a little on the small side.”
Reinke says commodity crops like corn and soybeans, which often don’t have irrigation, are possibly in trouble. He says the rain last week wasn’t enough to replenish the soil. Therefore, growers are waiting to see what the next few weeks will bring.
