HOLLAND, Mich. — One of the many delights of living in West Michigan is making it out to the farms and orchards to pick your own fresh produce. However, this year, you may be making those trips a little bit later into the summer than you are used to.
Our extremely dry and hot May weather has delayed certain crops development, and one of those crops are the strawberries. This means, according to Mitch Visser from Crisp Country Acres, the "u-pick" season for strawberries is not quite here in West Michigan.
The big thing Visser says we have been missing is the rain.
"Obviously, we had a lot of hot weather last week, and that's making the plants struggle a little bit, you know, without the rainfall we typically get in the spring for them strawberries to start sizing up," he said.
Heat can be good for the plants when it comes with rainfall, but without the rain the plants can be put under stress.
"The heat just kind of shuts those plants down during the day, and it takes them most of the night to recover. They're spending their energy, you know, keeping the plants going," he said.
Despite some challenging weather, Visser isn't worried about the season as a whole.
"If we get some rain, that's going to be good. We're just waiting on that rain. We're optimistic we're gonna get some rain and we're going to be thankful for it when we do get it," he said.
Visser also told us that strawberries from irrigated fields are already in their market and on-sale now, so you don't have to wait for those. As for the u-pick season, he says it will be here in about a week or two, and to follow their Facebook page for the latest updates!
-- Meteorologist Michael Behrens
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