Late spring planting delays McHenry County producers, but one prepares for bountiful harvest

This spring’s cooler temperatures have some McHenry County farms waiting for warmer weather before they start planting.

One speciality grower said the the cooler weather is fine with him. John Minalt’s Harvard asparagus crop should be ready to harvest in a few weeks.

“Between the snow showers, rain and cold temperatures, it is not conducive to putting seed in the ground,” said Dan Ziller of rural Huntley. He plants corn, soy, wheat and hay, and he also milks dairy cows.

“A lot of people are waiting for higher temperatures” to start putting seeds in the ground, Ziller said.

You always hope for beautiful weather on April 20 and go gangbusters. It never happens.

—  Woodstock area farmer Chris McKee

Ziller is not the only one waiting for an extended period of warmer weather.

Chris McKee raises field crops on 1,200 acres from north of Woodstock to the east side of Belvidere, as well as cattle and swine he slaughters for local sale.

McKee likes to start putting seed down by April 24. As of Friday, he was off to a slow start. With rain and colder temperatures over the week, McKee held off.

“We have seen this before, the colder spring. You always hope for beautiful weather on April 20 and go gangbusters” on getting seed in the ground, McKee said. “It never happens.”

If farmers plant too early, Ziller said, “there is a chance it will rot in the ground.”

“This year is a little different” from past years, or even the 2022 growing season, Ziller said. “The soil is not as wet, but the temperature is a lot cooler than it was last year.”

According to a National Weather Service meteorologist based at the Chicago area office, the first week in May continues to trend colder, with lows in the mid-30s and mid-40s, highs in the mid-40s to mid-50s and more rain on the way.

There is a chance for frost on Tuesday night, meteorologist Kevin Doom said.

“It is not heavy frost at 34 to 35 degrees, but it may damage more sensitive plants,” Doom said.

By the second week of May, the weather pattern looks to trend warmer.

“We will maybe start to turn around with steady warmer weather” into the 60s and 70s, but there could be another brief cool down following that, Doom said.

If northern Illinois can get the warmer temperatures needed to grow seeds, Ziller is optimistic about the upcoming season.

While the region saw less snow than usual this winter, “we had rain,” Ziller said. “But we didn’t have frost in the ground so our subsoil moisture is built back up.”

After a wet start to 2022′s season, the subsoil moisture was “very depleted last year with the dry summer and fall, but the top is not as saturated as it was last year,” Ziller said.

“It was wetter last year,” McKee agreed. “Then it turned to May, and we went from winter to 80 degrees.”

Even with last year’s late planting, Ziller said he had excellent yields out of his fields due, in part, to warmer temperatures heading into fall.

“We had a warm summer with just enough moisture – not too much and not too little – so even though we put it in late, we had better crops and averaged better in McHenry County,” Ziller said.

The warmer fall was “fantastic,” he said. “It helped to dry the corn down. ... We didn’t have to use a lot fuel for drying the corn.”

The cost of inputs – seed, fertilizer and pesticide, among others – and diesel have also been better this year over last year, McKee said.

“Input prices are coming down as we speak,” he said.

The price of diesel fuel was looking better, too, until some OPEC countries – a group of 13 oil producing countries that includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela – announced on April 2 plans to cut production, McKee said.

“I can’t honestly answer” what higher diesel costs may mean for him, McKee said.

“I think you have got to be optimistic or what is the point” of farming, he said.

While McKee and Ziller are waiting to get their seeds planted, John Minalt of Harvard is getting ready to start his harvest.

Minalt started planting asparagus six years ago to supplement the family’s Christmas tree farm income. Now, the Spears to You farm has 7 acres of asparagus and harvests 3 to 4 tons each year.

The plants are still too small to harvest, but when they are ready in a few weeks, Minalt will harvest asparagus every day for the following six weeks.

The asparagus is sold to McHenry County restaurants and farmers market vendors. Minalt also offer pick-your-own on the weekends and have a road-side, self-serve refrigerator where customers pay on an honor system.

He’s not completely unconcerned about the possibility of frost on the young spears, Minalt said, but so far the frosts have not been enough to damage the perennial vegetable.

If the plants are hit by a hard frost, Minalt snaps off the damaged part and throws it back in the field. The asparagus keeps growing.

The long-term outlook for summer 2023, with warm temperatures and moisture forecasted, “doesn’t sound horrible” to McKee, he said.

“I am not worried ... about getting seed in too late. We have the capability of getting a lot of work done in a short amount of time. I think we will be fine,” he said.