VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — This time of year is critical for growing strawberries that thousands of people will pick in May. Local farmers said the rain, wind and warm weather is all having an effect on crops.
At Vaughan Farms’ Produce, Robert Vaughan said he planted about 22,000 strawberries, but the mix-up in temperatures in the middle of February is not helping the crop.
“Mother Nature throws a lot at us. You have to roll with the punches,” he said. “The strawberries right now are confused. We got flowers out there. A flower on a strawberry in 30 days is a red berry. We don’t want lots of flowers out there.”
Some berries may die due to the weather, while others may flourish and become big berries. Vaughan said it also means people may need to pick them earlier than normal this year.
The earliest picking on this farm happened on April 6.
“That is about two, three weeks ahead of schedule," Vaughan said. If we don’t start getting some cold spells now, we might beat that April 6th.”
Strawberries aren’t the only crop affected. Vaughan wants to plant corn, but the ground is way too wet!
“We have got a lot of wind. Wind can speed up the process as far as drying, however, if it stays like this, it will take a week and a half to two weeks to dry out,” he said.
He’s going to weather the storm and keep plugging along.
“I just hope it doesn’t bring any more 70 degree days, because that can really hurt us,” he said.
Vaughan hopes the strawberries don’t need to be picked until the end of April. If you are looking to pick this spring, follow Vaughan Farms’ Produce on Facebook for updates.