Blueberries Expected to Double This Season
Published: Friday, July 13, 2018
Dean Ott expects to have twice as many blueberries for people to pick as last year on his two farms close to the Indiana-Michigan
Wanda Bonnell believes this could be one of the better years for picking at her blueberry farm outside North Judson.
In Wakarusa, Rick Holderbaum expects another good season similar to the one he had last year.
The picking season just recently got underway at blueberry farms throughout Michiana.
Ott has 52 acres at Stateline Blueberries and nearby Wilk's Blueberry Farm in the area of S.R. 39 and C.R. 1000 North, east of Michigan City.
He opened for picking June 29, or about 10 days behind his normal schedule.
"This cold, wet spring kind of put us behind. We're picking up steam, though,'' Ott said.
Ott doesn't expect a bumper crop this season but said it's probably above average and way better than last year, which he called the worst in the 20 years he's owned the farms.
Pollination was much better this year from ideal weather between periods when it was a bit too cold and rainy, he said.
Ott predicted 160,000 pounds of blueberries will come out of his fields this year, or about 20,000 pounds more than a typical season.
The yield from his bushes was 83,000 pounds in 2017.
Holderbaum has 21 acres of blueberries at his Beech Road Blueberry Farm west of Wakarusa.
"The crop's looking really good. We're hauling them out by the bucket loads,'' said Holderbaum, who opened for the U-pick season June 23.
His crop, behind schedule caught up from a string of 90 degree temperatures.
Holderbaum, owner of the farm since 1984, said he had a good year last season and doesn't expect things will be much different this year from what he can tell so far.
He is a bit concerned about a low seed count in some of his late-season berries, a sign that pollination wasn't quite up to par in those varieties.
"The more seeds you get in a berry, the bigger and better they're going to be,'' Holderbaum said.
Right now, though, he gives high marks for the quality of his early season blueberries.
The U-pick season opened June 28 at Bonnell's Blueberries in Starke County.
Wanda Bonnell said many of the blueberries on the 10-12 acres she has farmed for 44 years were not quite ready to pick but will be in the coming days and weeks.
She's particularly excited about the quantity and quality, especially after noticing how well her blueberries fared during recent spells of extreme rain and heat that could have harmed her crop.
A cold spring and having a lot of late season varieties are why many of her blueberries are not quite ripe but while many growers finish up their seasons by the middle or end of August she expects to be picking until Labor Day.
She had a good season last year and expects to do at least as well this season.
"They're hanging green, but we got a beautiful crop. It's just going to be slower for you than if you could wait a week or so,'' she said.
An excellent crop is also expected at Mike's Blueberry Farm near New Buffalo.
Mike Heibel has raised blueberries there for close to 40 years.
His crop wasn't quite ripe enough for picking by July 4 but should be prior to the the middle of the month.
Heibel said he has mostly late-season varieties and, from what he can tell so far, it should be one of his best seasons.
"It's a good crop. Excellent to great,'' he said.
Blueberry picking is something many families do together.
For example, Al and Linda Anderson took their 16-year-old granddaughter, Sarah, to Stateline Blueberries on July 3.
It was their first experience at picking blueberries for the Chicago area people vacationing here for the week.
"I love it. It's fun. Nice and fresh blueberries,'' Mrs. Anderson said.
Heibel also didn't have a very good crop last year.
He blamed much of his problems on a large population of locusts eating his blueberries.
Initially, Heibel said he was worried about this year's crop because of his blueberry bushes being dormant for an extended period from the long, cold spring
But, once the weather returned to more normal conditions, ''the fruit started to really come out,'' Heibel said.
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