Record-setting spring leaves some cold with worry

CEDAR RAPIDS - While record March warmth has put a spring in the step of most Iowans, precocious plant development has caused problems for specialty crop growers.

At Hughes Nursery and Landscaping in southwest Cedar Rapids, the early budding and leafing of shrubs and trees has quickly closed the annual window of opportunity for digging and preparing trees for transplant, said co-proprietor John Hughes.

“This year that window was six days. It's normally six weeks. It's really put us behind the eight ball,” said Hughes, who runs the 104-year-old business with his brother, Dwight III.

The warm March also has halted the flow of maple sap, sharply reducing the production of syrup for local sugar bush operators.

Of course, orchard owners are on pins and needles, hoping that a return to normal weather - and the killing frosts that might entail - does not catch their apple trees in full bloom, destroying all or most of their crop.

Traditional row crop farmers, meanwhile, are just enjoying the fine weather and resisting the temptation to start planting money crops.

State Climatologist Harry Hillaker said this March will easily be the warmest in 134 years of records.

Through March 22, the statewide average temperature was 15.4 degrees warmer than normal, well above the 1910 record of 12.8 degrees above normal, he said.

Cedar Rapids either tied or broke high temperature records from March 14 through March 20, he said.

“This has been the toughest spring in the 104 years we've been in operation,” said Hughes. “The trees are moving out of dormancy from four to six weeks ahead of schedule.”

Once the trees leaf out, cutting their roots shocks them, greatly reducing the prospects of a successful transplant, Hughes said.

In effect, the trees they dug during that six-day window will be their transplant supply for the spring and summer. Not only will they have a reduced inventory, but they will have to baby the trees to keep them viable.

For the Green Sugarbush in rural Castalia, which has operated continuously since 1851, “this will be our second-poorest year,” said Karen Green, who runs the business with her husband, Dale. They usually gather sap from 1,500 taps throughout the month of March, but they stopped collecting more than two weeks ago, she said.

“You need below-freezing nights and above-freezing days for the sap to flow,” she said.

The last freeze in Iowa was March 15, Hillaker said.

Sap collection stopped March 10 at the Indian Creek Nature Center, said director Rich Patterson.

“It's kind of like ‘The Twilight Zone,' with everything being so far ahead of normal,” said Shirley Peckosh of Peck's Flower and Garden Shop in Cedar Rapids, which has had to scramble to supply eager gardeners with the plants they want.

“There's nothing to do but roll with it,” she said.

Even with soil temperatures well above the 50-degree threshold for corn planting, most farmers understand it is too risky, said Jim Fawcett, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist in Iowa City.

“You might see farmers planting an acre just to say they did it, but they know the last killing frost usually comes around May 1,” he said.

Moreover, any corn planted before April 11 would not qualify for federal crop insurance, Fawcett said.

“It costs between $400 and $500 per acre, not including rent, to plant corn. You can't afford to plant it twice,” said Paul Short, who with his brother, Phil, farms near Monti in southern Buchanan County.

Short said he is content to apply anhydrous ammonia when field conditions permit and work on his planter until the middle of April.

“With today's big equipment, you can plant a lot of corn in three or four days,” he said.