Irene Brings Crop Damage, Mildew and Blight to Connecticut

An idle wind it wasn’t.

The spawned wicked winds upon which were borne fungus and other pesticides. Area farmers are now contending with the aftermath of those gales. Although the storm’s winds never reached hurricane strength, they hurt delicate crops such as summer squash and zucchinis.

“High winds like that tend to flatten everything. But the even more worrisome aspect is it tends to spread disease around,” said Neil Glucken, president of . 

Ben Saunders, also known as Farmer Ben, agreed. 

“The southern winds brought a lot of mildews and blight to the area earlier than I thought,” he said.

According to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture the storm damaged about 10 percent of the state's orchards. Also, nearly half of the Connecticut’s sweet corn crop might be lost. And late-season crops, such as .

In Shelton, Fred and Stacia Monahan tend to 50 acres at Stone Gardens Farm.

The winds flattened all 15 acres of corn, Fred Monahan said. However, the younger stalks stood right up after the worst was over. He and his workers spent an afternoon re-staking tomato plants. 

“Before the storm picked all the tomatoes we could that were near red. If we didn’t they would have exploded,” Fred Monahan said.

Because Stone Garden’s isn’t an organic farm, it can treat crops with pesticides. Even so, Fred Monahan said that he’s seen far more corn earworm than usual for this time of year. 

“We’ve seen a lot of downy mildew on cucumber, pumpkin and summer squash. It’s something we deal with every fall but this year earlier,” he said.

How much and what kinds of diseases and pest might have hitched a ride on the storm’s winds remains unknown, Saunders said.

That’s of particular concern to a farm such as Ambler, which is organic. At Ambler plants are separated by barriers and planted in such a way that pests, which might attack one crop don’t have a taste for an adjacent crop.

“But the wind throws all of that around and because we’re all organic we won’t be out there spraying,” Glucken said.

While some places recorded more than 8 inches of rain, the water wasn’t really a problem for most farms; especially in Wilton where sandy soil tends to drain everything.

“It was a crazy thing – in spite of the storm we had to run irrigation for the raised beds,” Glucken said.

Over at , Irv and Nancy Silverman care for their family farm, which was founded in the early 1920s by Ben Silverman.

As pumpkin and apple picking seasons approach people will have plenty to choose from, despite the water and wind, said Irv Silverman.

“Apples are pretty hearty, but we lost a whole bunch of trees. Some are bent over, some branches snapped. But some can be salvaged,” Silverman said. “Most were young and so they have less of an established root system.”

The problem for pumpkins is if they lay on water logged earth. Otherwise, the sandy soil helps leach away moisture. 

As for fungus and mildew, Silverman said it’s too late to treat crops now. But the good news is the spores don’t over winter. So come spring there will be a fresh start.

After Irene the mid-week rains from didn’t help.

“The season weather wise has been a nightmare. We had 100 degree days in July and record rains in August,” Saunders said. “You try and control everything you can but at each turn a new problem.”

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