One Peninsula farm is particularly frustrated over the unusually cold weather that has disrupted the start of the daffodil picking season.
“We still haven’t been able to get out there,” said Ryan Vantreight, general manager of Longview Farms in Central Saanich. “We can’t pick them while they are frozen. We had a drop off but then it’s snow, melt, freeze, snow, melt, freeze.”
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Vantreight says the fluctuating temperatures have been a problem. Snow insulates the plant and doesn’t cause too much damage, but ice and melting snow then re-frozen by a change in temperature can cause damage.
“We’ll have had some losses but we won’t know until all the snow has melted. We’re hoping the temperature rises gradually and not too quickly otherwise we’ll have some new problems,” Vantreight said.
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He remains optimistic that as soon as the flowers have thawed it will be “all hands on deck.”
Recruiting pickers started Jan. 11 but the recruitment drive stalled due to the snow. Vantreight has a list of people to call to come pick, but he hopes that when the flowers thaw at the end of the week more people will contact him to pick the flowers.
He is upbeat noting, “Once we start picking we’re looking to build our momentum again.”
nick.murray@peninsulanewsreview.com
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