By JILL AHO

H&N Assistant Editor

September 5, 2010

 

       As far as Donnie Heaton knows, it’s been 30 years since anyone from the Klamath Basin tried to grow potatoes on the western side of the Cascades.

   Until now.

   Limited irrigation deliveries from Upper Klamath Lake to Heaton’s usual Merrill-area fields drove him out of the Klamath Reclamation Project to rented fields with access to stable sources of water, mainly wells. It also prompted him to act on a desire that had been surfacing off and on: Could he successfully grow a potato crop in the Medford area?

   He sublet a 100-acre field behind the Boise Cascade mill. To one side an alfalfa field flourishes. On another, bright orange squash peek out from beneath dark green cascading leaves.

   It’s hotter over here, Heaton says, but the potato plants look good. Klamath Basin crops should be this big this close to harvest, but a cold, wet spring stunted their growth.

   “If we can get through this year and get our bills paid, we’ll be happy,” Heaton says. “It’s been a tough year growing-wise. I’m really hoping for a good, long fall.”  

   Despite getting the Medford-side plants in the ground two weeks later than planned, the hot temperatures have helped them catch up and they came up faster than the ones he planted near Bonanza, he says.

   “They’re still outgrowing anything at home,” he says.

   Heaton is optimistic that his harvest from this Medford-area field, which has never had potatoes planted in it, will be satisfying.

   “All we can do is screw it up between now and then,” he says. “Everything looks really good.”

   On the rest of the 100-acre field, Heaton grew red wheat. His original plan of trucking the harvest up to Portland for processing didn’t work out because grain elevators weren’t taking red wheat, he says. His wheat harvest was of good quality, but he had trouble getting an even irrigation on the field.

   “Where we were able to get a full irrigation on it, it did good,” he said.

   Heaton’s center pivot irrigation system malfunctioned due to the soil type, he says. One truss wrapped around another, breaking a section of the overhead sprinkler.

   Heaton expects to shell out $15,000 to replace the broken part.  

 

Side Bar

 

480 sacks of potatoes

 

   Three weeks ago, a yield sample of Donnie Heaton's 30-acre experiment in the Medford area  indicated he could expect 480 sacks of potatoes per acre.

 

   A sack is 100 pounds, and his Klamath Basin fields produce more than 500 sacks per acre on average, he says.  The plants are expected to gain five to 10 sacks a day.

 

   Each plant is producing plenty of spuds.  A Norkotah plant normally yields 11 to 13 potatoes per hill, he says.  The Medford Norkotahs are producing between 20 and 24 potatoes each.

 

   Last week, Heaton planned to roll down the potato plants, essentially killing the tops.  Then he'll wait two to three weeks to start digging them up and get a really good handle on how well his experiment has gone.

 

   "You never really know until you put the blade in the dirt," Heaton said.

 

Quick Fact:  Center pivot irrigation is made up of an overhead sprinkler system that pivots on a central axis, making a wide circle through the field to spread water evenly.  Sensors are supposed to stop the system if it becomes misaligned or the wheels get stuck.