Lack’s Blueberry
Farm in Knoutze, Texas, is known for having some of the earliest berries
in Texas.
“We start doing berries in middle to later part of April and
have berries about eight weeks,” said Lee Lack. “We have
15,000 plants – about 25 acres.”
Lack, with his wife Jean, has been farming blueberries for about 18
years. He first decided he wanted grow blueberries since he saw a
friend growing berries and talking through other friends in the area.
The Texas blueberry industry itself is fairly young – 20 years
or so, Lack said.
“No one in Texas knew much about berries when we started,”
Lack said. “It’s been a trial-and-error experience.”
Lack belongs to a group that includes the other blueberry growers
in southeast Texas. A group, he said that has helped get the industry
going and keep it successful.
“We’ve had a little problem getting resources,”
Lack said. “We don’t have any problems nowadays getting
materials and things, but it was a problem in the beginning. It helped
banning together and finding places, distributors we could deal with
on a wholesale basis for materials and things.”
Without any experience as a grower – Lack was first a welder
– and without much information out there about growing blueberries
in Texas, Lack planted all of the popular varieties they were growing
in Georgia, North Carolina and other blueberry states. That was his
biggest mistake, he said.
“North Carolina is our biggest competition,” Lack said.
“That’s the reason we switched to early varieties. I pushed
up the later varieties and started over. When I started, no one knew
in Texas, and I developed my plans on a trial and error basis –
and that’s expensive.”
Though the Lacks now have early varieties and beat many other states
to the market, that doesn’t mean there is a shortage of difficulties.
“The biggest problem is acquiring help to pick them,”
Lack said. “We hand pick – not mechanical. We have a problem
getting legal pickers. They are giving out six-month visas now, and
that helps. We grow and live in an area where they plant pine trees
in the winter. I have a bunkhouse on my farm. People who plant the
pine trees bunk here during the winter, and I pick me a crew out of
those.”
But on the upside, Lack said they have little or no disease or pest
pressure and are able to grow blueberries without worrying what threat
might be around the corner.
“We don’t have any (diseases) anywhere,” Lack said.
“We do spray a little bit for bugs. We’re new –
it’s only been an industry here for about 20 years – we
haven’t imported any diseases yet.”
Another contributing factor to the Lacks’ success is their soil
selection and the abundance of water in their area.
“It’s just finding the right soil in the right place,”
Lack said. “It takes a sandy loam soil from 4.5 to 5.5 pH…Most
everyone waters out of wells or submergible pumps. We have an abundance
of water in this part of the country.”
All of these help Lack produce his early varieties, which ensures
him a higher price than growers with the later varieties.
“Most growers that grow the later varieties, they have more
tonnage per acre but the price of the berries is about half,”
he said. “The early varieties bring about twice as much. It’s
because we’re earlier in the market. They are a good berry,
but the first on the market is the best price.”
If Lack had the opportunity to start his blueberry-growing career
over again, he said he would still do it – just with a little
more knowledge and experience.
“I would start out small,” he said. “Do it right
the first time and not have to redo it. You should know the varieties,
the soil you purchase and lay your fields out right to start with.”
Lack said knowing these things help him meet the demand for his berries.
“The market’s there, all my buyer wants to know is when
and can you get some more,” he said.
