WILDER, Idaho — Snow, rain and low soil temperature have combined to delay planting Idaho’s signature crop in several regions.

Wilder-based Miguel Villafana, a fifth-year farmer growing his first potato crop, said soil in the state’s southwest usually reaches an ideal 45 degrees about March 25.

“It was the first week of April until I got that,” he said. He planted April 4-15.

“It went well. We just had some minor delays” including from wind gusts, Villafana said.

Longtime Wilder producer Doug Gross Farms started April 3 compared to March 23 last year.

“The cold and wet weather kept the soil temperatures low and we couldn’t plant,” said Angie Rader, a partner in the business.

Gross Farms as of April 19 was about halfway through planting.

“We were able to get a good start. Then we just happened to be between fields when this little thing came through,” Rader said, referring to snow on April 18.

Some growers in Parma and on the Oregon slope “got a little more wet” and looked to continue planting toward the end of this week, she said.

“I hope the growing season turns around — and turns into the perfect growing season,” Rader said.

About 100 miles to the southeast, the Hammett area got less rain and snow, grower Nick Blanksma said.

“They have had wetter-than-ideal conditions coupled with colder conditions,” he said April 19. “And to the east of us, it’s just cold, really cold.”

Potato planting on Blanksma’s farm started April 13, 10-14 days behind the normal schedule.

“We just kind of eased into it and we’re going well now,” he said. Many growers in his area like to wait until soil reaches 48-50 degrees.

Risk of seed decay or rhizoctonia fungus development increases as the seed spends more time in cold soil growing slowly or not at all, said Jeff Miller, owner and research scientist at Miller Research in Rupert.

A quick shift to hot weather, which occurred the last two seasons and stressed potatoes, is another risk, he said. That could create conditions more favorable to the bacterial aerial vine rot as growers irrigate more.

Early high heat could delay soil-shading closure of plant rows, Blanksma said.

Planting in the south-central region started during the week of April 10, Miller said.

Wada Farms, a large grower near Idaho Falls, started planting 10 to 14 days later than normal, vice president Joe Esta said. The company will catch up if typical spring-like conditions arrive.

Eastern Idaho potato grower Bryan Searle started planting April 19.

At his mid-sized farm near Shelley, planting is 4 to 5 days behind the last two years but about average for the last 15 years.

“It’s just too cold to start this morning,” Searle said April 20. “We’ll get started about noon or so once the frost is out.”