SOUTH BOISE, Idaho — Wildfire smoke is creating new challenges for flower farms in the Boise area, hitting growers during one of their most important seasons of the year.
WATCH: Wildfire smoke is cutting a Boise flower farm's harvest in half
At Ramblin' Blooms in southwest Boise, owner Kathy Cheney said the hazy conditions are visibly affecting her flowers.
"They just don't look as happy. They're just stressed," Cheney said.
The problem comes down to sunlight. Smoke-filled skies are blocking the direct light flowers need to grow, slowing the entire production cycle at the farm.
"The flowers need direct light. The sun has obviously been pretty cloudy and is not being able to directly shine down onto the plant, which the plant gets its energy from," Cheney said.
"Our product hasn't been turning over as fast as we'd like to see," Cheney said.
The slower growth has also changed how Cheney harvests. She now performs what she calls a "wiggle test," checking each stem individually to determine whether a flower is truly ready to be picked — because appearances alone can be deceiving.
"We're noticing that the flower on the top of it looks mature, but when we go to cut it and we fill the flower, it is definitely not ready," Cheney said.
The delays are cutting directly into the farm's output. Ramblin' Blooms supplies local florists, and Cheney said her available inventory has dropped significantly.
"I would say the buckets of flowers that we have is probably cut in half in comparison to what we were doing last year," Cheney said.
When flowers are finally ready, the farm works to get them to customers as quickly as possible. Cheney says her buyers have been understanding.
"If we don't have it, we don't have it. They understand, a lot of them are used to that things are just turning around a lot slower," Cheney said.
Cheney said challenges are a normal part of farming, but this one took her by surprise.
"We never go without a problem. This is pretty unexpected and not ideal for us," Cheney said.
August is expected to bring more extreme wildfire conditions, and hazy skies are likely to continue across the region.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
