Pumpkin crop smaller, not squashed
In a Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015 photo, Alaina Franklin, 6 months old, poses for a photo at Relleke's Pumpkin Patch in Granite City, Mo. (J.B. Forbes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
With Halloween just a little more than three weeks off, consumers who want perfect pumpkins this year may want to consider buying soon.
This year’s crop is smaller than last year’s. And while that won’t affect prices, it has affected quantity and selection.
“Overall, the market is short in Ohio, perhaps up to 20 percent less than a normal year,” said Jim Jasinski, a pumpkin crop expert and an agricultural official with Ohio State University’s extension service.
“Prices might be slightly higher, but more likely the prices will remain the same and the fruit will be slightly smaller.”
Mr. Jasinski added: “If you haven’t gone to the pumpkin patch yet, my advice is to not wait until the last minute; shop early for best selection.”
The culprit for the shortage in Ohio’s gourd crop this year was sporadic heavy rains in June that drowned out many pumpkinseedlings around the state.
After the rains the state experienced near droughtlike conditions from mid-July through August, Mr. Jasinski said.
Since pumpkins are nearly 90 percent water, they didn’t grow as big as they normally would unless farmers irrigated their fields.
“Growers faced significant challenges during both ends of the growing season in 2015,” Mr. Jasinski said.
Insects weren’t much of a problem, but downy mildew — a microbial organism that largely attacks vegetables that grow on vines — was detected around the state and destroyed quite a bit of the pumpkin-leaf canopy, he added.
At Fleitz Pumpkin Farm in Oregon, owner Paul Fleitz said he lost about 25 percent of his pumpkin crop to the rainy weather in June.
“Our crop is below average … mainly because stuff was drowned out after we got so much rain. In June we had over 10 inches of rain,” he said. “It fell shortly after we planted and it hurt the plants coming up in the ground.”
Mr. Fleitz said pumpkins that that survived the rains did well, “but we had a couple of acres where we lost everything.”
Still, that hasn’t affected his prices or sizing. Mr. Fleitz said a basketball-sized pumpkin will cost between $4 and $6, just like last year, and $50 will buy a customer a giant pumpkin.
At Rhodes Garden Fresh Market on Monroe Street in West Toledo, owner Jeff Rhodes said a possible pumpkin shortage was an initial concern, but that has not materialized. Pumpkins are plentiful and priced the same as last year.
A basketball-sizedpumpkin will cost $3 to $4, he said.
“Once again, there seems to be enough pumpkins, and we have a nice range of size and quality,” he said.
Steve Polter, owner of Polter’s Berry Farm in Fremont, said it was unlikely that this year’s crop would match 2014 for size and quantity.
“Last year was a perfect crop. This year it’s a below average crop,” Mr. Polter said.
The grower said his pumpkin crop yield is down by a third, and like Mr. Fleitz’s crop, fell victim to the rains in June and early July.
“We’ve got one field that was smaller than average and one field that was planted later, kind of in the middle of the rains, and for whatever reason, we’ve got some of the bigger pumpkins we’ve seen in years,” Mr. Polter said.