Exploring the Ozarks Outdoors: freshare.net

Pumpkin Shortage Provides Scary Halloween Scenario

By University of Arkansas

First posted on 09-24-2009

By Mary Hightower, U of A Division of Agriculture

Wet weather across the Southeast and eastern Midwest and is creating a scary scenario of its own: a Halloween pumpkin shortage, Craig Andersen, extension horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, said Tuesday.

“Arkansas pumpkins will be affected by the weather, as have all pumpkins across the Southeast,” he said. Wet weather has also affected crops in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, major pumpkin producing states.

“It’s just perfect weather for plant disease up here: 100 percent humidity, it’s warming and its rained for days with no sunshine,” Andersen said from his office in Fayetteville. “If you’re a plant pathologist, you’re having a great year.”

Arkansas pumpkin growers had a pretty good year with May and June being almost perfect for starting a crop.

“July turned cool and could’ve been better and August was OK,” he said. “But this is ridiculous. If I could’ve picked the worst thing for pumpkins, it would be two weeks of rain when what we need is dry weather. “

Andersen said many varieties have a resistance to powdery mildew, “but even they can’t take this much pressure. This is over the top.”

Halloween and harvest pumpkins have begun to appear in grocery stores and nurseries, but are mostly “imports” from Texas and New Mexico.

“My recommendation is to buy them early,” Andersen said. “The chance of seeing them later is not going to be good.”

Arkansans typically raise 1,000 to 3,000 acres of pumpkins each year, he said. “This year, I would say we are probably in the middle, maybe 1,500 to 2,000 acres.”

Most farms have fewer than 25 acres, many only 5 to 10 acres of pumpkins. Very few have 100 acres or more.

Pumpkins are a fairly easy, relatively inexpensive and low-risk crop to grow, he said.

“Growers stand to make a little money,” Andersen said. “They aren’t going to get rich, but they aren’t going to go broke either.”

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