NEWS

Summer rains took a heavy toll on pumpkin crops

Craig Shoup
Reporter

OAK HARBOR — With Halloween around the corner, many fans of the holiday take it for granted that pumpkins will be plentiful when it comes time to decorate or bake pies. For some area farms, however, the growing season was a bust and sellers have had to buy pumpkins wholesale in order to keep carvers happy.

The shortage of pumpkins has been severe for many growers this year, as heavy rains forced local farmers to be creative or lose their pumpkin crop completely.

Roxanne Root, of Root Farm Market on US 20, said she took a gamble and decided to plant her pumpkins on a slope, allowing rain to drain off and prevent the pumpkins from getting diseases or dying from too much water.

"Farmers are the biggest gamblers," Root said. "Everything is about location. The last two years I grew on flat ground. This year I found that the hills were the only reason I had any pumpkins."

Had the summer been dry and mostly hot, Root said the pumpkins would have died on the dry, sloped soil. She said growing seasons are unpredictable and there's always risk involved.

Large amounts of rain can destroy pumpkins by softening them or infecting them with disease, said Sandy Laubacher of Jason's Pumpkin Patch in Oak Harbor.

"We had 100 percent crop loss this year with our pumpkins," Laubacher said. "We had to buy pumpkins at wholesale to sell."

Laubacher said her son Jason started the pumpkin patch in 2008 and grows pumpkins on 7 to 10 acres.

It was a challenge this year to provide the typical selection offered at Jason's, an extensive array of about 100 varieties ranging from peanut pumpkins — which looks like they have peanut shells on the outside — to pie pumpkins.

Laubacher said Jason's is not the only local patch to lose all or most of its pumpkins.

"Places have lost quite a few," she said.

As Root points out, growing pumpkins on flat surfaces is fine as long as the summer doesn't endure too much rainfall. But in 2015, heavy rains seemed to be the theme.

"We had about 15 to 16 inches of rain in June and July," Root said.

Last year, only about 10 percent of her pumpkin crop grew successfully, Root said. The year before, it was 50 percent.

Because of heavy rains and lack of growth this season, Laubacher said pumpkin prices have increased to keep up with the money farmers spent to stock their shelves.

"We planted in June and it usually takes about 110 to 125 days to grow, but that got washed out. Then we tried again in July and that got washed out."

Root said this was the first time growing on sloping land since she started growing in 1984. Despite the success this year, she said the growing season is a year-to-year gut-feeling decision she makes based on anticipated weather.

cshoup@gannett.com

419-334-1035

Twitter: CraigShoupNH