Pumpkin growers experience challenges

LANCASTER — "Pumpkins don't like wet feet," said Brian Neeley, a local pumpkin grower more commonly known as "Dude" to his longtime customers.

With all early summer rain, Neeley said there were many pumpkins with wet feet, or roots, this year, which meant there were farmers without that round orange crop they count on when fall hits.

"It was a struggle this year," Neeley said, adding that farmers within a 60-mile radius bought pumpkins wholesale, from his farm, 2574 Mud House Road, to sell at their own stands this year because theirs failed.

A lot of pumpkin seeds rotted in the field before they were even able to sprout, Neeley explained.

Stan Smith, program assistant for agriculture and natural resources for The Ohio State University Extension office in Lancaster, said many pumpkin farms have struggled this year from heavy rainfall and disease.

"There were a lot of challenges with almost everything we tried to grow this year … Tomatoes were one of the few things we didn't have a problem with," Smith said.

Lisa Burnworth, of Harvest Adventures, 1135 Locust Grove Road NE, Bremen, said only half of her pumpkin crop survived. She was one of many farmers who bought pumpkins from Neeley Farms this year.

"We knew in July it wasn't going to be good," she said, adding that Harvest Adventures is still selling pumpkins this year and the corn maze and hayrides are intact.

The success of local pumpkin patches, Smith said, varies from area to area. The distance between a successful pumpkin patch and a devastated one can be as little as several miles. Smith said it all depends on soil type, its drainage capabilities and the land's topography. The amount of rainfall across the county also varied.

The main problem for pumpkins this year was the constant rainfall, which created powdery mildew on pumpkins. This is what wiped out pumpkin patches across Ohio this year, Smith said.

"Home growers have experienced the same things," Smith said.

Some pumpkin patches have been completely devastated, like Sharp Farms Market, Smith said. Others were mostly unaffected.

Smith said he knows of farmers who replanted pumpkin seeds three times because the ground remained too wet during the initial growing process.

Neeley planted earlier than most growers, which he believes helped his crop.

"My plants were up and growing when the rains hit in mid-June," he said, adding that his pumpkins were also growing on the top of a hill, which is an ideal location for rain runoff.

Neeley Farms started growing pumpkins in 1997. He said pumpkins can be temperamental. There are problems if they don't get enough rain, when they get too much rain and if they don't get the right nutrients and other treatment to let the crop thrive.

"(Pumpkins are) not something you can just stick in the ground and let go," Neeley said.

Neeley has grown more than 100 varieties of pumpkins and gourds and has between 60 and 70 varieties for sale this year. After 18 years of growing pumpkins, he said fall is still his favorite season and selling pumpkins is one of the highlights.

"I like seeing the kids smile. I like seeing the adults smile," he said. "It's just something different."

sroush@lancastereaglegazette.com

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Twitter: @SpencerRoushLEG