Plan On Plenty Of Pumpkins This Fall
As pumpkins begin showing up on porches and grocery store shelves, Illinois growers are on the back half of the harvest season in the nation's top pumpkin-producing state. University of Illinois Extension Specialist Nathan Johanning said despite some weather challenges this summer, the crop is shaping up well.
"But overall, the pumpkin crop has been pretty good," Johanning said. "One of the struggles can be when we hit massive heat and drought stretches. We had lots of heat, but we haven't had as much of the drought side. So that's been good. The other thing, the prolonged heat we've had, some of our pumpkin varieties don't like setting fruit when it's really, really hot. That puts a lot of stress on them.”
Despite Hot Weather, This Year's Crop Looks Good
Johanning said excessive heat can interfere with the plant's ability to produce pumpkins, but growers saw conditions improve as temperatures moderated.
“Especially when we get temperatures above 95 degrees, some varieties tend to limit the amount of fruit," said Johanning. "So, basically what happens is they bloom, but they basically, that flower aborts and falls off because that's a mechanism the plant uses to avoid that stress. But the nice thing is pumpkins continue to bloom continuously. So once we had a cooler stretch, then we got some flowers open and actually set fruit. And so from there, things have gone pretty well."
Dealing With Insect & Disease Pressures
Pumpkins also require growers to stay ahead of insects and disease pressure throughout the season.
"We always have cucumber beetles and squash bugs are always an issue," Johanning noted. "Most farms do have to spray for those just because not because they want to, but because they're just very problematic, especially if you've grown pumpkins and those pests know where your pumpkin fields are at. They will find them sooner or later. Powdery mildew is a constant disease that we battle. There's also some other bacterial spot and other issues. Some of those bacterial diseases are bad with heavy rain.”
No Shortages Expected
Even with those seasonal challenges, Johanning said both growers and processors are pleased with this year's crop.
"From what I've – I've spoke with some at Libby's and others, I think production has been good," Johanning said. "They start harvesting even later in August because they have to get stuff started and start processing things and then get it and then has to go through the supply chain to get out to distributors and things so we can get it on our store shelves. But no, the pumpkin crop was good. And I don't, they don't foresee any issues with any shortages of pumpkin that you can find."
Illinois remains the nation's leading pumpkin producer, supplying both ornamental pumpkins, think Jack-o-Lantern varieties, and those destined for processing, aka pie pumpkins.
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