Damage from Hurricane Irene and relentless rain have made it a hard year for pumpkins and winter squash in Western Massachusetts.
Mike McCray of McCray's Farm in South Hadley and his son Westin, 1½, check out the wet conditions in the pumpkin fields on the farm.Farmers who grow pumpkins are the latest group to feel the pinch in this year of natural disasters.
As Halloween approaches, they are doing their best to fill shelves with the stuff of pies and jack-o’-lanterns.
“We’ll still see pumpkins,” said Ruth Hazzard, vegetable specialist at the University of Massachusetts Extension Service.
Still, it’s been tough. Some pumpkins were swept away by Tropical Storm Irene and some fell victim to the relentless rain.
“We lost all our crops in the flood,” said Sandy Williams, owner of Williams Farm and Sugarhouse in Deerfield. “Washed away into the river.”
“We do have some nice pie pumpkins,” said Sarah Voiland of Red Fire Farm in Granby, “but it’s been a hard year for pumpkins and winter squash in general.”
A few growers, like Gene Kosinski of Kosinski Farm in Westfield, managed to weather the season well.
“We grow our pumpkins in lighter soil, so it drained better,” said Kosinski. “You’re going to get some losses no matter what, but we were not hit as bad as some other farms.
“We grow large-face and sugar pumpkins, and they both seem to be OK.
“We’re not finished harvesting,” he added.
“Excess water is not good for any crop,” said Skip Sobieski of Deerfield Farm, who, like many others, did save enough pumpkins to last until Halloween.
View full sizeMike McCray of McCray's Farm in South Hadley and his son Westin, 1½, are in the retail pumpkin area at the farm.If ever there was a year to nix the plastic gourds from China and support local growers, this is it.
Just expect to pay a little more. That’s happens when supply is down. At Fini’s Plant Farm in Feeding Hills, for example, Al Fini said he is raising his price by 10 cents a pound.
Stephen McCray of McCray’s Farm in South Hadley also has plenty of pumpkins, “but a few of them didn’t learn to swim,” he joked.
Right now, his problem is shuttling visitors into the soggy fields on tractors for McCray’s pick-your-own program.
Rainfall in August was 8.23 inches and in September it was 5.66 inches, according to National Weather Service readings at Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield. Normal rainfall is 3.6 in August and 3.4 in September.
“The soils have not dried in six or seven weeks,” said Hazzard. “Not only were some of the rains very heavy, but fields have had standing water.”
When that’s the situation, “there’s a tendency for more and different types of diseases to set in,” said Hazzard.
One of the most destructive diseases of vine crops is phytopthera, she said. In 2009 it affected tomatoes and potatoes. This year, it’s pumpkins and winter squash.
It was a good year for those who, like Kosinski, grow their pumpkins in sandy, well-drained soil because the pumpkins weren’t sitting in standing water, said Hazzard.
“A lot of the smaller pumpkin varieties have fared better,” she said. Sugar pumpkins, the kind best for pies, also did pretty well.