This year’s pumpkin harvest was successful despite many obstacles.
Sarah Denkler is a horticulture specialist of Southeast Missouri. She works with farmers from eight counties in the region. She says many of the farmers had a healthy harvest that matured early. Other farmers lost some of their crops due to storms, insects and diseases.
According to her, this year’s weather was not ideal for growing pumpkins. At times it was too dry or there was too much moisture.
“Ideally, we’d get an inch of water every week,” she said. “The temperatures would be nice and warm. We wouldn’t have fluctuations from cool to warm.”
She says too much moisture can be harmful to pumpkins.
“If the temperature is right and there’s enough moisture in the air, it can cause disease pressure,” Denkler explained.
Dianna Koenig is one of the farmers that was impacted by disease pressure this season. She owns and operates the Perryville Pumpkin Farm with her family.
“This year was not necessarily the greatest year for pumpkins. We had lots insects and diseases,” she said.
They had cases of Powdery Mildew Disease, a common disease that can cause the leaves to die and fall off, leaving the pumpkin exposed. Pests like cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and weeds plagued them as well.
Despite those issues they have plenty of pumpkins. Koenig said they planted 140 different types of pumpkins and squashes, so there is an abundance of them in different shapes, sizes and colors.