SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- It's officially spooky season, and it’s the month for pumpkins. However, after an extremely wet summer, there is some concern about rotting—limiting harvests.
Dave Frushour, co-owner of Thistleberry Farms in South Bend, says pumpkins need a lot of water to grow, but too much could spoil the crop. "Pumpkins don't like their feet wet," Frushour explains, "so they just end up rotting."
Seeds get planted in early June and don’t bud until the end of July or early August. When flowers bud, the right summer weather is important for pollination. An inch of rain a week is ideal for growth. Often, pre-mature pumpkins can get by with a little less rain than average and will still be healthy come October.
Frushour says thankfully Thistleberry Farms wasn’t too impacted by intense rainfall, reporting only a 2-3 percent loss from rotting compared to 80 percent in areas to the south, like nearby Warsaw.
Not all the heavy rainfall was distributed evenly; so, some areas still have plenty of pumpkins to go around.
While local fields produced a good yield, it's still a good idea to get pumpkins early this fall.