The pumpkins of 2007 aren't as plentiful, nor are they as plump.
Although event organizers have not had problems finding pumpkins for Halloween events on Ohio University's campus, local farmers saw a diminished crop ' in both size and number of pumpkins ' after this summer's drought.
A jack-o-lantern that is normally 22 pounds would be about 16 pounds this year
said Brad Bergefurd, a horticulture specialist at the Ohio State University extension center in Piketon.
Southern Ohio's drought fluctuated between abnormally dry and moderate drought the two least severe types of drought, according to National Drought Mitigation Center reports from this summer.
Dennis Parker, a vendor at the Athens Farmers Market, said his pumpkins are smaller and appear dried-up this year compared to last year's nicer-looking crop. Parker, who has been selling vegetables and pumpkins at the farmers market for seven years, said because of all the 100-degree days Ohio had during the summer, his pumpkin crop was ready for picking at 80 days. Normally, pumpkins are mature at 110 days.
If you see ones with nice big green stems they probably weren't raised around here he said.
The pumpkin was a bumper crop in northern Ohio, Bergefurd said, which allowed large chain stores to offer a better selection.
Jay Proffitt of Proffitt Farms in Guysville said his crop this year is 75 percent smaller than what he had last year.You can get by with heat and a little drought but both of them together made it worse
he said.
In past years Jay McCarty of Indoor Garden Solutions in Athens would plant his pumpkins at the beginning of the season and forget them. This year, he had to water them regularly.
It put a damper on everything
McCarty said.
Stress from the season's weather conditions kicked in a natural response for pumpkins that contributed to the shortage, Bergefurd said. High heat in the beginning of the summer caused pumpkins to produce more male than female blossoms, and female blossoms are needed to make pumpkins, he said.
There is no federal relief for farmers that have been affected by the pumpkin shortage, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Web site.
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Dennis Parker of Reedsville, Ohio, sells his pumpkins Saturday at the Athens Farmers' Market. Parker has been growing pumpkins for more than 20 years and said this year's weather resulted in a poor pumpkin crop.
