Plenty of pumpkins waiting to be jack-o'-lanterns

With just more than a week to go before Halloween, area farmers and others selling pumpkins said they hope a good weekend will help boost sales of this year's crop.

Last weekend's rainout left some selling the future jack-o'-lanterns with more gourds on hand than they planned to have this close to Halloween.

"The weather we just had didn't help," said Jane Bishop, owner of Dick and Jane's Farm on Route 2 in Harwood, fresh off the tractor after a hayride Tuesday. "We're hoping for a good weekend."

For many farmers, and the Bishops, who operate a popular roadside stand on part of the small farm of Jane Bishop's family, pumpkin sales can make a good end-of-season infusion of income to get through the winter.

For the Bishops, it is the last hurrah until next year. They close for the season on Halloween night.

"We might open on Sunday if we have really nice weather," she said.

They get their pumpkins from the same source they have used for years, Wheatley Pumpkin Patch in Federalsburg.

"He's about out," Bishop said, standing among the pumpkins, decorative corn, apples galore and other late-season produce. "I think we are getting one more load, and that's it."

Some areas of the state had a lot thinner crop. Some varieties did not take off but others fared well. Some of the problems were attributed to low pollination. Pumpkin patches north and south of the Anne Arundel area had too much moisture at the wrong time.

"Around here pumpkins did pretty well," said Dave Myers, University of Maryland Extension agent for Anne Arundel County. "Some got a late start, but locally, we had a dry period right when pumpkins want to be dry. And we didn't get any tropical weather with a lot of heat that can start mildew issues with pumpkins."

While the numbers of pumpkins produced locally did not set any records, the quality is good, Myers added.

"Great color, deep orange," he said. "Some of the best color I've seen. And we've got good handles."

Handles are the curved, darkened remnant of the vine at the top of the pumpkin.

"Handles are everything in the pumpkin business," Myers said.

Size is everything to some who take to growing huge pumpkin varieties in an attempt to break heavyweight records.

The world record was set earlier this month with a 1,725-pound pumpkin weighed in at the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off in Canfield, Ohio.

The Maryland record, 713.5 pounds, was set by a giant pumpkin grown in 2008 by Anthony Watson from Kensington in Montgomery County, which annually produces the most pumpkins in the state.

Nationwide, there were 92,955 acres of land devoted to growing pumpkins in 2007, compared with just 25,985 acres in 1982.

That same year, Maryland farmers grew pumpkins on about 2,000 acres, producing 12.3 million pounds of pumpkins valued at $4.2 million.

Last year state growers produced 12 million pounds of pumpkins on 1,800 acres valued at $3.4 million, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service Maryland Field Office.

The fall season is traditionally a time to get out and enjoy the countryside, and is a boon for farming communities.

"It is the perfect time to celebrate agriculture by … selecting your own pumpkins for jack-o'-lanterns, getting lost in a corn maze, taking a hayride, or attending a fall festival, all while supporting Maryland farmers," said Buddy Hance, Maryland secretary of agriculture.

After Halloween, that business really wanes for some.

"This weekend is important for those growing pumpkins or selling them," Myers said. "And there are a lot out there that need to be sold. It's important, especially for smaller producers. It can certainly help them put away something for Christmas."