Vegetable growers record "best ever" pumpkin crop

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

You might notice extra-big smiles on the faces of jack o'lanterns around Saskatchewan this Halloween.

That’s because vegetable growers in the province report harvesting the best crop of pumpkins many have ever seen.

The 2006 growing season will go down as a banner year for Saskatchewan pumpkin growers. Joan Merrill from Robertson Valley Farms, south of Saskatoon, is just one of the growers with more than a peck of pumpkins in the patch.

“I’d say it surpasses any crop we’ve had in the past 20 years,” said Merrill.

Robertson Valley Farms, a mid-sized pumpkin producer, is growing pumpkins on about five acres of land. The pumpkins are marketed directly to consumers. Merrill doesn't weigh the crop, but she says the size of the pumpkin pile tells the story about this year’s harvest. It is huge.

However, she says it is not just the quantity that is good, but also the quality of the crop.

“This year what we have is really good sizing on our pumpkins, plus they turned orange well in advance of harvest. They are in very good condition with hard orange shells, which makes the storability very good for us. So it is excellent quality in addition to quantity and size,” said Merrill.

Storability is important for pumpkins, especially for those that are destined to adorn doorsteps on Halloween. Merrill says many people buy their jack o'lanterns early in the season, then store them in the basement until a day or two before Halloween. A hard shell means the pumpkin can be transported safely and last until their big night on October 31. In past seasons, rain in late summer has resulted in disease that caused the shells to break down. But not this year.

According to Merrill, quality plus quantity adds up to a better bottom line for the pumpkin grower.

“It makes for a good pricing on our pumpkins,” she noted. “We direct-sell to the public and we go by size, so the larger the pumpkin, the more it costs.”

Merrill says there were a number of factors that contributed to the good growing year.

“We had a number of things. We had a mild spring. We had a lot of rain in June, so we had excellent germination. Then it turned very hot in July, so there are a lot of heat units,” she stated.

“Pumpkins require a lot of heat, so those heat units in July and into August really helped contribute to a tremendous crop this year.”

There is, however, one downside to a bumper crop in the pumpkin patch at Robertson Valley Farms – some heavy lifting. Merrill says their operation does not use equipment to harvest. Each and every pumpkin is picked by hand and moved to a pile before being loaded onto to a trailer, and then unloaded onto a larger pile indoors.

That’s a lot of pumpkin piling – but Merrill says when the crop is as good as it is this year, they don’t mind.

For more information, contact:

Joan Merrill
Robertson Valley Farms
Phone: (306) 382-9544