Shifting pumpkin season means changes to farms, businesses

Pumpkin growers are facing hurdles after dealing with dry weather and monthly frost in an effort to make sure their patches are ready for the fall.

Many companies have already brought out the fall branding – but while pumpkin spice season may be thriving, pumpkin growing itself has been going through as many changes as the leaves.

“It’s been a challenging growing season for us out here in the patch,” Tam Andersen told CTV News Edmonton on Monday. She owns Prairie Gardens, a 50-year-old U-Pick patch, in Bon Accord, Alta.

“Our crop is not as abundant as some years, but definitely still a solid pumpkin patch.”

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While pumpkins appreciate the dry weather Sturgeon County has seen in the last few months, they still require just the right amount of rain – and frost is their killer.

“They have these big, beautiful leaves that catch the dew and drop it right down on the root system,” Andersen explained.

Pumpkins typically take 100 to 120 days to mature. At Prairie Gardens, growers plant about 100,000 pumpkin plants from seed each year.

With one or two solid rainfalls and otherwise dry weather, Andersen said, pumpkins will grow all season until a killing frost around mid-October.

Mike Williams, who runs Mill Tower Ranch Pumpkin Patch with his wife Dawn, said pumpkins being 90 per cent water means that any frost will force them to freeze, crack and rot.

That being said, the patch just east of Ponoka is doing much better than last year. That’s when weather only allowed for 150 pumpkins instead of their usual 3,000. They ended up not opening their doors at all.

Shortages, Williams said, means grocery stores, corn mazes and other places you’d find a pumpkin in fall might go without.

And as the patches approach peak picking time, Williams added they won’t know the true success of this year’s patch until then.

“Once the leaves come in and they start growing, our field is one big mat of green. We don’t see what’s in there until the leaves start dying,” he said.

Andersen attributes climate change to shifting seasons and consequently the prime time for picking pumpkins.

“Oftentimes, if we can get past the first full moon of September, we’ll have another full month of growing season,” she said.

This year, though, she said the best time to grab your pumpkins might be the first week of October. After that, patches are replanted indoors to keep frost and rot at bay as long as possible.

One photographer said these shifting seasons mean her clients are often late to the party when it comes to using pumpkins as props, and the best time to book a fall-themed session is mid-September.

“A lot of people who came to me last year said ‘I want to do pumpkin season,’ and I said, ‘Pumpkin season’s already gone,’” explained Cynthia Priest.

She said pumpkin patch shoots specifically are difficult to co-ordinate by October and some families will have to settle for just holding pumpkins that have been preserved from colder weather.

“Typically what you’ll do is kind of makeshift that fall vibe yourself,” she said.

And while Halloween jack-o’-lanterns may be rotted by then, Williams said there are ways to keep your pumpkins fresh until you’re done celebrating the season.

This includes washing and drying pumpkins once they’re picked and keeping them separated from one another.

This year, Williams and Andersen both hope not to have to close their doors early, but both said time will tell.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sasha Pietramala