pumpkin question

larry@stinescorner · Dec 6, 2013

When I travel to PA,I pass by two large fields of pumpkins,it looks like they were never harvested,full of large orange pumkins,laying in the fields,it seems like such a waste,I dont know much about pumkins,is there a logical reason why they lay there rotting?

larry@stinescorner · Dec 6, 2013

next time I pass by them I will see if I can take a picture,although it is a busy road,I will try

Hotflashjr · Dec 6, 2013

I grow some pumpkins and have two thoughts. The first is if they have crop insurance you cannot harrow under the pumpkins until a loss adjuster comes out and verifies the loss. I do not have big equipment and a little frost in the ground stops my tillage. I barely got what was left of mine under as it was the first week of November. Second thought is that they were just garbage. Up here in MA this year guys either did really well or really bad with pumpkins. Some fields infected with phytophthora just saw pumpkins deflate or melt. I had the other issue. I had a bumper crop myself and literally could not sell them all before Columbus day weekend. After that we had a hard frost which changed the color of my white pumpkins to a butter color and caused them to get soft.

agonair · Dec 6, 2013

We have a large pumpkin patch here near Arthur, IL. They grow 60 acres of pumpkins that are sold individually by the pound. At the end of the season, the remaining pumpkins are given to livestock farmers and the rest are disked and plowed under. Looks like a waste, but they follow a three crop rotation...pumpkins, beans, and corn. On their farm, beans after pumpkins average 10 bpa more than beans following corn.

Daryl in PA · Dec 6, 2013

If those fields are on RT 222, i believe the pumpkins belong to Dan Schantz Markets. Probably just planted to many to harvest.

DoubleR · Dec 6, 2013

I don't know about others but I will speak for myself. I over plant every year. Some years I still have to buy some(This Year) and some years I disk some of them up after Halloween. I do not want to run out of pumpkins at my roadside stand. I use to just shut it down when I ran out but then I found out how much money I lost out on the last few days before Halloween.

mkirsch · Dec 6, 2013

Not a waste at all, because they'll get plowed back under and the nutrients they have stored will go back into the soil.

For a roadside stand you only want the best pumpkins. Nobody wants the misshapen ones.

What you think is an abandoned field full of pumpkins has likely already been picked over for the best pumpkins. Rather than waste time and fuel hauling them, only to have to haul them away later, just leave them in the field.

BAnNC · Dec 6, 2013

Saw similar situations with other vegetables this year. Was so wet that when they were ready to harvest, either they had been so wet and gotten disease or it was still too wet to get in the fields to get them out.

TGIN · Dec 6, 2013

I have a neighbor that plants 4-5 acres every yr. to sell to local stores and rd.side . after the season is over I get what is left and give them to the cows , it is there yearly treat .

Mike (WA) · Dec 6, 2013

Used to know a guy who always had a bunch of pumpkins left in the field every year- he said the same as others here- You NEVER want to run out of punkins- the upside of selling all you can is so much greater than the minimal extra cost of overplanting. Also, if you have contracts with wholesalers, you better have enough, or they won't be back next year.

He also had a "punkin patch" for kids every year. Including one session that he scheduled through social service agencies, for disadvantaged kids. He was closed to the public that day, and gave away the punkins and hot chocolate for free.

He was in the flood plain- most years, the water would come up and float them away before they rotted.

yak651 · Dec 6, 2013

Last year I gave my neighbor that raises goats a trailer load of the left overs - they must've not liked them because he didn't ask for any this year

Robin Hood · Dec 6, 2013

Could it be a "pick your own pumpkin" deal?

dhamps10 · Dec 6, 2013

I heard one grower say, "A 50% harvest was very good."
Dennis

Errin OH · Dec 6, 2013

Having raised veggy's myself and several large growers in the area it all comes down to sell ability. The norm is 40% are the right shape and color to be sold to the general public. Processors will take less than top grade but you have to have one around. There are several pumpkin growers here that leave hundreds if not thousands in the fields after harvest. See the same with peppers, eggplant, melons ect......

Side note, Per my local Apple grower, if it touches the ground she can not legally sell it. We help her pick, but all our apples come off the ground.

Dan T in MO · Dec 6, 2013

Just one other thought. Deer like 'em. Maybe it's a food plot to lure in a big buck. More likely just the culls after the cash crop was harvested.

pumpkin question

larry@stinescorner

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larry@stinescorner

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Hotflashjr

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agonair

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Daryl in PA

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DoubleR

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mkirsch

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BAnNC

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TGIN

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Mike (WA)

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yak651

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Robin Hood

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Errin OH

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