Producing pumpkins

1. Your farm market boasts a wide variety of pumpkins and gourds. What goes into producing pumpkins for the fall?

Well, it starts in the end of May, beginning of June, we try to get them planted. This year it was a little on the wet side so we got a bad start to begin with. With the dry weather the size is going to be a little smaller. The numbers are going to be there, I think, but they'll be a little restricted in size a little bit.

2. How many fields do you plant to generate all the pumpkins for your market?

We have two different fields but about nine acres in all. One field is dedicated more to gourds and pie pumpkins, the other field to the jack-o'-lantern pumpkins.

3. What's the difference between the different types of pumpkins and gourds?

There's hundreds of different varieties, shapes and sizes. You just try to pick a good mix and go from there.

4. New Bremen hosts a pumpkin festival each year that is known for its giant pumpkins. What goes into growing the giant pumpkins?

They put a lot more work into one or two plants. They basically have to baby-sit them every day. We just go out and just plant on a bigger scale. We don't do quite as much fine-tuning on them as what they do.

5. It's been a difficult year for farmers between a wet year early and a dry year through the summer. What impact does that variation have on the pumpkin crop?

Well, the wet weather this spring we didn't get a real good stand to begin with. Then the ground never seems to get back in quite the shape it should be when you get on it wet. Then when it dries up it's that much worse. The dry weather does have an impact on the size and quality of the fruit. If you put them in wet and it stays wet, it's not so bad. The dry weather definitely has an impact on the size of the pumpkins.

6. When is the peak for harvesting your pumpkin crop?

We start about the middle of September picking pretty heavy. It goes through the beginning of October. We have most of them picked by then.

7. How much work is involved in getting the pumpkins from the patch to market?

It's a lot of manual labor. We try to get high school kids out to help with hauling in from the field. It's a lot of manual, backbreaking labor.

8. Do you use any special techniques to harvest your pumpkins?

Oh, nothing in particular. You just try to make sure you clip the handles, the stems as long as you can so you get all the characteristics of the handle if it has a little twist to it or a little different shape you try to get all that when you clip the handles off. You just get wagons, pick them up and load.