There”s good news and bad. The good news: The headless horseman may have to look outside of Lowndes County for his traditional pumpkin wear. The bad news: Fall and Halloween fanatics also may have to forego locally grown pumpkins.
Country Pumpkins in Caledonia, a traditional stop for the fall”s favorite fruit (yes, pumpkins are a fruit), has about one-tenth of its normal fare this year. And with 100-plus temperatures paired with a dry spell, Dwight Colson”s pumpkin patch truly is patchy.
“This field normally would be overflowing with pumpkins,” said Colson, pointing out one lonely vine devoid of pumpkins.
Throughout the 30-acre field, several vines have only one pumpkin.
“This one may grow to a good size pumpkin,” Colson said, stooping to pull back leaves, exposing a green pumpkin still a week or so ahead of turning orange.
Country Pumpkins is beginning its season with the inventory Colson likes to end it with, he said. And where the farm normally has pumpkins up to 50 and 100 pounds, this year”s picks average about 20 pounds.
“There ought to be pumpkins everywhere out here on the ground,” Colson said, as he walked through the field.
Pumpkins are moved by the load from his pumpkin field on Wolfe Road to his farm and home on Spruill Road for sale and decoration.
Pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn and corn stalks adorn bundled hay in the yard, which is decorated to welcome children of all ages.
“We”ve run so short on pumpkins, people have started taking our decorations,” laughed Carrie Labonte, manager of County Pumpkins.
“It”s been extremely hot and extremely dry, so it”s just not making pumpkins,” Colson said.
Colson, who has been growing pumpkins and “decorative vegetables” for the past 10 years, usually plants around the Fourth of July and harvests in mid-September. This year, rain didn”t come until mid-July, so he waited until then to plant.
Other farmers Colson knows, with ailing pumpkin crops, have bought pumpkins from out of state to get through the fall season.
Farmers who irrigate and areas of the state with significant rain have had a better season.
Nationally, a nearly yearlong canned pumpkin shortage is over. Last year, much of the Nestle crop in Morton, Ill., rotted in the field due to too much rain.
Nestle sells about 85 percent of the canned pumpkin in the U.S. under its Libby”s brand, The Associated Press reports. Last fall, the company warned it might not have enough to get through the holidays. After last year”s shortage, Nestle planted extra and planted early this year.
“There”s always a shortage (of pumpkins) in the state of Mississippi, because Mississippi is not a huge pumpkin-growing state,” said Jeff Wilson, horticulturist with the Lowndes County Extension Service.
The top pumpkin-production states are Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California, according to the University of Illinois Extension Service. About 90-95 percent of the processed pumpkins in the United States are grown in Illinois.
In Tishomingo and Prentiss counties, where the fields have seen more rain, pumpkin growers are reporting high yields in their third week of picking. Heat can actually help the pumpkin crop when there”s rain, too, Wilson said.
“An inch or 2 of rain can make a huge difference, in any crop,” Wilson noted, adding Lowndes County has been “extremely dry.”
At his own home in New Hope, Wilson had no rain at all in September, for the first time in four years.
Fortunately, Colson”s farm, where he grows cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat and oats, has more to offer fall lovers than pumpkins and squash of all kinds and shapes.
He offers hay rides and games throughout the week. A new tether-ball-like swing is a favorite among children. His fall playland also offers corn toss, a straw maze, kid-size pedal tractors, a cotton wagon, a corn box (instead of a sand box) and more.
And he still plans to continue picking pumpkins, as the crop grows.
“We”re hoping to bring in a few loads on the weekend, just to sustain the weekend crowd,” said Labonte.
With the crop as sparse as it is, Colson predicts some patrons, who visit his 600-acre farm from near and far for pumpkins and fun, will have to turn to stores like Lowe”s to get their pumpkins.
“We call ourselves Country Pumpkins. This year,” he laughed, “they may have to go get town pumpkins.”
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