Part four
IRISH VALLEY - When fall arrives, a few things typically come to mind: football, fairs and pumpkin-flavored everything.
For the Haupt Farm, that means it's about time to pick pumpkins - a lot of them.
Wilford Haupt grows 3.5 acres of pumpkins on the 164-acre farm that his grandparents began in the 1920s and his parents, Naomi "Janie" and James, sustained for decades. The farm in Shamokin and Rockefeller townships is intersected by Irish Valley Road.
Haupt has years of farming experience, but he will be the first to say that growing pumpkins is not as easy as planting a seed and pulling a perfectly round pumpkin four months later. Like all crops, it's a daily fight against weather, bacteria and bugs.
No 'whoppers' this year
Haupt grows hundreds of pumpkins on a hill above Irish Valley Road. The vines, which can grow several feet, often make their way down an embankment and approach the road, sometimes making for an unusual scene.
But the real action happens in the field, where a variety of pumpkins will be picked by hand this month. There are neck pumpkins and baby pams, which are good for pies, wee-b-littles and pump-ke-mons, which are ornamental, and Aladdins and cronuses, which average 20 to 30 pounds and are commonly used for Halloween carving.
"This year, there is on average one pumpkin on a stalk, but it should be two to three," Haupt said. "(Cronus and Aladdin) pumpkins should be around 30 pounds when ready to be picked, but there are more pumpkins around 20. The size just isn't there this year. There are no whoppers."
Haupt said the reduction in size and yield is mainly due to the weather. This growing season, it was wet in June and dry in July and August. During the recent dry spell, the patch has been watered often to prevent the stalk from drying out, which could kill the stem.
Then there are diseases. Haupt said at least one study he read related there are 50 bacterial diseases that attack vine crops. Powderly mildew, a common fungal disease, attacked the patch this year. The mildew is detected by a white coating on the surface of leaves, which can succumb to the infestation by atrophy.
"The mildew can be transported by air. There's nothing you can do to stop it," Haupt said. "When it's dry and hot, it's worse. You see it in zucchini first."
Haupt uses fungicides, such as Quitec and regular copper sprays, to "burn away" the mildew. Leaves that turn brown are areas where the mildew has died.
Aphids, one of the more destructive pests that farmers face, feed on pumpkins and leave behind a sticky substance known as honeydew, a byproduct that makes the pumpkin appear to have a wax coating. The skin of the pumpkins can turn black with the growth of a fungus. At least one pumpkin in Haupt's patch had this coating.
Harvest time
In Pennsylvania, pumpkin seeds are planted around Memorial Day. After several weeks, male flowers start to appear. The flowers live about a day and typically die and drop off the vine. After a week or so, female flowers develop. Bees, insects and the wind transfer pollen from male to female flowers. If all goes to plan, a pumpkin begins to ripen around Labor Day.
At the Haupt Farm, the harvest started last week and will continue until about Oct. 1. The pumpkins will be picked when they turn orange and the stems harden.
The pumpkins are for sale 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays at the Lewisburg Farmers Market, 7 to 11 a.m. Saturdays in downtown Shamokin, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays in downtown Sunbury. Depending on the yield, the pumpkins are also taken to the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction in Mifflinburg.
Despite the low yield this year, the pumpkin harvest can turn around in a hurry. In past years there have been fewer pumpkins, but more that weigh upward of 50 pounds.
"A smaller crop can also mean easier work and more money," Haupt said. "Next year could be the best crop you have ever seen."