Plenty of pumpkins for jack-o'-lantern time

By Jaedda Armstrong

One with goosebumps looks like "somebody dripped hot candle wax" on it and another with a long neck resembles a "butternut squash on steroids." Those are just two of the odder pumpkins available at the Five Points Community Farm Market in Norfolk.

There should be plenty of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes for buyers to choose from across the state, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. This year's pumpkin crop is good, and in many places excellent, the department said.

It estimates that 67.5 million pounds of pumpkins will be sold this year, and that the crop is worth $10 million. This is the first year the department has reported on the state of Virginia's pumpkin crop.

"It's been a pretty good growing season because of the favorable weather we've had," said Tom Baker, a pumpkin farmer who owns Brookdale Farm in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. "There was no extreme or excessive heat, and I never had to run irrigation over the pumpkins - and that's very rare."

This year, Baker grew 7 acres of all types and sizes of pumpkins - 1 acre more than last year. An acre usually holds at least 1,000 pumpkins, he said. His biggest pumpkin this year was about 34 pounds.

That's a baby compared to the pumpkins grown by Danny Byrum, a farmer in Carrollton.

"I grew some giants. I mean the ones that are hard for people to pick up," said Byrum, who provides pumpkins to the Five Points market on Church Street. "My biggest one was about 175 pounds."

More people are buying pumpkins this year at the Five Points market, said Bev Sell, the manager. She said she expects to sell about 300 this season compared with last year's 100.

"People are keeping it simple this year," Sell said. "They're not going out buying elaborate decorations."

Not everyone is having a good year.

Judy Clarke 's pumpkin sales are down from previous years at her Clarke Farm in Chesapeake's Western Branch area.

A few years ago, she had 10 acres of pumpkins; this year, only 2 acres survived.

"There was a lot of rain. They get full of water and rot," Clarke said. "There was also a lot of humidity that caused powdery mold to take over some of the pumpkins."

She has sold about 1,000 pumpkins so far, nowhere near the nearly 4,000 she sold last year.

"Last year's crop was bigger," said Kevin Semones, director of the Virginia Pumpkin Growers' Association. "The thing with this year is that there are a lot of big sizes, but the quantity is less."

Still, Virginia's doing better than many states. In central Mississippi, according to one news report, heavy rain caused some pumpkin growers to lose about 20 percent of their crop. In eastern New York, another report said, the wet, cool summer delayed pollination and caused pumpkin seedlings at many farms to turn to mush.

"We're more fortunate than they are," said Semones. "So it's still a pretty good crop."

Jaedda Armstrong, (757) 222-5846, jaedda.armstrong@pilotonline.com