Wet summer’s impact on pumpkin patches
FLUSHING TWP., Mich. (WNEM) - It’s the beginning of pumpkin patch season, but after a dry and then very wet summer, some are wondering how the gourds fared in those conditions.
“I don’t anticipate a shortage of pumpkins. There’s still plenty to go around. It’s just, we did face our hardships this year,” said Rose Rietz, the farm manager at Flushing Farms.
Fall season is around the corner, and many seasonal attractions are starting to open their doors to the public including one popular fall attraction: pumpkin patches.
“The pumpkins itself is a lot of work. It’s preparing the fields, spraying the fields, laying plastic, irrigation, starting seeds,” Rietz explained.
Those seeds need water, but after a very wet summer this year, Rietz said there have been a few challenges.
“This field for the majority of the season has been underwater, and it’s demolished our crop,” she said.
She said the farm is also dealing with frost damage early on in the season, but Flushing Farms, which is on its sixth year of operations, knows how to handle adversity.
“We do lose quite of few pumpkins in this field. However, we plant plenty and we plant them elsewhere so that we can usually get something out,” Rietz said.
The farm could have some special pumpkins in the future.
“I planted quite a few variety this year, mostly of the medium to large range. I also got a few seeds from pumpkins that could theoretically get up to a thousand pounds. I don’t see us getting that type of weight out of them,” Rietz said.
Flushing Farms has started its fall operations for the public.
They say it is still a little early for pumpkins, but there are plenty of other activities, including three corn mazes, tractor train rides, and farm animals to see and feed.
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