By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
Plenty of good pumpkins should be available for Georgia shoppers
this Halloween. And a few precautions can make sure that pretty
pumpkin doesn’t turn scary before its time.
Properly cured pumpkins can last as long as three months, said
Ken Seebold, a plant pathologist with the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. A pumpkin
needs a consistent 80-degree (Fahrenheit) temperature for about
two weeks to cure.
Pickin’ a punkin’
“Most pumpkins on the market should be sound and should last
through the Halloween season,” Seebold said.
But shoppers can look for a few things to avoid getting a bad
pumpkin, he said. Avoid pumpkins with mushy handles, or stems.
This is a sign of disease. Pumpkins with cracks or pits in the
rind may decay early.
To prolong the life of pumpkins, keep them out of direct
sunlight and in a dry, cool place, said Terry Kelley, a
horticulturist with the UGA Extension Service. But once you
carve that pumpkin into a jack-o’-lantern, its life becomes
shorter.
“It will start to break down quickly,” Kelley said. “You can
preserve it a little longer by placing a damp towel over it when
it’s not on display.” Refrigeration will extend the life of a
jack-o’-lantern, too.
Georgia pumpkins
With only about 400 acres of pumpkins, Georgia is a relatively
small pumpkin-producing state, Kelley said. Tennessee, Ohio and
Indiana produce much more than Georgia. Tennessee has about
4,500 acres of pumpkins a year.
“Georgia imports the vast majority of pumpkins sold here,”
Kelley said. “But most of the pumpkins grown in Georgia are sold
locally at retail roadside markets.”
Georgia’s crop is good this year despite wet summer weather. “We
had just enough dry spells to allow the crop to make,” Kelley
said.
Because of the wet weather, however, diseases were tough on the
2003 crop. “Georgia pumpkins are susceptible to a number of
diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses,” Seebold said.
A disease called Phytophthora crown rot likes warm, wet weather
and caused a lot of problems for some growers, he said.
Most of Georgia’s pumpkins are grown in the northern part of the
state, where it’s just cool enough to keep disease pressure to a
minimum. It’s hard to grow pumpkins in south Georgia’s climate
without intense management.
