Heat and drought leave Kansas pumpkin growers scrambling before Halloween
One farmer drained both irrigation ponds and chose his apple trees over his pumpkins. Another watered almost nonstop, but her pumpkins still fell short of their usual size.
A spring freeze damaged apple crops, while rainy fall weekends disrupted picking season in the Northeast. AccuWeather’s Heather Fordham visits two New York orchards to see how family farms are adapting to a difficult harvest.
Tom Brown had two irrigation ponds and a choice: save his pumpkins or his apple trees.
The trees won. After pumping both ponds dry during a punishing growing season in south-central Kansas, the owner of Meadowlark Farm Orchard and Cidery near Wichita bought pumpkins from another farm to supply his fall visitors, KMUW reported.
His season began with too much water. A 7-inch June rain washed out plants and killed about 30% of his pumpkin crop, Brown told KMUW. Heat and drought followed.
Across south-central Kansas, June rainfall averaged 8.26 inches, making it the region’s fifth-wettest June on record, Kansas State University reported.
But July and August brought just 0.75 of an inch of rain to Wichita’s Eisenhower National Airport, compared with a normal 8.28 inches. It was Wichita’s second-driest July–August on record, behind 1936. Every August day reached at least 90 degrees, another first for the city, the National Weather Service said.
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At Klausmeyer Farm and Pumpkin Patch in Clearwater, southwest of Wichita, even nearly continuous drip irrigation couldn’t produce the usual crop.
“We did not stop the watering, but for two days,” owner Debbie Klausmeyer told KMUW.
The farm had smaller pumpkins, but lacked the large carving pumpkins customers wanted. Water stress during flowering and fruit development can cause blossoms and young fruit to drop, reducing yields and pumpkin size, Penn State Extension explains.
Pumpkins grow in a field in Kansas. (Image: Getty Images)
As the climate warms, growers face increasing pressure to adapt. More intense rainfall and greater drying between rain events are projected across the southern Plains, according to the USDA’s Southern Plains Climate Hub.
Drip irrigation, mulch and soil-moisture sensors can help growers conserve water and guide watering, UConn Extension advises. Keeping soil covered with crop residue and reducing tillage can also improve water absorption and limit erosion during downpours.
The challenge is making farms better able to handle both extremes: too much water at once and too little when crops need it.
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