New Jersey can expect a good pumpkin season
Halloween and fall this year will enjoy good-sized and plentiful pumpkins in New Jersey. A farm bureau expert says pin a lot of it on the weather.
Ed Wengryn, of the New Jersey Farm Bureau, says the pumpkin harvest will be a bit above average.
Wengryn says the wet weather this past summer helped.
"The rain would make them slightly bigger than normal. This would be a good year for a good sized pumpkin."
He says all that wet weather can also spawn disease among the pumpkins, but farmers who took preventative steps were able to curb the fungus and shoo deer away from their crops.
"The wet weather and the cool weather in August also brought some of the disease problems, with fungus and things that can be a problem with the growing of the crop. Farmers who stayed on top of that, took preventative steps, did what they were supposed to do, are really going to have good crops."
Wengryn says no New Jersey farmer has complained of total losses in the pumpkin crop this season.
"We are seeing at this time of year, like always increased deer pressure. Deer like to go in, take a bite of a pumpkin, move along, and quite a few farmers are complaining about deer damage. But for the most part, good crop, good harvest is expected."
Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5