Looking ahead to central Kentucky’s pumpkin crop as fall officially begins

SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - Fall has officially arrived and we’re about to get some great weather to go along with it, just in time to visit local orchards and pumpkin patches.

As with all crops, pumpkin patches are greatly impacted by our weather beginning in the spring and even into the fall.

According to Evans Orchard owner Kevan Evans, while pumpkins like rainfall to start in the spring, come summer and fall drier weather is better because too much rainfall can introduce problems in the patches.

“If you don’t keep a fungicide on them, they can get the same thing as tobacco used to get. You get powdery mildew and downy and those types of things which makes your handles look goofy and things like that and the pumpkin doesn’t hold up,” said Evans.

Even though much of our spring and summer have been on the wetter side for much of the season, Evans said their pumpkin crops have been doing as good as ever as they prepare for the fall season.

“They have done excellent, they’ve got good size to them, good weight, except this last month you kind of like them to dry up a little bit to harden up better, but they’re sitting up there pretty good so I think we’ll be okay,” Evans said.

And while the pandemic continues, Evans said they’ve been making changes to their property so everyone can feel safer and more comfortable while enjoying the orchard this fall.

“This year we kind of expanded because we didn’t know where COVID was going to put us, so we increased the size of our play area, put some over this way so everybody can spread out,” Evans said.

Evans said while pumpkins can vary, if you buy them now, most will last you until Halloween, but if you plan to carve them you may want to wait until closer to the holiday.

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