PUMPKIN PRODUCTION PATCHY

Good grief, Charlie Brown! It's boom or bust in this year's pumpkin patch.

Cool weather didn't nudge bees into pollinating the flowers of pumpkins, but those that bloomed on a warm, sunny day grew in girth under the press of lots of rain, except in low-lying areas where overly wet conditions led to mildew and rot.

"One year, you think you've got it figured out and then Mother Nature fights against you," said Donald G. Kingston, Kingston's Roadside Stand, Buck's Bridge, a seller at the Canton Farmers Market. "We should have had thousands of pumpkins. We picked three or four hundred."

Timothy E. Fuller, Canton, who sells produce at markets in Potsdam and Gouverneur, fared even worse.

"We got one pumpkin and half a bushel of delicata squash and that's it," he said. "They bloomed beautifully and then, there was no fruit."

Noble Farm, which sells at the Canton Farmers Market and has a stand on Route 68, is still harvesting truckloads.

"We have a lot," Wendy L. Noble said. "A lot of it's the soil conditions that make it good growing. We were high enough that it drained well."

The Backyard Farmer in Adams Center sells pumpkins grown in Jefferson County and Central New York.

"It's a fantastic season," owner Brian R. Sheley said. "This is the kind of pumpkin year you dream about."

Even though the price of fuel and fertilizer has raised the cost of growing pumpkins, most buyers won't see an increase.

Mr. Sheley is selling pumpkins at 30 cents per pound, the same as last year, with a $10 maximum price. The biggest pumpkin at the Canton Farmers Market wasn't more than $12.

The harvest for some growers came down squarely in the middle.

"Mine was fair," said Michael B. Watkins, Lazy River Farm, Hermon. "If I hadn't had squash bugs, I would have had a really good harvest. Even still, I have more pumpkins than I need."

At Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County's Learning Farm, pumpkins grown for an annual harvest festival showed patches of mildew and deer bites, but still produced fruit.

"We have a surplus out here, yet," horticulturist Stephen F. VanderMark said.

Certified organic grower David C. Rice, Sweetcore Farm, Russell, doesn't bother to plant big pumpkins.

"There's no premium for organic carving pumpkins," he said. "In general, I've heard vine crops are down because they love heat."