Dr. Alan Walters of Southern Illinois University joins the AccuWeather Network to explain how heavy rainfall and summer heat hurt the pumpkin harvest as we continue into autumn.

Illinois

Pumpkin farmers in Illinois have experienced a challenging season due to extreme weather, including heavy spring rains followed by intense summer heat and drought. Despite these conditions, most pumpkin crops have performed well, with early rains helping to recharge soil moisture before the onset of drought.

Dr. Alan Walters from Southern Illinois University explained that pumpkins, like other members of the Cucurbitaceae family, are vulnerable to both excessive heat and water. Efforts are underway to breed new pumpkin varieties with greater heat tolerance, a process that can take eight to twelve years. These advancements may also benefit other fall crops facing similar weather pressures.

How extreme weather has impacted pumpkin harvest this season

I love fall. I love pumpkin picking. I successfully have beautiful pumpkins and I was very thrilled with what I got. I bring this up because it's now time for the Agriculture Advantage. Yes, and if you throw the AccuWeather in there, we could say it's triple A time. I like that. All right, it's been a challenging growing season for many crops, from corn struggling with early rain and late season heat to dry fields for soybeans. Pumpkins are facing the same weather pressures. This week's AccuWeather Agriculture Advantage looks at how extreme conditions are impacting the fall pumpkin harvest. Joining us is Dr. Alan Walters, Professor of Vegetable Science and Breeding at Southern Illinois University. Oh, what a title there. Let's discuss, this year brought heavy spring rains followed by summer heat and drought. How has that impacted pumpkin yields and quality across different regions? Well, overall, the pumpkin harvest is really good. The early rains was kind of beneficial in a way because pumpkins are planted a little bit later than a lot of other crops. And that kind of helped recharge the soil for the drought that was to come a little bit later. So the early rains were kind of beneficial. Not everybody had the same luck. Some people struggled to plant a little bit, but overall, the pumpkins look really good right now. Of course, like any crop, they can be vulnerable to the weather conditions. What makes pumpkins vulnerable when the weather conditions turn hot or dry? Pumpkins, like a lot of the other crops in the Cucurbita ACA family, gourds and squash, they are vulnerable to a lot of the similar weather that create problems in pumpkins. The heat is a major part of this because pumpkins don't set well in extreme heat and the size is stunted during extreme heat events and too much water can flood the field. So we have a lot of stuff that can happen if it occurs at the right time for the pumpkin production season. You'll have to say that phrase again Cucurbita ACA, something, the breed of pumpkin. Say that again. I'm not even gonna try to say it. Cucurbita ACA. That, amazing. Anyway, beyond pumpkins, I love it. Do similar fall crops like squash and gourds, oh, I love a gourd, do they face the same kind of weather pressures? Yes, they're in the same plant family as I just repeated again for you. And they have a lot of the same problems with the heat set and drought conditions will have an effect on those cute little pumpkins as well as those gourds that we like to have so much during this time of the year. Of course, there's new technology and I understand that you are breeding new heat tolerant pumpkin hybrids. How do these varieties handle extreme temperatures compared to the traditional ones? Well, we're working on developing pumpkins that have a little bit more heat tolerance to fruit set because during fruit set, it's very important to have a great pumpkin to set on that vine. And you see one of the ones that we have right now that's in our breeding program that has the heat set tolerance as well as the tolerance to develop a large size during heat events, which a lot of the ones that are on the market today does not have. How long does it take to develop a new heat resistant pumpkin variety and what progress are you seeing and could this research help other fall crops too? Well, it takes a long time. It takes about eight to 12 years by the time we make crosses, by the time we kind of increase those lines, stabilize those lines and then make the hybrids and do the evaluations. It takes a number of years to kind of get that pumpkin to where we want it to be, where it's stable. And we're kind of sure that the pumpkin will do well in a wide variety of different environments. And I see this as becoming something really important for a lot of other crops as well because we have more and more extremities, especially in the summer with high heat and there's a lot of other crops that really need heat tolerance in them as we kind of move on in future years, I think. Yeah, no, really fascinating and amazing work being done. We appreciate you sharing that. I mean, you go pumpkin picking and don't realize how much science and research has been going in to keeping these pumpkins, whether they're on our front porch or eating them during the fall season. All right, Dr. Alan Walters, Professor of Vegetable Science and Breeding at Southern Illinois University. Thank you so much again for joining us. Thank you for having me and go pumpkins.

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