Jerry Brust, IPM Vegetable Specialist, University of Maryland; jbrust@umd.edu
In my very unofficial survey of pumpkin quality at box stores, grocery stores, road-side markets or anywhere else they sell pumpkins I have been impressed with the overall quality of this year’s crop (Fig. 1). The size may be a little smaller than average but the pumpkins themselves have few defects and the handles for the most part are green and firm. In the past pumpkins could often be found with fruit defects and withered brown handles. The places I have been appear to be selling the orange fruit at a decent pace which is remarkable considering the un-Fall-like weather we have had so far with the heat and humidity. Overall the quality is a testament to our area growers who did a good job protecting their crop from the many diseases that were very active this wet summer.
Figure 1. Quality pumpkins for sale at the market