Sep 17, 2007 7:56 am US/Eastern
Drought In Maryland Causes Damage To Crops
by Meteorologist Tim Williams
REISTERSTOWN, Md. (WJZ) ―
As the drought continues in Maryland, area farmers are trying to assess damage to their fall crops.
Tim Williams reports pumpkins are the latest victims of a drier than normal year.
At Farmer Tom's produce stand in Reisterstown, pumpkins are plentiful and on display.
"The herbicide didn't work. We didn't get a plant to come up, so we have a big open area with no pumpkins," said farmer Tom Reynolds.
But back on Tom Reynolds' farms, they have eight acres devoted just to growing pumpkins.
"It's a mediocre to 50 or 60 percent crop we think so far," said Reynolds.
As the crop matures, there is one thing becoming painfully obvious.
"If you look around, you'll see where you have little cluster pockets of pumpkins and not so much pumpkins everywhere. There should be pumpkins every 5 feet is what should be here," said Reynolds.
Pumpkins rely on rain and timing to grow. A fresh bloom needs water within a few days or the fruit dies.
In this case, thirsty plants aborted hundreds of pumpkins so the vines themselves could survive.
But all this leaves Reynolds assessing how much crop he has left to sell.
"Here's a nice beautiful pumpkin, but it's just not many of them," said Reynolds.
Unlike grapes, pumpkins are among the shallow rooted plants that need steady rain. They'll end up smaller if subjected to drought and heat.
Reynolds says the retail price for pumpkins will average about 49 cents per pound.
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