In a typical year, Larry Thompson of Thompson Farms in Boring sees a whitish airborne blight hit his pumpkin plants sometime around the beginning of October. This year, it arrived in August.

“I’ve farmed my whole life and never seen it show up that early,” Thompson said. “I think this is the year that people better get their pumpkins earlier than usual. I think when mid-October runs around, the weather’s going to turn real ugly.”

The year has been a challenging one for pumpkins, Thompson reports, with
the national crop a fraction of what it normally would be thanks to difficult
weather conditions. That also means pumpkin prices are expected to be
higher.

“The east coast is screaming,” Thompson said. “They’re trying to get all the
pumpkins they can from the west coast.”

Thompson said he’s received calls from area stores asking for pumpkins, even
telling him to name a price. And although he used to deliver his pumpkins to
stores, now he only sells them to the public.

The farm has thousands of pumpkins that will be available this year. However,
most are smaller than normal – thanks to the weather.

Ideal conditions for pumpkins (or any cucurbit, the family of plants pumpkins
belong to) includes warm days with temperatures around 80 degrees and
nights around 60 degrees. Thompson noted the temperatures have been
closer to 90 degrees during the day and close to 40 degrees at night.
And thanks to the early onset of blight, the pumpkins have started to turn
orange earlier than usual (another reason why they didn’t get bigger,
Thompson noted).

Thompson’s farm has 11 different varieties of pumpkins, but also offer straw,
sunflowers, corn stalks and other gourds for home decoration. Pumpkin
seekers can pick one themselves or just get one at the farm stand, which also
offers vegetables and fruit grown at the farm.

The pumpkins are expected to cost between 20 and 25 cents per pound and
will be perfect for picking starting Oct. 1. Thompson noted that his are raised
organically, so pickers don’t have to worry about harmful chemicals getting on
their skin or clothes.

The Thompson Farm is located at 24727 SE Bohna Park Road in Damascus.
Hours are 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For more information,
call 503-667-9138.

Other area pumpkin purveyors:
Olson Farms, 22255 SE Borges Rd. Damascus; phone 503-658-2237.
Liepold Farms, 14480 SE Richey Rd. Boring; phone 503-663-3442.