Illinois Pumpkin Growers Hit Hard By Disease, Fungus

The rotten pumpkin collapses easily under Bruce Curry’s boot heel.

“That one’s pretty nasty,” said the Alpha, Ill., pumpkin grower who takes on the persona of “Bruce O’Lantern” at this time of year at the Country Corner produce market. “Thirty-seven years of raising pumpkins, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

He has bare spots in his pumpkin patch and rotting pumpkins sitting side by side with healthy ones in the field. He shook his head as he walked across the 10-acre patch Monday, stopping to turn over a pumpkin only to find it rotted.

“There should be nothing but green and orange,” he said.

Curry isn’t alone. Pumpkin-growers across Illinois, the nation’s biggest pumpkin producer, have been hit hard by disease and fungus. This summer’s heavy rains and oppressive heat makes this the second straight sub-par year for Illinois’ crop.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Quad City Times (Illinois).