October Frost Could Be A Threat To This Pumpkin Patch Frost Might Be A Threat To This Pumpkin Patch

A race between cold weather and the last pumpkin patch

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– This week is the last week for the Pumpkin Hollow Pumpkin Patch. With this year’s rain and cold weather having a negative impact on the growth of the pumpkin crops, frost now threatens the last patch. Pumpkin Hollow Co-owner Louise Cox said she has some tricks up her sleeves to help counteract the frost.

“If it’s a light frost what we do is we run around with tarps and covers, sheets, newspaper anything to put on top of the pumpkins,” Cox said. “That will keep the frost off the pumpkin and then we remove it the next day and hopefully the weather is nice, and they’ll be fine.”

Frost is just another factor that the farm faced this year in regards to its pumpkin crop. The rainy weather in September made it difficult for the crop to flourish, which led them to seek a second option to getting pumpkins on the ground.

“We couldn’t cultivate the weeds around it, we couldn’t add fertilizer or anything because the ground itself was soaked,” Cox said. “We had to purchase from an auction our first month’s worth of pumpkins and that was very difficult and very costly.”

Along with purchasing from an auction, the Cox’s also applied for a grant that is available to farms 50 acres or less. The Pumpkin Hollow Farm is 47 acres and the grant gave them $15,000 that helped them break-even and offset the losses from the September crop.

Aside from the huge impact that weather plays on the growing of pumpkins, it also affects the number of people who come to the patch. According to Cox, on sunny days the patch tends to have a more decent turnout compared to rainy ones, which she said is expected.

Even though Pumpkin Hollow is a family-run farm and the Cox’s have five sons and 22 grandchildren, they still have room for volunteers. Their neighbor, Chris Gregus, helps out at the farm when he can and he said it is a good opportunity for him.

“I get to interact with people and get experience for future jobs that I have after college,” Gregus said.

The most expensive pumpkins at the farm are $15 and according to Cox, it takes three men to carry them. The cheapest ones are $1 and can fit in the palm of your hand. At the end of the week when the pumpkin patch is over the leftover pumpkins will be put in a donation box and sometimes Cox gives some away for free.

The last day of the patch is Oct.31 and Cox plans on setting up candy stations throughout the barn for the kids to get free candy. The last thing that the farm will be doing before they close for a few months is selling Christmas trees for a few weeks in December.

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