Dark Knight
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Fungus causes pumpkins to develop mold
Halloween lovers hoping to create the perfect jack-o-lantern might want to shop carefully this year because of a pumpkin fungus that has put a dent in some crops.
Two types of fungus or rot have affected crops from the Midwest to New England, causing pumpkins to develop mold in some spots and then begin decomposing, said Daniel Egel, a Purdue University Extension plant pathologist. The entire inside of the pumpkin eventually rots until the shell falls apart.
A combination of high temperatures and record rain in August has helped the fungi flourish, Egel said.
Nina Kent, co-owner of Kent's Cucurbits in White County, said one variety of her pumpkins has about 85 percent loss because of the rot.
"We really didn't know until we went out and started picking around the 17th of September," she said. "It's as if they're rotting from the inside out."
The rot has also hit Purdue University's Meigs Farm in Lafayette. Karen Rane, a plant disease diagnostician, turned over a pumpkin and the underside collapsed in her hands.
More at link. Better buy them early, it says:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061005/ap_on_sc/pumpkin_problems&printer=1
Halloween lovers hoping to create the perfect jack-o-lantern might want to shop carefully this year because of a pumpkin fungus that has put a dent in some crops.
Two types of fungus or rot have affected crops from the Midwest to New England, causing pumpkins to develop mold in some spots and then begin decomposing, said Daniel Egel, a Purdue University Extension plant pathologist. The entire inside of the pumpkin eventually rots until the shell falls apart.
A combination of high temperatures and record rain in August has helped the fungi flourish, Egel said.
Nina Kent, co-owner of Kent's Cucurbits in White County, said one variety of her pumpkins has about 85 percent loss because of the rot.
"We really didn't know until we went out and started picking around the 17th of September," she said. "It's as if they're rotting from the inside out."
The rot has also hit Purdue University's Meigs Farm in Lafayette. Karen Rane, a plant disease diagnostician, turned over a pumpkin and the underside collapsed in her hands.
More at link. Better buy them early, it says:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061005/ap_on_sc/pumpkin_problems&printer=1
