So far, so good for this year's San Joaquin County pumpkin harvest.
"Overall, the plants have held up, the weather cooperated even though it is 90 some degrees by October 1st," says Tommy Van Groningen of Van Groningen & Sons of Manteca. "It's just been an outstanding year."
Van Groningen has planted 1,380 acres of the orange gourd in Stockton, French Camp and Salida.
Last year, two bouts of extreme heat destroyed some of the county's crop, along with some flooding from spring storms, creating a shortage of pumpkins just before Halloween. San Joaquin County produces the majority of pumpkins in California.
The 2017 crop was valued at over $16 million, down from over $28 million the year before, according to the San Joaquin County Ag Commissioners Report. This year, the warm weather is actually helping to "green up" pumpkins that were not quite ready to harvest.
Van Groningen says pumpkin prices in the stores should be average this year. We found a large carving pumpkin selling for $9.98 outside a Stockton Home Depot store. A medium size carving pumpkin was selling for $5.98.
Van Groningen added if you buy now, keep them out of the direct heat and they should last awhile.
"If you want to buy them right now, keep them inside," Van Groningen said. "I don't see any reason why they shouldn't hold until Halloween when you are ready to carve them and place them out."
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