All summer, as the drought worsened and prices of staples like corn and soybeans spiked, there was a certain subset of America, already thinking about their costumes, with one worry: Are we going to run out of pumpkins?
Now that decorative gourd season is upon us, we have some good news. There’s no shortage of pumpkins. In fact, we’ve got something like a bumper crop.
From the Associated Press:
The drought forced thousands of ranchers to sell off cattle because pastures were too dry to graze, and corn and soybean farmers watched their plants wither in the summer sun. But John Ackerman said most of the pumpkins he planted fared “fantastic” for a simple, single reason: Pumpkins dig dry weather. …
Pathology may help explain why pumpkins coped better than most crops at beating the heat. A relative of squashes, cucumbers, watermelons and cantaloupe, pumpkins tend to thrive in warm, temperate climates that stave off fungus, mold and other rind-rotting diseases that spread in wet conditions, said Dan Egel, a plant pathologist with Purdue University’s extension.
Also, pumpkins grown from seeds — the most common way — have tremendous root systems that reach deep into the ground, enabling them to reach moisture that corn and other crops without taproots cannot find.
See? You learned something about pumpkins.
This young gentleman was already aware of the intricacies of pumpkin-growing, though his theology is certainly suspect.
And we will also note that you should under no circumstances take this guy’s pumpkin investment advice.
