The Virginia Pumpkin Grower’s Association is holding a Pumpkin Field Day from 4-8 p.m. tomorrow at Brann-King Farms (1796 Rustic Ridge, Riner).
A field day is an on-farm educational event, often hosted by the farmer inviting other farmers, extension agents, students and anyone interested in agriculture to walk through the fields, barns and pastures to see the real-world results of on-farm research or innovation.
Brann-King is one of the largest pumpkin producers in Virginia. In the ‘90s, Dan Brann, legendarily began growing pumpkins in his home garden, harvesting them and driving around the neighborhood on a lawnmower to sell them. Now, he and partner King provide more than 50,000 pumpkins to Walmart growing them on 30 acres on Riner’s Windy Hills Farm.
Always improving, Brann-King Farm are hosting the field day to present the results of a field trial of 10 cultivars pumpkins they’ve grown this summer.
A pumpkin trial compares the qualities of the different pumpkins that are valuable to pumpkin growers – and consumers – like stem thickness, how well that stem is attached, describes whether fruit is flat, round or tall and its color from white, blue to deep orange.
“There are trendy pumpkins each year,” Elaine Lidholm communications director for Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said. “But, the backbone of the wholesale industry is the orange jack-o-lantern type pumpkin.”
Recently, Virginia breeders have developed white, pink, orange and green striped, blue-green pumpkins and consumers are increasingly interested in shapes other than round, like flat and turban, and mini to the giant sizes.
As well as being an education venue where farmers learn about new marketing trends, field days give farmers a chance to swap innovative ideas and management advice.
“I do it a little different than most farmers,” pumpkin-expert Dan Brann said, “We concentrate on trickle irrigation on each row. A little water can go a long way.”
The region is very good climate for growing quality pumpkins says Brann reporting that pumpkin brokers are coming from Indiana and as far away as Georgia to buy Virginia pumpkins.
But their not just quantity of pumpkins, it’s quality.
Brann says that Virginia Tech’s Cooperative Extension program is very important to grow pumpkins in a sustainable way.
“Growing pumpkins have to use a lot of pesticides, but we try to learn how to use them only when we need them,” he said.
The field day will present the results of disease suppression, insect and weed control trials in those ten types of pumpkins.
The conversation will also describe ways to incorporate wildflowers – Brann-King plants buckwheat – to support honey and squash bees and other pollinators that are critical for hefty pumpkin yields.
In the evening, the field day is followed by a meal at Sinkland Farms.
Southwest Virginia is well-suited for growing pumpkins producing 2,300 acres of wholesale pumpkins valued at more than $11 million according to VDACS.
“An increasing number of Virginia farmers have effectively utilized the state’s favorable environment for growing pumpkins,” Lidholme said. “They are taking advantage of higher elevations and cooler temperatures to produce a high-value crop that consumers enjoy.”
There are at least 200 pumpkin growers in Virginia and growing.
“Most growers don’t grow pumpkins exclusively but add them to an existing crop such as produce, Christmas trees or other products or animals. It’s a great way to diversify a farm or to add an extra income stream,” Linholm said.
October is Virginia Pumpkin month.
