OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Skinny Bones Pumpkin Patch and Wenninghoff's Farm prepare for fall harvest with crops showing resilience despite heavy rainfall this summer.
- This summer, the Omaha metro saw more rain than we did last summer, which has been good for some crops and not good for others.
- "We're up on a bluff and so we're pretty sloped and we have well drained soils that also helps so the water didn't pool and cause our pumpkins to die back."
- Skinny Bones opens for the season September 5 and Wenninghoff's will be ready for fall harvest September 15.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Fall is almost here which means it's almost time for the annual trip to the pumpkin patch. With the rainy and hot summer we've had, 3 News Now reporter Jill Lamkins wanted to check in with local farms to see how their crops are doing and if they'll be ready for visitors come fall harvest.
This field of pumpkins at Skinny Bones Pumpkin Patch was planted in early to mid-June. Now in late August, the flowers are starting to bloom into all shapes and sizes.
But not without a few obstacles.
"There's a few things with some of our applications or spraying that we've had to adjust it because of how much water we have," Jared Bledsoe said.
This summer, the Omaha metro saw more rain than we did last summer, which has been good for some crops.
"It's been great for the flowers," Bledsoe said.
But not so good for others.
"I would say the wind late season has been a challenge. Um, there was some damage to our corn, for example," Josiah Dallmann said.
But at Skinny Bones, as far as the pumpkins go, the conditions have been manageable.
"We're up on a bluff and so we're pretty sloped and we have well drained soils that also helps so the water didn't pool and cause our pumpkins to die back," Dallmann said.
It's a similar story at Wenninghoff's Farm in northwest Omaha.
"The weather pushed it back a little bit, but they'll be, they'll size up pretty nice," David Wenninghoff said.
Here, Wenninghoff tells us that while it's been a difficult growing season, there's still going to be plenty of pumpkins.
"If there's a lot of rain, it just kind of beats them up and it'll make it, the vines get a little bit of disease in them which will make the vines fall down quicker which will mess up the pumpkins but that's only in certain areas where that kind of happens where water ponds and stuff," he said.
Wenninghoff said prime time pumpkin and gourd picking will be around October 1, and that no matter the yield, prices will stay the same.
Skinny Bones opens for the season September 5 and Wenninghoff's will be ready for fall harvest September 15.
