• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

South Georgia Pumpkin Growers May Soon Have Access to Disease-Resistant Variety

Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

By Robert Luke, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Oct. 28--Tattnall County Extension agent Reid Torrance remembers this call from a farmer in South Georgia last week: "His pumpkin vines were defoliating rapidly, and he wanted to see whether he could spray a chemical to get his pumpkins to ripen before all the foliage was gone."

The answer was no. The chemical, ethaphon, which accelerates ripening of fruit such as tomatoes, isn't approved for use on pumpkins.

The farmer's plight highlights a hobgoblin of a problem in South Georgia, where growing pumpkins is considered a crapshoot in what otherwise is one of the nation's four most productive vegetable-growing regions. South Georgia annually harvests more than 190,000 acres of vegetables -- including onions, tomatoes, watermelons, bell peppers and cucumbers -- valued at upward of $725 million.

But only a few hundred acres are devoted to pumpkins.

That's about to change, if researchers at the University of Georgia have their way.

Their mission: to develop a variety of pumpkin resistant to disease. As it is, pumpkins are vulnerable to viruses that can stunt growth or lead to crop failure. Aphids, prime carriers of viral diseases, peak in numbers in late summer and early fall.

"Consequently, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to produce standard pumpkins in South Georgia for the Halloween market," says George Boyhan, an Extension horticulturist at the University of Georgia.

But come next year, South Georgia pumpkin growers are likely have a new disease-resistant variety developed by Boyhan and colleagues. A UGA faculty committee will soon review data on it, and -- if the panel approves -- seed for the new, as-yet-unamed pumpkin variety could be commercially available next spring.

Pumpkins are related to squashes and gourds. The new pumpkin is in the same species as butternut squash, while the conventional pumpkin is in the same species as summer squash.

The new pumpkin has its origins in Brazil, where UGA horticulturists Gerard Krewer and Marco Fonseca and Union County Extension agent Tim Jennings collected seeds on trips to help small farmers there in the 1990s.

"The original fruit produced from the plants from Brazil ranged in shape from very flat to extremely oblong," Boyhan says. "The colors ranged from light tan to dark red, with some fruit even having green stripes."

From those, Boyhan, Krewer and UGA horticulturist Darbie Granberry began selecting types comparable to conventional pumpkins. It took nearly 10 years of breeding to arrive at a pumpkin suitable for the Halloween market.

Shaped like regular pumpkins, they range in size from 7 to 15 pounds. The immature fruit is bright yellow, turning to a bright burnt orange when ripe. Conventional pumpkins are green when young, then gradually turn a dull orange.

The new pumpkin is edible.

"When immature, it tastes like summer squash, except it has a firmer texture," Boyhan says. Mature fruit can be used to make pumpkin pies and tastes the same as regular pumpkins, according to Boyhan.

No name has yet been selected for the new variety.

"Darbie's middle name is Merwin, and we thought that might be a pretty good name for the pumpkin," says Boyhan of his colleague.

"It's kind of like Merlin. Of course, Krewer wants it named after him.

"Maybe we ought to call it the Ipanema pumpkin," says Boyhan, chuckling.

-----

To see more of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ajc.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

More News in this Category