Petite pumpkins popping up around the country due to heat, dry weather

Growers say they’re seeing fewer – and smaller – pumpkins in the patch. CTV’s Spencer Turcotte finds out why.

Pint-sized pumpkins won’t be hard to come by if you’re heading to any pumpkin patches in Canada this year.

A dry and hot summer across much of the country is largely to blame.

According to the Canadian Drought Monitor, about 71 per cent of Canada was classified as abnormally dry, or moderate to extreme aridity.

In Waterloo, Ont., vibrant rows of pumpkin varieties were on display at Good Family Pumpkins on Tuesday.

But this summer’s weather hasn’t been overly kind to the plants there either.

“The lack of rain has definitely, in August, affected some growth,” said Karen Good, co-owner of Good Family Pumpkins.

She said their Halloween-type pumpkins have had a bit of a spook.

“I think with some of our bigger pumpkins, I feel that they’re smaller,” said Good.

Although, they’ve had better luck than others.

“For our farm, not as significant as maybe some other farms in Quebec - or P.E.I. was also having some issues,” said Good.

Philip Quinn of Quinn Farm in Quebec told CTV News there were some pumpkins that should be at least 30 per cent bigger there.

He’s also noticed fewer pumpkins in his patch.

“Usually a nice healthy plant will have five or six fruit on it for this variety ... But we’re seeing plants here with just one single large fruit and then maybe a smaller fruit on it,” Quinn said.

It seems Good Family Pumpkins may have lucked out, considering they haven’t taken much of a hit.

“Whether it’s our soil, whether we just got lucky, the varieties we grow – hard to know,” said Good.

It means more out-of-town customers may be coming her way.

“I get people here saying, ‘Yeah, my friend has a farm up north and they don’t have any pumpkins. It’s a total crop failure.’ And that’s maybe an hour or two from here,” she said.

So, with the spooky season fast approaching, some patches are dealing with the trickiness of little precipitation. Others, have the treat of an almost normal crop.

With reporting from CTV News Montreal’s Christine Long and The Canadian Press.