Oct 1, 2015 3 min read

With fall in full swing and Halloween around the corner, people are flocking to their favorite pumpkin patches in search of the perfect decoration or jack-o’-lantern.

But finding what you’re looking for this year may be difficult and pricey. Rain in early June and July stunted pumpkin growth or prevented farmers from getting the plants in the ground on time.

“Prime pumpkin planting season is mid-June to mid-July,” Scott Simmons, owner of Simmons Farm in Canonsburg, said. “But it rained, and to compound it, it was dry afterward.”

Simmons said the farm’s pumpkins are smaller this year than in past years. Prices went up about 50 cents. Simmons said he also was forced to buy pumpkins to supplement those grown on the farm to meet demand.

“But our crop is starting to come in now,” he said. “We started them in the greenhouse and then planted them in the fields. They are just starting to turn orange.”

Chuck Trax, owner of Trax Farm in Finleyville, echoed Simmons’ complaints.

“We didn’t get as much planted as we wanted to,” Trax said. “We always buy a little, but this year we bought more.”

Normally, the farm grows about 10 acres of pumpkins. This year, it grew just seven acres.

“We raised the prices this year because locally, there wasn’t much available,” he said.

The farm is waiting on a shipment from New York.

“Do what you can do and do it well and move on,” he said. “We just ordered a couple more truckloads this year.”

The Springhouse, in Eighty Four, is also supplementing its fields with purchased pumpkins.

“It has not been a great pumpkin year for us,” Marcia Opp, manager of the farm’s store, said. “We bought two-thirds of what were are expecting to sell.”

Opp said the farm also raised prices, but doesn’t think it will affect consumer interest.

“The ones we have and the ones we purchased are beautiful,” she said. “We’ve got quality, not quantity.”