What am I looking at -- Farmers this is for you: A field near where I live has thousands on thousands of small pumpkins. I took this photo just a couple of hours ago. It is well past...

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

A field near where I live has thousands on thousands of small pumpkins. I took this photo just a couple of hours ago. It is well past Halloween and the pumpkins are mostly the size of a large cantaloupe, not jack-o-lantern size. I am thinking these might be pumpkins for making pies and if so when will they harvest them? Could it just be a way of enriching the soil and perhaps they will be plowed under for that purpose? What you see in this photo is maybe 1/10 to 1/12 of the field!

Thanks

(Download)

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Good question, Mike. As I understand it (and I am no pumpkin expert), they are still viable for food product until a hard frost/freeze. Then, not so much. Around these parts, they are often grown for ornamental purposes, and the ones not sold that way are plowed under for fertilizer.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Wow, that's a ton of pumpkins!

Iron Sight Loc: Utah

Interesting Image

Mr palmer Loc: Currently: Colorado, USA, Terra, Sol

You are seeing a migration of pumpkins. They tend to travel in a group known as a "Wholata". A wholata pumpkins will generally migrate away from urban areas at this time of year to avoid predators, like humans with carving knives or catapults.
That's what I heard.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Mr Palmer, ha! Good response!

Now for the dull boring part. Generally pie pumpkin varieties produce small more flavorful fruit. Varieties like “Connecticut Field” are bigger and are often used for decorative purposes. The little pie varieties have thick flesh, carving varieties thinner. The big monster sized ones are actually squash, not pumpkins. They are impressive in their size but generally aren’t worth eating.

A hard freeze ruins them. A pumpkin is ripe (mature) when the stem starts to turn brown regardless of how green the vines are.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Mr palmer wrote:

You are seeing a migration of pumpkins. They tend to travel in a group known as a "Wholata". A wholata pumpkins will generally migrate away from urban areas at this time of year to avoid predators, like humans with carving knives or catapults.
That's what I heard.

JustJill Loc: Iowa

Bridges wrote:

A field near where I live has thousands on thousan... (show quote)

That is a lot of pumpkins. Another thought is that maybe they grow them for a canning company?

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

JustJill wrote:

That is a lot of pumpkins. Another thought is that maybe they grow them for a canning company?

Ah, yes, I guess Libby needs many of them for their pumpkin pie filling!

tramsey Loc: Texas

Mr palmer wrote:

You are seeing a migration of pumpkins. They tend to travel in a group known as a "Wholata". A wholata pumpkins will generally migrate away from urban areas at this time of year to avoid predators, like humans with carving knives or catapults.
That's what I heard.

St.Mary's

To know the correct answer, I suggest someone contact Peter-Peter.

Canisdirus

Looks more like a tax write off...

Pumpkins aren't nitrogen fixers...so they aren't 'improving' the soil.

srg

Mr palmer wrote:

You are seeing a migration of pumpkins. They tend to travel in a group known as a "Wholata". A wholata pumpkins will generally migrate away from urban areas at this time of year to avoid predators, like humans with carving knives or catapults.
That's what I heard.

😁👍🤣😂

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

JustJill wrote:

That is a lot of pumpkins. Another thought is that maybe they grow them for a canning company?

I imagine that is the case. Small pumpkins are often called "pie pumpkins" since one pumpkin may yield enough mashed pumpkin for one or two pies. I have one sitting on my table right now that is about 8 inches tall by 6 inches diameter. It was a fall decoration, but it is now about time to cook it for pies for Thanksgiving. You can peel it and boil it like you do with butternut squash, or you can cut it in half and bake it and then scoop out the innards. I usually bake the seeds and eat a few and throw the rest out for the birds and squirrels.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

A gathering of pumpkins waiting for the Great Pumpkin?