Pumpkin and Fall Ornamentals to be On the Lookout For!

Chuck Bornt, CCE ENYCHP

At the beginning of January, I was asked by my colleague to give an update on new pumpkin and fall ornamentals that growers might want to take a look at.  Now, we haven't done a pumpkin variety trial since 2020 and I know that many of you probably already have your seed orders in, but in my experience, there is always room for a couple more!  With a couple of quick emails to our seed industry representatives, my inbox was flooded with a slew of new fall ornamentals that either released this year or are due to release in 2025.  To view the slide show of the variety update, click here. 

One of the most exciting things for me to learn about is the number of new releases with Powdery Mildew resistance/tolerance.  It was also nice to see that there are quite a few new all white varieties being release as well as some new munchkin types.  The warty craze is still going strong with some new release in that category as well and of course lots of new Jack-O-Lantern types.  Reviewing all of these new varieties got me thinking about the possibility of doing a variety trial this summer, so if any of you reading this is interested in hosting us on your farm for a variety trial, please let me know!

I would like to thank all the seed companies that sent me information on their new lines:  Seedway, Outstanding Seed, Rupp Seed and Stokes Seed.