By REBECCA SLOAN

By REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CTOBER MEANS FROSTY MORN-ings, fiery foliage and best of all, fat, orange pumpkins.
Of course, nowadays not all pumpkins are orange.
Some are as pale and green as a witch's warty face, while others are as white as a ghost.
Peter Bradley, owner of Peter's Pumpkin Patch in Kinsman, said white and green-hued pumpkins have yet to capture folks' hearts the way old-fashioned orange pumpkins do.
"The small, white mini-pumpkins, called 'munchkins,' are popular, but green pumpkins really haven't caught on yet. Most people still seem to want orange pumpkins so they can have the traditional jack-o'-lantern," Bradley said.
And jack-o'-lanterns are what most pumpkin hunters seek.
"A few people want pumpkins for pies, but most people want to carve them for Halloween," he said.
Numerous varieties
Of course, there are numerous varieties of pumpkins suitable for both baking and carving.
"Many gardeners grow the New England pie variety exclusively for baking. Pie pumpkins are smaller, meatier and not as stringy," Bradley said.
Other pumpkins grown for canning and baking include the buckskin, the Chelsey and the Kentucky Field.
Meanwhile, the Atlantic giant, Big Max and mammoth gold varieties make whopper jack-o'-lanterns, some ballooning to as much as 100 pounds.
For more manageable sized jack-o'-lanterns, Bradley suggests planting the Howden Field, which has been a standard favorite for the past 20 years.
"It's the type of pumpkin sold at most pumpkin farms," he said.
The average Howden Field pumpkin weighs about 25 pounds when ripe.
Smaller sizes
Smaller pumpkins suitable for carving include the Autumn Gold and the Frosty, which weigh about 8 to 15 pounds.
Bradley, who has been growing pumpkins for 22 years, said it's not so easy to raise a bumper crop of future jack-o'-lanterns.
"People assume it's easy, but that's where they're wrong," Bradley said. "I'm out in the field every day, spraying and cultivating. Pumpkins are prone to many diseases and pests."
Among those pests and diseases are ravenous aphids and cucumber beetles, and numerous fungi and mildews that cause decay.
"If a cucumber beetle chews on the pumpkin vine its saliva will get into the vine. The vine might look fine for a while, but it will eventually wilt and die," Bradley said.
Cucumber beetles carry a plant disease called powdery mildew.
Plants afflicted with powdery mildew display whitish-gray leaves and stems.
Powdery mildew thrives during the hot, humid weather of late summer and runs rampant during soggy spells.
For this reason, gardeners should water pumpkins in the morning or during the day but not during the evening.
Gardeners should also water only the pumpkin roots and vines and avoid soaking the leaves.
Pumpkins are also prone to a disease called bacterial wilt.
This disease causes brown, wilted leaves, and a gardener's first assumption might be that the pumpkin plant isn't getting enough water.
To determine if the plant lacks water or is truly diseased, take a leaf and cut it an inch or two from the vine.
If the sap that drains out appears yellow and stringy, you'll know your plant is diseased.
David Hull, owner of Whitehouse Fruit Farm in Canfield, agreed that pumpkins can be difficult to grow.
'Touchy'
"They are touchy, and they especially do not like a lot of rain," Hull said.
Pumpkins prefer a well-drained soil and are moderately tolerant of acidic soil.
Gardeners should not plant pumpkin seeds until the soil has warmed up, and rows should be about 4 feet apart.
It's best to plant seeds in shallow mounds of dirt with each mound containing two or three seeds.
Dirt mounds should be about 3 feet apart.
Bradley advises against planting pumpkins in the same location each year.
"You won't get a very good crop if the soil is drained of nutrients. You can plant in the same spot every third year," he said.
Although pumpkin vines produce numerous blossoms, gardeners can expect to harvest about two pumpkins per vine.
To help ensure a healthy crop, keep watch for diseased plants and remove them immediately.
Since plants will cross-pollinate, Bradley does not recommend growing pumpkins from seeds harvested from a field that contained many pumpkin varieties.
"If you do that, you'll never know what you're going to get," he said. "I don't save any of my seeds for growing. I buy new seeds every spring."
Bradley suggests eating your pumpkin seeds instead.
"You can soak them in salt water and then roast them. They're delicious," he said.