GOOD GRIEF! VIRUS HITS PUMPKINS

Good grief, Charlie Brown! Everyone knows Linus' Great Pumpkin is only a mirage, but experts say the real thing may be in short supply this fall.

Locally, pumpkin crops have been hit with a virus. Yields are down, but local growers say there's no pumpkin panic and plenty of pumpkins will be available locally.

But nationally, bad weather - too much rain in some states and too little in others - could mean fewer jack-o'-lanterns and pumpkin pies this fall.

"Pumpkins have had a tough row to hoe this year," said Bill Whiteside, a University of Illinois Extension educator in DeKalb, Ill. He estimated roughly half the crop might be lost this season in Illinois, one of the nation's top pumpkin producers and processors. The shortage extends to most other states, he said.

David Diebold of Diebold Orchards at Benton said: "Customers can expect to pay a little higher price, and they probably shouldn't wait until the last minute. By Oct. 25 or so, pumpkins could get scarce."

Stanley Beggs at Pioneer Orchards in Jackson said the local pumpkin crop has been hit with a virus that causes the plants not to produce pumpkins. "We have the mosaic virus in Southeast Missouri that has really been reducing the volume of the pumpkin crop," Beggs said. "A lot of fields just didn't make it."

However the pumpkins are growing at Pioneer. "Our crop looks pretty good," he said.

Pumpkins are being sold at the market and in the pick-your-own field, Beggs said.

Diebold said the virus took a toll on his crop. "We planted some early and they did pretty good; we planted some late and they won't produce anything," he said.

He will not be selling pumpkins wholesale. "I think there will be pumpkins available locally though," he said.

"Somewhere there is a good pumpkin crop," Diebold said. "As the price goes up it justifies having pumpkins shipped in from somewhere else."

Diebold said right now pumpkins are waiting in the patch to be picked but soil is too wet.

"We're a little tight on supply right now. We can't get into the fields until probably closer to the weekend," he said.

Diebold also clarified that the virus should not cause customers to worry.

"When we say they've got the virus, it's nothing contagious. The virus just affects pumpkins, not people," Diebold said.

"The palatable and usability of the pumpkins are not affected," Diebold said. "It will affect growers' profits."

(Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.)