Hot, Dry Summer Could Mean Bitter Fall Harvest At Apple, Pumpkin Farms

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NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- This summer's hot, dry weather could be at the core of a bad apple crop, and could mean a bitter fall harvest season for apple and pumpkin growers.

As CBS2's Elise Finch reported, the summer heat has been tough on crops in Westchester County.

The sweltering temperatures and dry conditions have been tough on local crops, and produce that people pick themselves, like apples, might be a little smaller than usual.

"The number of apples would be the same, but the apples don't size up as well without the rain," Kevin Covino, Harvest Moon Farm, explained.

Listen to Pumpkins May Be Smaller On Long Island

Covino's family owns the Harvest Moon Farm in North Salem. He said older farms don't have irrigation systems and are completely reliant on mother nature to water and cool their crops.

This year he said many of the apples in his orchard, like the Macintosh, aren't as red as they would normally be.

"If you don't have the cool weather you don't get the coloring up on all the apples," he said,"The Macintosh are more green than red, usually it would be redder than it is green."

Bob Stuart owns Stuart Farms in Granite Springs, he said the hot, rainless summer prevented a fungus that could have wiped out his crop of mystic pumpkins, but the conditions produced other problems.

"The vines are dying and the pumpkins are ripening quicker than I'd like to see them. The main concern is holding up until Halloween. You don't want to have people buy pumpkins and have them rot at home," he said.

Stuart said all he can do is hope for rain and cooler temperatures.

The hot, dry conditions aren't all bad. Farmers said when it comes to apples heat makes them sweet.

"They're certainly good," Russell Broderick said.

On Long Island, farmers had to irrigate their crops so the items would still be available .

"Farmers here on Long Island are pretty fortunate that they have the ability to irrigate their crops all throughout the season. Even though it's been dry, they've been able to keep up with the watering of the plants," Rob Carpenter of the Long Island Farm Bureau told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall.

The pumpkins might be a little smaller than last year though.

"And when I say a little bit smaller I'm only talking maybe 10 or 15 percent smaller so there'll still be plenty of pumpkins for carving," Carpenter said.

Apple and pumpkin season runs through Halloween. Cool temperatures and rain at this point in the season won't diminish the taste of your apples, but should help their size and color, and prolong the life of the pumpkins.