Halloween pumpkins grown in Britain this year are up to 40 per cent smaller than usual and have thicker skins, after a summer of drought stunted their growth, farmers have warned.
Landowners have been forced to harvest the smaller gourds this month and into October, following record-breaking temperatures and prolonged dry spells over the summer.
Between May and September, Britain recorded 40 days where temperatures exceeded 30C, the threshold at which pumpkin growth slows considerably. Two-thirds of England and Wales were placed under official drought conditions, and July was the driest in 190 years.
Because the smaller pumpkins are harder to cut, experts are now suggesting children draw or paint on them instead of carving spooky faces.
Farmers report thicker skins
David Coulter, from Home Farm Pumpkins, told the Daily Mail: "The weather has had a larger than normal effect on our crop of pumpkins. Both lack of moisture and high temperatures have caused a reduction in pumpkin numbers."
He said "kids might struggle carving into them" because of their thicker skin this year. "In the future, pumpkin growing will become increasingly difficult if weather patterns continue like this," he added. "A perfect growing season for pumpkins is warm and wet weather, with good sunshine late summer to help the crop turn orange."
Ketan Dave, from Barfoots, one of Britain's leading pumpkin growers, said children should draw on smaller pumpkins instead.
Gavin Lane, president of the Country Land and Business Group, urged parents to use the smaller gourds as an opportunity to teach children about climate change. "This is an opportune moment for parents to talk to their children about the effects of the weather on growing crops and the potential difficulty of growing vegetables in the future," he told the Daily Telegraph.
A run of unpredictable harvests
Pumpkin crops have swung wildly in recent years. Three years ago, in 2023, pumpkins were larger than usual thanks to a soggy summer. Steve Whitworth, commercial manager at Oakley Farms, said the wet weather that July and August was "perfect" for growing pumpkins. The following year, in 2024, pumpkin crops were devastated by what he described as an "army of slugs."
Other crops hit by the heat
Pumpkins are not the only crop affected by this year's drought and heatwave. Potatoes have also had a poor-quality harvest, with spuds so small that the oven-chip maker McCain has been buying up last year's stock to keep its operations running.
Apples are also smaller and have started falling earlier than usual. Cider makers have warned that the heatwave has produced sweeter pears and apples, which could result in more alcoholic ciders. Sparkling wine producers are now eyeing up vineyards in the south of England because of the weather conditions there.
Why we carve pumpkins at Halloween
The tradition of pumpkin carving is thought to date back to Halloween's pre-Christian origins in the pagan festival of Samhain, meaning "summer's end." The festival marked the beginning of winter and was believed to be a time when the spirit world made contact with the physical one.
In Ireland, a folk tale warned of Jack of the Lantern, or Jack O'Lantern, who was said to walk carrying a turnip filled with a burning coal. It became a tradition to carve turnip lanterns with frightening faces to scare off Jack O'Lantern and other wandering spirits.
When Irish immigrants travelled to America in large numbers, they took the tradition with them and found that pumpkins, native to America, made excellent Jack O'Lanterns. The practice spread from Irish immigrant communities into the pumpkin-carving tradition widely followed today.
