WATERLOO -- The region's pumpkin crop is suffering the same fate as row crops -- reduced yields due to poor growing conditions.

With Halloween less than three weeks away and Thanksgiving not too far off, those wanting to buy pumpkins to make a scary jack-o'-lantern or a fresh pie better not wait too long. Area growers say pumpkin numbers are down and the festive gourds could become scarce -- at least at farmers' markets and some farms.

Farmers said the quality and size of pumpkins haven't been impacted by this year's adverse weather, just numbers.

Dave Myers, owner of Heartland Farms at 5111 Osage Road, has one of the biggest pumpkin patches in the region. It is not uncommon for his 9.5-acre plot to produce about 3,000 pumpkins, he said.

But a cold, wet spring delayed planting and hampered development after seeds got into the ground. A late-summer drought didn't help, either. As a result, workers harvested about half the normal take.

"Rain, rain, rain. … No crop likes to have constantly wet feet," Myers said, referring to a three-week span in late May to early June that hurt the crop. "I got a below-average yield, but the fruit I did get was good."

From November through June, more rain fell in the state than the past 120 years. In April, Waterloo set a record for rainfall at 8.53 inches.

But in August, officials said precipitation was about 3 inches below normal in Northeast Iowa.

Farmers report soybean yields this fall are about 5 to 10 bushels per acre less than recent years, and farmers expect cornfields that produced 200-bushel-per-acre corn in recent years to only muster 170 to 180 this year.

Steve Moseley, who raises vegetables and row crops west of Hudson, can tell it won't be a bin-buster for either of his farming enterprises. He sells pumpkins at the farm and at farmers' markets.

Moseley planted his 1/4-acre patch in early June, but overly saturated soils hurt the pumpkins.

"Some germinated and then died. (Or) they just sat there and didn't get started," Moseley said. "We have an assortment of pumpkins, but we might run out. It's hard to say."

Myer said flooding apparently took out patches in other areas of the state. He received e-mails from several growers inquiring about purchasing pumpkins to serve their customers.

Pumpkin supplies may not be a problem at retail stores, growers said, especially if companies ship the orange orbs in from other states.

As far as pumpkin prices, some local growers are charging more this year, and others kept prices steady.

Myers upped his prices from 35 cents per pound to 39 cents, mostly to cover increased operating expenses. Kevin Kalsem, with Kalsem Farm Fresh Fruit and Vegetables at 427 Belle St., charges by size -- $1 to $6.

Kalsem said numbers are relatively good, but there are no monster pumpkins this year. His 1.5 acre-pumpkin plot was on high ground, which avoided extreme wet conditions.

"I was actually impressed by the numbers … there's just not as many big ones," Kalsem said.

Contact Matthew Wilde at (319) 291-1579 or matt.wilde@wcfcourier.com.