– Rain: We flipped back to a very dry week – cumulative rainfall was almost nothing at 0.2 mm (one tenth of an inch). It turned out to be a very warm week with extremely sunny days.
– Temperature: Air temperature had a significant increase during the week. Minimum temperature reached only 23.8°C (74.8°F) and the average soared to 27.7°C (81.8°F) – almost one degree Celsius higher than last week. Soil temperature remained stable at 26.8°C (80.2°F). Relative humidity decreased to 83.7%, while solar radiation was very high at the beginning and middle of the week but declined towards the end of the week.
– Observations: While the favorable climate continues to provide the conditions for quality pineapple production, we need to put special attention to the timely protection of those fruits that are next to be harvested to avoid sun burn and the recently-budded flowers to prevent the potential risk of fruit deformation (“corky fruit “) caused by the excessive day temperatures and solar intensity. The farms are spraying “Surround” to the flowers and fruit – the agronomic equivalent to sunscreen (a white natural kaolinite clay protectant).