– Rain: An even drier week turned out with only 2.6 mm, rather negligible precipitation. Is the dry season here yet?
– Temperature: The minimum reached 20.2°C (68.4°F) – 0.7°C lower than previous week and of some concern because of the fact that we had three nights with temperatures below 20°C (68°F). The average temperature registered 25.7°C (78.3°F). Soil temperature measured slightly higher than last week – 26.7 C (80°F) due to the low precipitation. Solar radiation continued very intense during most of the week, and while there was no data available for relative humidity we can imagine it to be rather low!
– Observations: The dry spell and low temperatures undoubtedly are having an impact on plant and fruit growth – hence our intention to increase harvest age to maintain internal quality conditions (brix, maturity, translucency and of course flavor and aroma). It is not unprecedented that during this time of the year we harvest fruit at 22 and even 23 WAF. Although we didn’t have any precipitation this week we could have had an NDF event due to the following factors: the average temperature was very low, the minimum temperature was below 68°F during a few nights, and the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures was quite high. All of these situations cause stress to the plants.