Rain: Week 7 at the source brought more of the same – very limited precipitation with barely half an inch (14.2mm) of rainfall recorded. And it all came down during one day of the week.
Temperature: The average minimum temperature continued low reaching only 20.1°C (68.2°F). The average temperature for the week leveled at 25.4°C (77.7°F) and the average soil temperature remained stable at 26.1°C (79.1°F. We experienced very intense sunlight and the temperature difference between the high of the day and the low of the night is high – some days were reported with a temperature differences greater than 11°C. Relative humidity stable at 80.9 %, rather low for our tropical conditions.
Observations: There is no doubt that the dry spell of the past few weeks coupled with the low nocturnal temperatures has severely retarded the ripening of the fruit. This has moved us to rapidly and earlier than prior years change the harvest age. Our plan is to harvest at least 80% of our fruit at 22 weeks after forcing. This same weather pattern is stressing the pineapple plants and we can certainly anticipate an extended and belated natural flowering season, although of lesser magnitude than prior years.