Rain: Week 8 brought a significant change in terms of our precipitation – accumulated rainfall for the week was 78 mm (3 inches).
Temperature: The minimum air temperature during week 8 at the source also had a significant improvement reaching 21.5°C (70.7°F) – almost 1.5° higher than the prior week. The average temperature also rose slightly to 25.8°C (78.4°F) but the average soil temperature remained at 26.2°C (79.2°F). Solar radiation was intense at the beginning of the week but decreased significantly during the middle to the end of the week. Relative humidity increased slightly to 83.4 % but continues low for our tropical conditions.
Observations: The rising average minimum air temperature and the reduction in the range between the minimum and the maximum temperatures of the day are certainly aspects that will lessen the risk of more NDF events. This climatic improvement should also help us achieve better internal quality characteristics on the fruit. Undoubtedly the increase in harvest age will also bring an improvement in the quality of the fruit but we are caught in a quandary because if the change in harvest age is done faster it would create a significant reduction in our weekly volume. With improving temperatures we are encouraged to make the change gradually without significantly affecting the volume.