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The weather stations located on our farms reported very little precipitation with only light drizzle some days of the week that managed to accumulate 17.4 mm – about 3/4 of an inch of rainfall
High air and soil temperatures were reported this week in our region.
The average minimum temperature reached 24° Celsius degrees (75.3°F) The average air temperature remained stable at 27.6°C (81.8°F)
The soil temperature remained stable reaching 28.2°C (82.7°F)
Solar radiation is varied from moderate to low.
The risk of sunburn and “corky fruit” is not expected.
The relative humidity jumped up to 88.9%.
Large fruit (4,5 and 6 counts) continued low at 42% and 5 counts declined significantly to only 16.7% of our harvest.
This week the fruit with a harvest age of 21 WAF represented 51.3% of the total and the remaining 47.8% was fruit of 20 WAF. Crownless fruit volume made up 15.4 % of the total pack.
The sugar content of our fruit remained at a very acceptable level. It is very important to mention that the predominance of fruit with a brix between 13.5 and 15.5 reached 83% of the sample.
The variability between sample fruit was found below 1 in all farms.
The internal coloration of our fruit was acceptable.
Even though the percentage of our fruit reported with psi less than 2.7 was high (15%), the average hardness continues to be acceptable. The minimum was 2.4 psi; the average reached 3.3 psi and the maximum was 5,7 psi.
Reported precipitation during the first week of August (W31) was quite low compared to that experienced during the last three weeks of July. This was very positive for our operation since the minimal rain allowed our team to advance in the soil preparation work at an unusually earlier time.
Unfortunately, the volume of fruit including large fruit will remain somewhat low for the next two weeks. However, the overall quality of our fruit was maintained according to our standards. We are preparing for the hardness of the fruit and the external color to require a slight improvement.
We continue to see supply volumes for weeks 28-33 drop to unusually low levels- especially on bigger-size fruit. It is a post-NDF (Naturally Differentiated Fruit) period event.