2014: Week 09 at the Source (Week 11 in the market)

– Rain: Another dry week with only 11.4 mm (half an inch) well distributed throughout the week – almost a repeat of the prior week.

– Temperature: The minimum reached 20.9°C (69.6°F) – 1.3°C higher than previous week, but we still had two days with night temperatures below 20°C (68°F). The average temperature also rose to 25.9°C (77.2°F) – 0.8°C higher than during week 8. Soil temperatures were almost identical to last week – 26.2°C (79.2°F) in part due to the low precipitation. Solar radiation continues to be intense during most of the week; the white kaolinite clay “Surround” is being applied continuously as sunscreen!

– Observations: Very low precipitation and an increase in air temperatures characterized week 9. Although the risk of NDF persists with a few nights measuring minimum temperatures that dropped below 20°C, we can safely assume that stress-causing conditions have decreased from prior weeks. Traditionally March brings the transition to warmer days and lower precipitation – what we commonly call the “dry season”, although this year it seems to have started way earlier! The quality and consistency of our fruit is improving; we continue to monitor and place ribbons on NDF fruit but the events that are being inventoried now are showing very low incidence of natural fruit.

This entry was posted in This Week at the Farm. Bookmark the permalink.