Crop Update
7 September 2009
Our Valued Customers and Friends
On Saturday afternoon, September 5th, we experienced a minor miracle in the Desert - it rained ! While most of you I'm sure are laughing at my excitement, remember that our average rainfall for the whole year is less than 3 1/4 inches. This passing thunderstorm dropped an official 1.62 inches in a bit under an hour or just about half of our entire annual rainfall ! And there were many places in our lemon growing area that received well over 2 inches and even some that got pelted with well over that. Remember that in my August crop update I talked about the overall lack of lemon sizing in the California Desert and Arizona growing area. This particular kind of rain on "popcorn dry" Desert soil does three things. First it delivers a significant shot of free nitrogen to the tree and fruit through the root system and leaves. Second, and in this quantity, the rain water leaches the salts in the soil downward and below the feeder roots of the tree replacing it with salt-free moisture for the tree to feed on. Lastly it thoroughly washes months of accumulated dust off the leaves allowing the tree to respire much easier during the 105+ degree heat of the afternoon. In well less than a month, we will see a nice new flush of leaf growth on the trees that will help cover any exposed fruit and we should also observe a significant growth spurt in the fruit. That's what we need to make 115's and larger lemons and more 140's than 165's. Harvesting to date is about what we expected. Given the 105+ degree heat and 70+ degree dewpoints, we struggle daily to harvest about one-half bin per man. And in order to minimize/eliminate oil spotting, we can only harvest during the hottest part of the afternoon when the fruit becomes just flaccid enough so that during the handling of the fruit as it is harvested there are no oil sacs that are broken. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part but so far it looks like the upcoming packs will peak equally on 140's and 165's instead of 165's followed by 140's. But yes there are 200's and no there are not many 115's and larger. While these early blocks we are harvesting look nice I remain concerned over the long haul about the ratio of fancy grade to choice grade. I still think fancy grade fruit throughout the season is not going to be abundant in quantity. On the plus side, however, the fruit is "typey" in shape and mostly smooth in texture - a really nice looking lemon ! Oh - thin-skinned ... yes ... juicy ... yes ...
Back to the rain for a second in relation to another developing crop - the Minneola tangelos. This rainstorm will have a similar effect ultimately on sizing as the lemons but not as great because the tree characteristically is not as vigorous as the lemon tree. I am now thinking the crop should produce an 80 peak with a 100 follow with fair to good quantities of 125's for bagging and fair to good quantities of 64's but not larger. And we reiterate that we will make every attempt to supply you with minneolas for the Christmas holiday promotional ad period this year.
The developing Rio Red grapefruit crop continues to progress nicely. Beautifully smooth skinned and mostly round in shape, we are hopeful to have grapefruit to offer by the middle of October. We’ll start testing the fruit for sugar/acid ratio after our first weather break this month and keep you informed of the results and our anticipated first pack dates.
Finally, this fourth genertion family owned and operated citrus agribusiness could not be more proud of our decades long quality control and safety and security assurance programs as we enter our thirty-first season of operations. The 2009-2010 season will mark the twenty-sixth year of blanket USDA shipping point inspection on every carton of every variety we pack. This will be the eighteenth season that all our fruit and wax coatings will be certified "kosher and parve" by the Igud Hakashrus of Los Angels indicated by the "Heart K" kosher mark on all our cartons. And our MFood Safety and Food Security programs and packing facility will be officially audited and inspected by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) early in the season when we fully expect to receive yet another renewed rating of "Superior", the highest score/rating achievable ! That will be seven years in a row !
Reminding you that not only "THE BEST IS ARIZONA GROWN" but is "Associated Grown, Packed, and Shipped", we are always at your service ... Bill, Mark & Ann