From the Fields - Daryn Miller

By Daryn Miller, Monterey County vineyard manager and San Luis Obispo County citrus and avocado farmer

It has been hot in southern Monterey County, where some of our vineyards are. It’s not anything we haven’t seen, just a little earlier than we usually get with the heat. We started increasing irrigation frequency and durations last week. I think everybody is scrambling to get some longer irrigation events in as we are expecting high evaporative losses through the heat wave.

The heat is likely going to have some impact on the size of the crop. The crop is already looking lighter, and this might impact that a bit. It will cause more stress on the vines earlier in the season. It will likely speed up ripening for an earlier harvest than last year.

Normally, when we get this much heat, it pushes our schedule up. Last year, we didn’t get too many 90- to 95-degree days until maybe August. This year is definitely warmer so far.

We have harvested about 40% of our avocado crop. We’re continuing to up our irrigation volumes and duration and trying to irrigate more frequently. Main limiting factor is how much water production we have from our wells. We try to get around as much as we can.

Using more automation has helped us irrigate the avocados more frequently with shorter durations. When you get over 90 to 95 degrees, you really have to be on it with irrigation frequency.

There’s not too much risk to avocados until temps approach 94 degrees or warmer. If anything, it’s going to help size the fruit and get it into the bigger-size curves. The trees will thrive so long as they’re well irrigated. At this point in the season, as long as you’re ahead of the curve on irrigation, we’re not going to be dropping much fruit, and hopefully the newly set fruit sticks on the tree.