A recent heat wave has been hitting the Central Coast and the warmer temperatures can affect crop production.
Kathy Hendrickson, owner of Double H Avocado Ranch in Morro Bay, says the high temperatures are unusual for the area, so she's been making sure the soil at her farm stays damp.
“Avocado trees have shallow roots and so the top layer of the ground can dry out," Hendrickson said. "Our orchard has been in for 25 years, so there is a lot of leaf litter that helps keep the moisture in the soil.”
She added that the avocados can get sunburned, turning them a brown color and making them unsellable. The high temperatures can also cause the trees to think the winter season is over.
“They’ll start putting out bloom so we can get an extra bloom, but then if the temperatures drop like in April sometimes, we get freezes or really cold temperatures, then all those poor little flowers just fall off," Hendrickson said.
Due to the heat, local produce suppliers like Michael Wolfe at the Avocado Shack in Morro Bay are keeping a close eye on their stock.
“Not have as much stock, we’re going to reduce the stock, we’re going to try to manage what we do have and just stay close on stock,” Wolfe said.
He added that buyers can expect costs to rise.
“You’ll see a price spike maybe a week from now for maybe two or three weeks and you’ll say, oh my gosh, it’s gone to $3 a pound, it used to be a $1.29 a pound,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe says this is because farmers still have to make a profit.
“With the field workers and the boxes and everything, so he has to make a living, he can’t go broke doing this, so that’s why you see spikes, but it’ll come down just as quickly," he said.
