While blue skies and scorching temperatures will likely become
the norm by this weekend, Gilroy received the last dose of an
unfavorably heavy rain season Tuesday, reminding some of soggy
crops that plagued the area at times during the past few
months.
While blue skies and scorching temperatures will likely become the norm by this weekend, Gilroy received the last dose of an unfavorably heavy rain season Tuesday, reminding some of soggy crops that plagued the area at times during the past few months.
“It’s a little frustrating to say the least. Mother Nature has chosen to bless us with rain on June 28,” said Pete Aiello, co-owner of Uesugi Farms just south of Gilroy. “It’s just an inconvenience we didn’t want to have to deal with. There’s not much we can do about it though.”
After Tuesday’s 0.2 inches of rainfall, Gilroy’s seasonal total stood at 23.78 inches, well over the city’s 17.63 average, according to figures from the Gilroy Fire Department Chestnut Station and the National Weather Service. The rain season runs from July 1 through June 30.
The overly wet conditions have been bad news for Aiello’s strawberries, many of which had to be thrown away this past spring because of mold, he said.
“We’ve probably thrown away a good 40 percent of our overall production of strawberries,” Aiello said.
When asked what about financial impact of having to dispose of so many strawberries, Aiello said, “It’s a lot of money. Easily in the six-figure range as far as the losses go.”
Ralph Santos of El Camino Packing, which owns Ralph’s Cherry Hut in Gilroy, called the rain “devastating to say the least.”
Because of the rain, Santos said he was able to salvage 25 percent of what he picked.
“Never had I seen so much rain, so consistent, one day after another,” he said of this year’s rainy season. “The crop is lost.”
Santos said his company was able to recoup some losses thanks to crop insurance, but it doesn’t replace his lost cherries.
“You just basically worked a year for nothing when it’s all said and done,” he said.
Ynot Organics in San Martin was also hit hard by the rain, co-owner KT Brooks said. Brooks said she lost four 75-foot rows of peas when heavy rains pounded the area in early spring.
“We lost all of them,” she said, adding the plants either uprooted or became soaked and mushy. “They flooded and never dried out.”
Brooks said her carrots were so waterlogged they began to split, and her beats became “gnarled and ugly,” morphing and forming together.
“We didn’t fair too well in the rain,” she said. “We’re hoping it gets warm soon.”
The good news for Gilroy growers: Summer will be here soon, said Steve Anderson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey.
“No rain today, and no rain next week,” Anderson said Wednesday. “Summer will be here this weekend.”
Temperatures are expected to reach 101 degrees by Sunday, according to a National Weather Service forecast.
Warmer weather will also be a good thing for Gilroy’s wineries, some of which were affected by the seasonal rains.
“We’re probably two-and-a-half to three weeks behind schedule in our growing season,” said David Dockendorf, assistant winemaker at Martin Ranch Winery.
Dockendorf said the plants require a transition to warmer weather to cease growing and began forming fruit on their wines.
“If we get a hot summer, we should be all right,” Dockendorf said.
Gino Fortino of Fortino Winery said it was too early to tell if the rainy season had adversely affected his plants, but recalled spraying fungicide to remove a powdery mildew that forms on the plants during wet, cooler conditions.
Like Dockendorf, Fortino has his fingers crossed for hotter days ahead.
“If it gets warm, it should be OK,” he said.
