Rain dampener on a strong Aamrai Ratnagiri 2024 mango season

Rain dampener on a strong Aamrai Ratnagiri 2024 mango season:

Unseasonal rains put a bit of a dampener on the 2024 alphonso mango season in what looks to be a good season. So far all the signs at Aamrai Ratnagiri have been quite quite positive with abundant flowering, good fruit setting despite a warmer winter and even fruit development for the first lot due to higher day time temperatures. All these pointed to a bountiful 2024 mango season with a start as early as March 2024.

However the unseasonal showers in the last week have upset the apple cart at the mango farms………….The weather activity was triggered due to a cyclonic circulation in the equatorial region spurring a trough from Sri Lanka to North Tamil Nadu. Thought the brunt was borne by TN and Kerala, the effect was also felt in coastal Karnataka, Goa and the Konkan. Thankfully the rain and thundershowers have now ceased in the Konkan but the effect of this may be long lasting. The immediate effect is fruit dropping and partial destruction of flowering while in the medium term this can cause fungal infections such as mildew and fruit rotting. While conventional farms can indulge in heavy chemical pesticide spraying to counter the same, in our organic farms we can only use natural remedies and defences such as neem sprays, organic pesticides and natural predatory defences such as ants and insects which feed on the fungus.

All in all, the situation will be clear over the next few weeks but we are hoping that nature takes its course and solves the hindrances setting the stage for a strong 2024 season.