Dear Jon: Strawberries smaller this year?

The Central Coast produces 88 percent of the Strawberries in the United States and the Salinas/Watsonville region is roughly 50 percent of the California production. Miguel was concerned and asked me, “Dear Jon, why have the strawberries been small and not ripe lately?”

The California Strawberry Commission’s Carolyn O’Donnell and I met up a Central Coast strawberry field to provide Miguel an answer. I noticed in the field we entered that there were berries of all sizes, but not the huge berries you see in peak season in the spring.

O’Donnell says in the spring we see the huge, luscious berries, but as the season progresses the size of the berries in the store changes, “The plants in the field now were put in the ground last November and grew over the winter and started producing berries earlier this spring. When those berries came out they were really good size, they were really fresh and the first berries of the season. But this time of year the berries are still great and fresh, but they’re just a little be smaller and they’ll continue to get smaller as the season goes on.”

In the late summer, the majority of strawberries in the United States are coming from Watsonville, Salinas and Santa Maria where the weather is perfect for growing.

But O’Donnell says sometimes the weather can impact the size and ripeness of the berries. “Here on the Central Coast we live in the best place in the world to grow strawberries. Warm days and cool nights helps to minimize the amount of sugars and the amount of mold. We had a little bit of foggy weather with a little bit of rain earlier and that makes it a little bit more challenging and that makes the growers want to take care of their berries and get them harvested at the right time.”

Which means they might be slightly green but still delicious.

So has the drought impacted size and quality? O’Donnell says she has not heard of any impact from the drought on strawberry size and yield.

You can ask me your question at ‘DearJon@KIONRightNow.com.’

And you can see my reports on News Channel 5 at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and on your only live-local news at 10 p.m. on the Central Coast CW; that’s channel 46.2 or on Comcast 14, Charter 13 and Suddenlink 4.