For the Winter Sweetz Family, Off Season Doesn’t Mean Time Off

What’s round, red, and comes around during the holiday season? Hint: It’s not Santa Claus’ waistline.

The answer is Winter Sweetz Texas Red Grapefruit.

Our delectable grapefruits reach their peak flavor during the holiday season and into spring. And while our harvesting season keeps us going at full throttle for the greater part of the year, there’s just as much work that goes into our off season in order to bring our delicious, sweet Texas Red grapefruit to your table.

It’s safe to say that at Winter Sweetz we work around the clock – all year long – to make sure that you receive quality, Rio Grande Valley-grown grapefruit for the oncoming season at an affordable price.

#WinterSweetz works around the clock to bring you quality #RGV grown #TexasRed #grapefruit Click To Tweet

When Does the Off Season Start for Winter Sweetz?

Typically, our grapefruit is out of season—or off season—from May through September. Although grapefruit is available year-round, grapefruit consumed during the summer time is generally more bitter and not as sweet as our Texas Reds.

Why?

Simply put, grapefruit consumed between May through September are usually shipped from California, where drier weather climates and conditions make for a much more sour and less sweetened fruit.

The differences between California and Texas grapefruits can be tremendous, but that’s a blog for another time.

#Grapefruit consumed May through September are normally more bitter and less sweet than our Winter Sweetz #TexasReds Click To Tweet

What Goes On At Winter Sweetz During the Off Season?

Just because the fruit is growing during the summer doesn’t mean we get the summer off.

There is actually a lot that needs to be done first in preparation for October, which is the beginning of the next grapefruit season.

• Scheduling, Scheduling, Scheduling – Early in the off season, we prioritize objectives that need to be done in a particular order. For example, we wouldn’t want to schedule an irrigation so close to when we will be spraying for pests.
• Showing Love to Our Trees – Another good chunk of our off season is devoted to monitoring the growth of our grapefruit and the health of our trees. Vines can grow and strangle our trees and must be cut by hand. We do everything we can to make sure our trees are healthy, happy, and growing the best grapefruits possible.
• Keeping An Eye On Our Winter Sweetz Babies – Around April, the grapefruits are about the size of a pea. Come late June and they’ve grown to the size of a golf ball and will continue to grow larger until harvest time—about the size of a large softball. Around late July is when we have a better idea of what kind of harvest is to come, so appropriate planning and estimates on sales are calculated.
• Talking Business – During the months of August and September, we here at Winter Sweetz are on the road, negotiating grapefruit shipments to retailers like Wal-Mart, Costco, Kroger, and Sam’s. These months are full of 6 to 7 work day weeks for us, as we work hard to distribute tasty grapefruit to those not fortunate enough to live in the Rio Grande Valley.
• The Tough Stuff – Wear and tear affects our equipment and machinery during harvest time, so when the off season makes its way to our groves, our mechanics and engineers are hard at work repairing them and ensuring they are up to proper safety standards. We also update any hardware needed for our computers and any software for our operating systems.

It isn’t easy bringing you these fantastic treats from our groves, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ain’t no rest for the weary when it comes to the #grapefruitrevolution #wintersweetz Click To Tweet

And We Gladly Do This Every Year to Bring You the Best Tasting Winter Sweetz Texas Red Grapefruit for Your Dollar

Winter Sweetz would like to thank you for your continued support and trust in purchasing our Texas Red Grapefruit. It was a pleasure to show you a little bit about what we do during the off season.

Be a part of the grapefruit revolution and contact us today at (956) 424-7775 to see why Winter Sweetz is your best option for sweet, yummy grapefruit.