Of the 75 ha of fruit trees operated by Somail fruits (photo Ph. L.), half is 100% frozen and the other half affected between 50 to 80%. “We hope to be able to save some, but it’s catastrophic, it will be the smallest harvest in history”, assures Laurent Ratia. Peaches, apricots and cognacs were severely affected “but the life of the orchard continues, there will be no harvest but it will be necessary to take good care of the trees”. “The frost is an uninsurable disaster for us. It would cost a fortune”, he continues. At Philippe Mercier, at the pond of Marseillette, the confusion is the same. “This is very worrying because we do not yet know the extent of the damage. Regarding the plums it is quite incomprehensible. Some trees have frozen, others not without us really understanding why”, he explains puzzled. On the apple trees side, we’ll have to wait “at least a month”. It lists a host of possible scenarios from pure loss to salvageable fruits to apples that may be marked by frost or warped rings and therefore “commercially unacceptable”. The arborist is all the more worried that the frost period is not over. “Today (Thursday April 15 Editor’s note), it has already been 5 nights with negative temperatures. Normally the wind protects us “, He explains, confiding “no longer sleeping by dint of monitoring probes and thermometers”.
C. L.
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