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Reading time: 1min – Video: 2min
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2 minutes
With the temperature falls of this mid-March, arboriculturers no longer hesitate to heat their orchards to try to save their frost harvests. Report in the Bouches-du-Rhône where producers of plums, peaches and apricots are on the alert.
Icy atmosphere in an orchard in the Provencal hinterland. In Plan-d’Orgon, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Jérôme Mazely, arboriculturist, watched over night and had to resolve to light candles at 5 am. “You can see that he does -1.5 degree in wet temperature”he points out, stressing that this corresponds “Up to 80% harvest (less)”.
With 250 flames lit in his orchard, Jérôme maintains the positive temperature in order to protect the buds from the plum trees. In the early morning, the producer is relieved by finding that future fruits still have a chance to push. However, concern remains in the face of these late cold episodes, more and more frequent. The frost is the anxiety of the whole profession. In the spring of 2021, a couple of producers of peaches and apricots had lost everything.
Watch the entire report in the video above.
