Georgios Saltos' orchards were hit by a heavy hail storm at the start of October. This has caused a lot of damage to the orchard, located in the Achelous river, 12 kilometres from Mesolongi. The grower estimates the damage caused by the hail at around 20,000 Euro. The difference can be seen clearly: the fruits on the other half of the orchard look fine. The grower is trying to prevent decay with copper.
The damage to the fruit is clear to see
When asked Georgios indicated that he consciously chose to protect his trees against hail. "Showers this size have only occurred twice in the last twenty years. Other good years compensate for bad years like this. And we're still trying to sell the damaged fruits for juice production through Bio Net West Hellas." Gerasimos Karantinos, who leads the cooperation Bio Net West Hellas, confirms this: "We are doing everything we can to limit Georgios' loss of income as much as possible."
Georgios is one of the three founders of the West Hellas group and has been growing organically for more than 15 years. Besides oranges, he also grows mandarins.
Georgios Saltos.
The orchard.
Georgios is not only bothered by the hail, the river has also partially burst its banks.
Georgios also said that this tree was already partially in bloom due to the warm temperatures (it was still exceptionally warm for this time of year on the 20th of October) "The tree is confused and thinks it's March."
For more information: www.bionetwesthellas.gr/en