The solutions used today to fight against the effects of frost on orchards and vines will still be relevant in the near future: wind tower, wind turbine, irrigation or heating candles.

Figure: Illustration of a wind turbine

Figure: Illustration of heating candles

Figure: Illustration of awind tower

Figure: Illustration of irrigation to fight against frost

As with the vine, climate change will affect all phases of the development of fruit trees.

Warming will particularly affect reproductive development and floral phenology

• Disruption in flower initialization
• Early or late start of vegetation
• Risk of spring frost or erratic bud burst
• Floral shifts affecting pollination
• More random fruit setting

Warming and drought in late spring and summer will have an impact on vegetation and foliage:

• Modification of the architecture of trees (growth stop, then resumption)
• Early flowering (summer n or spring n + 1)
• Strong evaporative demand on the leaves (and ultimately a brake on filling the fruit)
• Direct damage to leaves and fruit
• Weak coloring of the epidermis

As an example, the year 2019 made it possible to illustrate some of the impacts listed above.

Figure: Sunburn on apples

Figure: Early flowering on apple tree

Brochure Chambre d'agriculture d'Indre-et-Loire: Protection du vignoble contre le gel du printemps