STA, 31 May 2020 - The upper Vipava Valley had been looking at an exceptional harvest of cherries this year, but the plans of local fruit growers were thwarted by the strong bora wind, which virtually swept away the ripened cherries, also tearing down branches and young cherry trees.
Fruit growers in the area in western Slovenia had it the worst on Saturday and Sunday, but they nevertheless expect that the unripened cherries will recover from the bora attack and fully develop.
"The damage is immense. As for the ripe cherries, the bora swept them across the ground and destroyed them," Bogdan Slokar, a fruit grower from Lokavec near Ajdovščina, has told the STA.
"We hope that the cherries that are still ripening will recover," said Slokar, who assessed that the bora has destroyed about 80% of the ripe cherries in the area.
Marta Koruza of the counselling service of the local agricultural and forestry chamber said that the "bora did what we had feared the most - extensive damage to cherries that were fully ripening".
She noted that the cherries were dented and as such were not appropriate for sale, which was a great loss for the growers.
The strong wind has also done some damage to cherries in exposed areas in the hilly Goriška Brda area north-west of Nova Gorica. Local growers hope that the late varieties will be able to ripen normally.
The disaster comes right before the Cherry Festival is to be held in the upper Vipava Valley and Goriška Brda over the upcoming weekend.
