Colorado will definitely have peaches this year.
That’s the message from Lance Davis of Davis Family Farms in Palisade, CO following a significant frost in mid-April that affected the state’s peach crop. “We’ll have them but not an overabundance of them, that’s for sure,” says Davis.
Davis says the frost was inconsistent with the way it hit orchards with some blocks getting hit more significantly than others. “It’s going to be hit and miss for blocks,” he says. He notes for example that one of his growing areas had about 50 percent of its crop affected while another was virtually untouched.
Overall though he notes that about 70 percent of his crop was affected. “We’re right up against the Book Cliffs and with the wind machines, we were getting a bit of warm air off the cliffs and into the orchards. Quite a few of those areas got a full crop of peaches,” he says. “Getting further away from the Book Cliffs, there wasn’t any warm air.”
Shorter season?
Davis thinks the crop will begin as usual—approximately the last week in June. But the end date may look different. “The last variety most of us have is O’Henrys and I haven’t talked to anybody who’s got any of those,” he says. “If we make Labor Day weekend, we’ll be lucky. I’ve gone as late as the third week of September before.”
He does add that the peaches may be bigger this year too given there wasn’t a need to thin the trees. “But the pricing could be higher,” he says. “We’re going into a really weird season between this and COVID-19. It’ll be an interesting summer.”
For more information:
Lance Davis
Davis Family Farms
Tel: +1 (970) 216-3667
davispeaches@bresnan.net
http://www.palisadepeach.com