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Cold Snap Back In April Impacting Fruit Harvest At Capitol Reef National Park

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By NPT Staff - August 6th, 2020

The fall harvest of apples, pears, and peaches is not expected to be overly bountiful at Capitol Reef National Park this year/NPS file

Have your heart set on some fresh peaches or apples from the orchards at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah this month? While there will be some to pick, a cold snap back in April has limited the output.

August usually produces some great peach, apple, and pear crops. But now park staff say the harvests will be limited primarily due to a cold snap in the middle of April that caused fruit blossoms in the park to freeze. Nighttime temperatures in Fruita dropped below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for several days on two separate occasions in April.

Those cold snaps coincided with the orchard bloom, and as a result many blossoms were terminated before developing into fruit. Wildlife activity and a break in the irrigation line also contributed to stress on the trees and the limited harvest.

The Fruita orchards are maintained by the National Park Service, which uses historic fruit production methods in keeping with the preservation of the historic district, and tools to limit the impacts of untimely frosts are limited. These freezing events provide insights into the challenges faced by the pioneer settlers who established the orchards in the late 1880s. They can also allow for a better understanding of the obstacles present when growing fruit trees in the variable environment of Southern Utah.

Late season Elberta and J.H. Hale peach varieties will be very limited compared to past years. Early season apple varieties, namely Ginger Gold apples, have been similarly affected. Late season apple and pear varieties were less severely affected, though harvests will be less than usual.

“Fruit yields this season are approximately 80 percent lower than average,” says park Horticulturist Fritz Maslan.

Fruit harvest information is regularly updated on the park’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, and on the fruit hotline reached by calling (435) 425-3791.

Traveler postscript: Some history on Capitol Reef's orchards:

Harvest Time At Capitol Reef

A History Of Apples At Capitol Reef

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