Could we miss out on Palisade peaches this year? Fungal disease, climate change put Colorado’s famed fruit at risk

I cannot imagine a season without the best fruit on planet earth, Colorado’s famous Palisade peaches, but this could be the year…

A spreading fungal disease and increasingly volatile spring weather are threatening Colorado’s celebrated crop, with some Western Slope orchards already wiped out this season.

Cytospora canker, a fungal infection that attacks stone fruit trees, is one of the most economically consequential diseases facing Colorado peach growers, according to a recent survey by Colorado State University researchers. The disease thrives when trees are stressed by cold or drought, and management options remain limited. Growers can prune infected wood and treat wounds with chemicals, but researchers say these strategies have limited effectiveness given the region’s growing conditions.

Orchards near Hotchkiss and Paonia in Delta County lost their entire peach crop this spring after several April nights plunged into the low 20s, well below what developing fruit can survive. Palisade, roughly 60 miles to the west, narrowly avoided the same fate — temperatures there dropped only to the upper 20s on those same nights.

While Palisade has long been considered the most ideal peach-growing microclimate in the state, researchers warn that its cold seasons are approaching the limits of what peach trees can tolerate. Colorado’s fourth-driest January through March on record, paired with a statewide snowpack that fell to historic lows, has compounded the stress on orchards already battling disease.

“The question is whether the conditions that made Palisade peaches possible are still reliable,” said Jane Stewart, a researcher at Colorado State University who co-authored the study with horticulturist David Sterle.