You should not have a problem in Moab. Close by is Fruita's Historic Orchards which is now part of Capital Reef NP. The community got its name from the many orchards that were planted. The NP service still allows you to pick fruit from the orhcards, you pay on an honor system, they even furnish orchard ladders.

I can't even imagine what moving all those plants will be like.....

My friend's husband used to be superintendent of Capital Reef so I've heard about those orchards. She remembers cherries and apples.

I will probably only be moving a few plants. One for sure, a few potted Sweetcrisp blueberry.

So do you highlight all the fruit-bearing trees and structures as a selling point or are properties like yours sought-after by people that are already into this hobby(or investment)?

fruitnut, I've really come to enjoy your posts on this forum, and I can't believe you're moving!

I just checked out the following website, (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?utmoab)
which shows that Moab's climate is somewhat similar to Santa Fe's. Looks like it has a longer growing season and less precip, but gets just as cold in winter and substantially hotter in summer.

Here, late spring frosts are really the main impediment to growing fruit. You probably know all this already, but the following is a list of what I've learned in my limited experience in Santa Fe...

Apple -- most reliable fruit tree, bears most years, few pest/disease problems
Apricot -- best adapted fruit tree and is naturalized widely, unreliable cropper due to early bloom
Peach -- almost as well adapted as apricot, more reliable producer, few pest/disease problems
Pear -- reliable producer, a fair number of diseased trees around
Plum -- naturalizes, sometimes produces in abundance, some varieties attacked by pests/diseases
Cherry -- my luck has been poor, but many healthy, productive, old trees around (especially tart cherries)
Mulberry -- naturalized, very well adapted
Jujube -- well adapted and productive, popular at the farmer's market

kngskid:

The prospective buyers of my current place are mostly just people who love plants and growing things. I've had really good interest but no one yet who could borrow to buy. Not that I'm asking much, but banks don't want to lend for manufactured homes.

I do think I've got as good a fruit growing system here as you'll find anywhere. But this years crop was so good I'll have a hard time doing any better. Time to try something else.

Native:

I think your observations are right on about what will work. I'll have more insect pests in Moab but shouldn't be too bad.

Moab winters are about like yours. They are only 4,000ft but further north. Summers are 10-15F warmer, about like our summer here this year. The heat scares me more hiking than growing fruit. I've lived in enough hot summer areas now to know that 100F isn't really a problem in a dry climate. A shade cloth is all that is needed and even that isn't essential for the heat tolerant fruit.

100F isn't a problem for nectarine, figs, pluot, grapes, and jujube. Apples, sweet cherry, and blueberries prefer a shade cloth at those temperatures in full sun.

I am not familiar with Moab's climate, but I am familiar with Provo Utah where I have cared for fruit trees.
You should be able to have some success (if you want) with alternative pest protection methods in that kind of remote desert clime. I know of a grower in Santaquin, Utah who had success with pheromone mating disruptors on his apple trees and with GF 120 NF naturalyte cherry fruit fly bait on his cherry trees....not only "organic" but cost-effective as well.
Santaquin, Utah is now where most fruit growing occurs in Utah and you may find some commercial growers there who can tell you more.
By the way, in some parts of Utah, cherries do very well....not just the apples. Some believe the high elevation even increases the sugar content and taste.

Let us know how it goes.

I one's had to stop at Moab to get my air conditioning fixed to my rental motor home, it was darn hot,... going to arches national park.

I would have to hate myself in selling everything with all that investment in your special endeavor, it usually come's to a loss,.. this new's came to me as a shock.
Hopefully your'e happy with the new place and the growing & hiking is good, ..good luck!

donnie:

Thanks for the info about Santaquin. That's at about 4900 ft which is near the sweet spot in the southern and central Rockies. I'm at 4500 here and Santa Fe NM is about 7200. Those are about the extremes for good production of many fruits. But even in Las Vegas and Phoenix one can grow the heat tolerant fruits.

konrad:

Thanks for the kind words!! I love my setup here but love the challenge of a new environment. If I start another home orchard it will be my 10th spanning Illinois, Indiana, Texas, and California so far. I've learned something in every place. Guess I've learned as much on this forum as anywhere!!

Go for it. You can always escape the heat in the higher mountains. I've been to Denver in the summer and you get up above 10,000ft and its downright chilly. I'd love to live out west in the mountains.

Ah Moab, I go down every year to mountain bike. Lots of tails to hike and bike. When people think of Moab, they tend to forget about the La Sal mountains. In a 45 min drive, you could be up in the quaky aspens. Some hiking and you can be above the tree line if you want to climb. My favorite ride starts in the La Sal mountains and goes down to the Colorado river. Going from high mountains passes, to the red sand at the river bottom. So there is plenty of hiking all year. You can pretty much leave town in any direction and there will be some trails to hike.

Well as far as growing stuff, cant help you much there as I live in N. Utah. Not sure if they have secondary water but if you can find a place with it that would be helpful. I would probably look for a place south of Moab, maybe the Spanish valley area. More room to grow down that way. You may even be able to find something up the mountain a ways, and change your climate a bit.

I may have to stop by once you get set up to see your operation though :) Well if you have any more questions let me know and I will see if I can answer them.

Frank:

Thanks for the encouraging words. The Moab area is stunningly beautiful around every turn. I think you'd like it as well.

Groem:

Yes I have my eye on the La Sal mountains. My favorite hiking is probably scrambling over the rough rocky areas but one of my first goals will be topping the La Sals at over 12,000 ft. It may take a while but I'll get there.

Thanks for the assistance and I'll remember your offer in case something else comes up.

Wow. A big move. I have heard that gophers are a real problem in Moab. Low humidity and alkaline soil are problems (outdoors) for blueberries in Northern Utah. Cherry fly is also established there now. They grow some good apples. Apricots and peaches do well if the blossoms make it through spring frosts. You need to avoid long-season peaches outdoors. Japanese plums/Pluots will probably need winter protection, as you have noted.

You shouldn't have many problems with fungi or bacterial diseases on fruit trees. Hope your move goes well.

As I recall, Fruita (in Capitol Reef) is in a very "privileged" microclimate for fruit trees, in a narrow valley. The deer there are small, but rather pushy.

I have a friend who grows melons, commercially, near Sigurd, Utah. Just a thought.

A very minor elevation correction: the Santa Fe Plaza is right at 7,000 but the airport is around 6,300 and I live at 6,800. Going up into the foothills outside of town is the only place you start getting above 7,000 feet.

Throughout the mountains of Northern New Mexico you see old fruit trees in every little village, up to 8,000 feet or so. The cooler temps up there cause later blooming and sometimes more reliable fruiting. This year the only apples I've seen have been on trees above about 7,500 feet elevation. I think fruit at these elevations is unusual in the intermountain west, or so I tell myself whenever I need to feel better about my growing area.

But seriously, I've read that the Santa Fe area was once somewhat famous for its fruit, although now it seems that it is confined to lower elevations (below 6,000 feet mostly) along the Rio Grande.

fabaceae native:

Have you considered a shelter, high tunnel, or greenhouse? 6800 ft would work with one of those and make fruiting much more reliable. I got my elev and climate data about Santa Fe off the net. The climate data off weather.com.

I don't know if this will show up but here is a comparison of Santa Fe and High Rolls,NM. High Rolls grows some sweet cherries and apples in the southern mountains of NM at about 6800 ft. You can sub in Moab UT for High Rolls.

Another area I like in NM is Tularosa. It's more like Alpine where I'm at now.

Here is a link that might be useful: climate comparison

Fruitnut moving? You've had so much orchard and growing experience through the years, we all want you to be careful on those rockpiles! Good luck with your move; you can grow almost anywhere!

My wife and I spent 5 weeks in Western Colorado and Utah when we were first married. We camped along the Colorado River somewhere east of Moab for a week, without seeing another person for the entire week. It was a wonderful time. We had friends in western colorado in the high desert area where they had great fruit orchards. I remember, 30 years ago, that if you didn't have water rights for irrigation that it was nearly impossible to raise anything. Water was the big factor for the orchards and beef operations. The water rights were owned by people that first setteled the area. I assume that the same conditions exist.

fruitnut: I'd love to do a greenhouse or other tunnel/shelter system, It's just that my HOA here is very picky. It looks like I can do a greenhouse if I get permission and follow a list of requirements (distance from house, screening from road, etc..).

I'm not aware of anybody doing this for anything other than veggies around here, but it would probably be great, allowing all sorts of things that would otherwise be marginal...

fab native:

According to weather.com you ave about 2 inches per month rainfall in late summer. To me that puts you borderline on rain damage for things like nectarine. If you are not having much rain damage, then the heated high tunnel like I outlined above for Moab would be a good option. A full out greenhouse like mine is better and Santa Fe would be a great climate for that. But a system allowing natural ventilation in summer is cheaper and has some advantages.

I live in Utah right now and late frosts are definitely the biggest problem. Late blooming varieties are your best bet: Enterprise apple, Evans / Bali and Surefire cherry, Red Mulberry, Harglow / Jerseycot / Hunza / Chinese apricot, fig, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit

I ran comparisons with your nifty climate comparison link between Moab and Willard, north of Salt Lake. The weather there is moderated by proximity to a fresh water reservoir off the Great Salt Lake, making late frosts less likely in spring and early frosts less likely in fall. There are commercial fruit orchards there - apples, pears, peaches, cherries and apricots.

Average lows and highs are higher in Moab and precipitation is lower. Average lows further to the south (Ogden) on the Wasatch Front were very similar to those in Moab while high temperatures were lower. The air is drier on the Wasatch Front than in most of the US, so with even drier conditions in Moab, blueberries could struggle (particularly in winter) even more than along the Wasatch Front. Melons should do well in the right soil.

Except for danger of frost, apricots should be well-adapted to Moab. Montrose (discussed in the link below) is a sweet pit variety like Chinese.

It would be helpful if you could keep apricot trees dormant as long as possible in spring. With your assessment of Robada as being superior, you might give its parent Orangered a trial in Moab. Robada would likely bloom too early for outdoor culture there. I haven't heard anything about Sugar Pearls (reputed to be very late blooming) from Utah.

Here is a link that might be useful: Geographical adaptation of apricots

Willard UT is pretty similar climate wise to Palisade CO, just east of Grand Junction. Palisade is the heart of the CO peach industry which claims the best peaches in the US. The reason Palisade's climate is better than most of the intermountain west is a favorable microclimate. On cold still nights air drainage down the Colorado river canyon warms Palisade. I may end up in the Palisade to Grand Junction area because of much greater housing selection.

There are some restrictions on what you can plant around Palisade due to fear of disease, peach mosaic virus in particular.

My friend recently bought some peaches (one of the two Early Elberta varieties) from Willard and said they were heavenly. Hope you find a good fruit-growing microclimate for your new home.

Fruitnut, I'll agree with the claim that Palisade CO. has the best peaches. I discovered this while heading back east from Grand Junction, many years ago. My wife and I bought a small basket of their peaches and ate them before we got out of Colorado. Good memories. If you havn't decided on an area to relocate, take a look at Crawford, Paonia,Hotchkiss area, There are, or I guess there still are orchards that specialize in sweet cherries in Paonia. This is a great area of Colorado high desert area. It's worth a look. luke

Luke:

My plan is to head up in early November mainly to try to nail down a destination. I've been in the area you suggest a couple times. I think there are peaches on Rogers Mesa in that area. And I think CSU has a research center at Rogers Mesa as well as Fruita and Orchard Mesa near Grand Junction. So there would be people to know and things to do that are fruit related in all that area.

From what I can tell the longest growing season is Palisade. That appeals to me but I'm still moving mainly for hiking and family. With a protective structure it's pretty easy to add a month or more on each end of the growing season.

Fruitnut, If you havn't seen it already, check out Black Canyon of the Gunnison River near Montrose. I'm enjoying this post and re-living my trip to the area. Thanks, Luke

I just found your posting from Oct. Hope I'm not too late to weigh in some notes. I lived in Colorado for 39 years, mostly in the Denver area, where I successfully grew peaches and apricots organically in a home garden without any protection. Equally as relevant, however, is I did lots of geology field work for decades in the Moab, Paonia, Palisade and other areas of the Four Corners states, and part of my job was evaluating potential wilderness areas. After a big back packing trip, I'd rest up in Capitol Reef,car camping next to the orchards. Yes, it was a hard job but someone had to do it.

Sounds like you have already discovered the peach and apples. Apricots around Palisade and Montrose are incredible. Inspirational! Sweet cherries, too, and pie cherries in Paonia, on the North Fork of the Gunnison.

Not only is having water rights essential, but also be sure to check the water quality. Much of it can be alkaline and high dissolved solids, so steps must be taken.

Best of luck on both the fruit growing and the hiking.

tractormama:

Evaluating wilderness areas sounds like a sweet job!! I could have used some of that when I was young enough to really get out there. I can still get around pretty good but like a warm soft bed at night.

Thanks for the tips on land and water. I may still make it there but real estate sales are really slow here now. No lookers in three months.