DENVER (KDVR) — The heavy rain this year is making the trees more colorful, but it’s not having the same effect with fall apples. Some orchards in Colorado shut down for the season because of the low crop yield from the late frost, hail and rain.

The front range experienced one of the rainiest seasons yet. This rain significantly affects crops because it leaves them susceptible to frost, delayed growth and disease, said Gus Westerman, the Dolores County director at Colorado State University Extension.

“Whenever we’re experiencing a wet spring, sometimes that delays the warm-up. So you’ll sometimes have cooler temperatures which can delay that bloom time,” said Westerman.

A wet season isn’t the only reason apples aren’t growing at the normal rate in some orchards. Frost can stop the buds from blooming and hail can destroy the crop completely. This was the case at Happy Apple Farm in Penrose, which won’t have an apple season because of a freeze in April and then a hailstorm in July.

Nelms Farm in Golden also struggled with hail storms, which destroyed many of the apples. The farm priced all the apples as free this year due to the bad condition.

It all depends on the location, said Westerman. While his crops are doing well on the southwestern side of Colorado, other places in Penrose like Third Street Apples are experiencing a lower-than-usual crop yield.

“We’ve managed through the season, we’ve invested a lot of time and money through irrigation, pest control, general maintenance, all of those things,” said Westerman. “If we experienced a hailstorm right now, essentially that could destroy our crop and then we would lose out on all of that time and money we spent on management through the season,” said Westerman.

While some orchards are doing better than others, the apple trees aren’t out of the woods just yet. This weather could potentially affect next season’s yield, said Westerman. Early frost or hail in September or October could ruin the budding fruits forming for the next season.

While it may not be the best season for apples, a few of the apple orchard reservations already sold out for the entire fall.

Ya Ya Farm & Orchard in Longmont is open until November, but there are no available reservations on the website.

Don’t let the wet weather dampen your fall. There are still places you can go apple picking this season. Some still have reservations available and others don’t require reservations at all.