Disease of Your Peach Tree - peach leaf curl

Disease and your Peach Tree
(continued - page 5)

Harvesting Peaches
Individual peaches need to be exposed to the sun if they are to ripen successfully. With this in mind, lightly prune any foliage which is clearly preventing light from reaching shaded peaches.

Knowing when the fruit is ripe can be judged from it's colour. If in doubt, gently press the fruit at the stalk end. If it 'gives' a little, the fruit is ripe - if it is hard, leave it for a week or so.

Ripe peaches do not keep for any length of time and they should be eaten within a day or so of harvesting.

Diseases and Pests
The most important preventable pest for peach trees is peach leaf curl. The fungus 'Taphrina deformans', which is responsible for the disease, over-winters in cracks in the bark. When the young leaves expand, the fungus attacks them and results in severely deformed leaves. The flowers and fruit drop. Note that when the leaves have expanded to their full size, they can no longer be infected.

To the left 'Peach Leaf Curl'

The cure for peach leaf curl is to spray the entire tree towards late January with Bordeaux Mixture - this is readily available in most garden centres. Follow the instructions carefully for best effect. Repeat the spraying in mid February . In this way, the fungus will be killed before the leaves expand.

What To Do If Peach leaf Curl Strikes?
Peach leaf curl is bad for for peach trees because it causes the leaves to become infected and fall off. This puts the tree under great stress and can sometimes kill the tree. Often though the tree partially recovers and leaves begin to grow again in a month or so, not as good as before but they can grow. These new leaves will NOT become infected this season, whatever state the peach tree is in, so do not remove them because they are providing energy to a stressed tree.

The first thing to do is to remove all fruit from the tree. They will never develop fully after an attack of peach leaf curl so don't let the tree put any energy into them. Don't over-water but do provide water if the conditions become dry. Apply a nitrogen rich fertiliser around the base of the tree and water in well.

Then cross your fingers, wait for next year and hope!

Which Peach Tree To Buy
The best type of peach tree is a one year old tree. If bought any older, ensure that it has been pruned correctly for a fan-trained tree.

There is a limited range of peach tree varieties which are suitable for outdoor growing as a fan-trained tree. The best is 'Peregrine' - it produces peaches with an excellent colour and taste, crops each year and is suited for fan-training.

Do not be tempted to buy a nectarine tree! Although a type of peach tree, they are less hardy than peaches and more likely to suffer from diseases.

END OF ARTICLE

BACK TO FRUIT INDEX PAGE