Hello! Came looking for an email address, but will just post this here instead :) I thought this may be of help for your peach leaf curl; it came through in my Get Growing email this week :)
Peach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans): Curled and blistered leaves on the new spring foliage of your peach, nectarine and almond trees is a tell-tale sign of this fungal disease. The affected leaves can have whitish green, pink or red raised, swollen blisters, and these leaves will drop from the tree. A bad infection can result in the defoliation of all infected leaves and dying back of branches. However, new healthy foliage should develop by early summer, but the tree will still harbour the disease spores that will reinfect the leaves in the following spring. Prevention of this disease can be achieved by a few well-timed applications of copper oxycholoride. As the disease over-winters in the bark's crevices and around the buds, a fungicide application at leaf fall in autumn is needed to kill the spores. Remove all fruit mummies (dried up, decaying fruit) from the tree, and all fallen leaves from the ground. Two further applications of copper oxychloride in spring, when the flower buds begin to swell and two weeks later, should prevent this disease. Yates Bravo or Greenguard can be used instead of copper oxychloride if the infection is very bad or if the climate is very warm and wet. Despite hearsay that a copper nail hammered into the tree trunk prevents leaf curl, there's no solid scientific evidence that this works. Plant leaf-curl resistant varieties, like the peaches 'April White', 'Dixired' and 'Gordon Glory'. And be aware that, due to their natural tight branching habit, dwarf stonefruit varieties (like 'Honey Babe' and 'Garden Delight') can be susceptible to leaf curl. It is particularly important to remove all decaying leaves and fruit from dwarf trees in autumn and thoroughly drench with a copper-based fungicide to prevent the disease spores over-wintering in the nooks and crannies of the little branches. Note: plum trees can get curling leaves which looks a lot like leaf curl, but is in fact caused by aphids. Bladder plum (Exoascus pruni): This fungal disease causes the fruit to deform and can also cause stem die back (blackening and dying off of the branches). The fruit becomes elongated and is spongey when squeezed, which is caused by the seed tissue inside the fruit dying, leaving a pocket inside the plum (hence its other name, 'plum pockets'). Prevention of this disease: You are best to remove all the affected fruit from the tree and dispose of them (in the rubbish, not your compost heap). In autumn, remove all fallen leaves from around your tree and biff or burn them. If you leave them around the tree, the disease spores can over-winter and re-infect in spring. You should spray the same as for leaf curl to prevent this disease.
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Hello! Came looking for an email address, but will just post this here instead :) I thought this may be of help for your peach leaf curl; it came through in my Get Growing email this week :)
ReplyDeletePeach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans): Curled and blistered leaves on the new spring foliage of your peach, nectarine and almond trees is a tell-tale sign of this fungal disease. The affected leaves can have whitish green, pink or red raised, swollen blisters, and these leaves will drop from the tree. A bad infection can result in the defoliation of all infected leaves and dying back of branches. However, new healthy foliage should develop by early summer, but the tree will still harbour the disease spores that will reinfect the leaves in the following spring.
Prevention of this disease can be achieved by a few well-timed applications of copper oxycholoride. As the disease over-winters in the bark's crevices and around the buds, a fungicide application at leaf fall in autumn is needed to kill the spores. Remove all fruit mummies (dried up, decaying fruit) from the tree, and all fallen leaves from the ground. Two further applications of copper oxychloride in spring, when the flower buds begin to swell and two weeks later, should prevent this disease. Yates Bravo or Greenguard can be used instead of copper oxychloride if the infection is very bad or if the climate is very warm and wet. Despite hearsay that a copper nail hammered into the tree trunk prevents leaf curl, there's no solid scientific evidence that this works. Plant leaf-curl resistant varieties, like the peaches 'April White', 'Dixired' and 'Gordon Glory'. And be aware that, due to their natural tight branching habit, dwarf stonefruit varieties (like 'Honey Babe' and 'Garden Delight') can be susceptible to leaf curl. It is particularly important to remove all decaying leaves and fruit from dwarf trees in autumn and thoroughly drench with a copper-based fungicide to prevent the disease spores over-wintering in the nooks and crannies of the little branches. Note: plum trees can get curling leaves which looks a lot like leaf curl, but is in fact caused by aphids.
Bladder plum (Exoascus pruni): This fungal disease causes the fruit to deform and can also cause stem die back (blackening and dying off of the branches). The fruit becomes elongated and is spongey when squeezed, which is caused by the seed tissue inside the fruit dying, leaving a pocket inside the plum (hence its other name, 'plum pockets').
Prevention of this disease: You are best to remove all the affected fruit from the tree and dispose of them (in the rubbish, not your compost heap). In autumn, remove all fallen leaves from around your tree and biff or burn them. If you leave them around the tree, the disease spores can over-winter and re-infect in spring. You should spray the same as for leaf curl to prevent this disease.
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ReplyDeleteOpps, gave you some stuff about plums too. My copy and paste needs some practice! :)
ReplyDelete