Fruit mummies can harbor spores, fungus, and diseases which can ruin crops. (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark)
A successful summer harvest of peaches and nectarines starts in winter. General clean up, pruning, and dormant spraying will help prevent disease and keep your trees in good health.
Remove and destroy all mummified fruit hanging on tree branches or littering the ground. Although they look harmless mummies can harbor spores, fungus, and diseases which can ruin crops. Stop the cycle of infection by removing these mummies and destroying them, not composting them.
Distorted leaves with red blister-like swellings from leaf curl fungus on a peach tree. (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark)
Once the tree is dormant (no leaves) you can prune out any dead, diseased or broken branches. Do not seal or paint pruning cuts, leave them open to the air to heal naturally. Sealing or painting these cuts traps moisture and leads to disease. Once all dead, diseased and broken branches are removed prune up to 50 percent of last year's wood. Pruning your tree produces new growth and opens up the tree to sunlight to produce quality fruit.
Peach branch with approximately 10% of buds at full bloom stage. (Photo credit: Jack Kelly Clark)
To prevent leaf curl (fungus) spray before bud swell, which typically occurs after Feb. 14 or Valentine's Day. Signs of leaf curl are detected on new spring leaves but by then it is too late to control the disease. By planning ahead, you can reduce the likelihood of leaf curl and mitigate its effects on tree growth and fruit production. Some effective fungicide spray materials that are registered for backyard use are bordeaux mixture, fixed copper and chlorothalonil. Always wear proper protective clothing and follow the label when applying any pesticides.
For more information on winter, spring and summer care of your peach and nectarine trees see the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Publication 7261: Peaches and Nectarines: Calendar of Operation for Home Gardeners.
For further assistance contact your local UC Master Gardener Program.
Sources:
http://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/Fruits_&_Nuts/Peach/
http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8057.pdf
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PDF/PESTNOTES/pnleafcurl.pdf (Pest note7426)
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7481.html
Thanks for your support and happy gardening,
Lauren
Is this labeling issue the reason all the garden advisers suggest using the wimpy copper ammonium complex products (Liqui-Cop) with only 8% available copper? If I was spraying a huge orchard I could use the Nufarm products. If I was in Australia I could use their Tri-Base Blue copper sulphate product which probably surpasses Microcop - on label.
If both the effectiveness and environmental toxicity are proportional to the available metallic copper, what do we gain by mandating low concentrations that must be applied in larger quantities? If the micro-particles of Tri-Base Blue or Microcop are more effective against the fungus, that should reduce environmental toxicity. What am I missing here?
Thanks!
Melissa
Copper soap (copper octanoate) fungicides is an acceptable product, and preliminary research indicates they may provide some protection of trees.Learn more here: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/TOOLS/PNAI/pnaishow.php?id=90
Best,
Melissa
But one tree has those plus maybe 10% of the leaves absolutely huge, maybe 2X normal length, 4X normal width, as thick as curly red cabbage, and all twisted around into a pear-sized lump! The undersides are partly whitish, and the tips and some edges are dried and curled. I'm not seeing any leaf curl images nearly this extreme on the web. Maybe this is something else?
I’ve been successful this summer in planting Nectarine small tree from seed. It is about one 12 inches height in a pot now in October . But while we are approaching I want to protect it any idea how to protect it?
Appreciate