- Author: Lauren Fordyce
Spring is just around the corner and many types of fruit trees are starting to develop their leaves. If you are growing peaches or nectarines and are now seeing symptoms of peach leaf curl on new leaves, unfortunately it's too late to manage the disease.
According to University of California research, peach leaf curl can only be effectively managed during the fall and winter, after leaves have dropped but before buds swell in spring. After bud break (when new buds begin to open), you may notice symptoms on new leaves but at this point, there are no effective controls. Pesticides used against peach leaf curl prevent the disease as opposed to curing it. Currently there are no verified curative methods for controlling...
Peach leaf curl is a fungal disease that only affects peach and nectarine trees. The fungus causes distorted, reddened leaves to appear on the tree in the spring. While many peach and nectarine trees don't begin to show obvious symptoms of peach leaf curl until the spring, the time to manage the disease is in late fall and winter.
If left untreated for several years, trees can decline and need to be removed. In some cases, peach leaf curl can affect the quality of fruit too.
To effectively control peach leaf curl, spray an appropriate fungicide in the fall or winter, after leaf drop but before flower buds swell in the spring. The fungal spores overwinter on peach and nectarine twigs and flower buds. If left...
Stone fruit trees like apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach, plum, and prune are a staple of many backyard gardens and landscapes. Unfortunately, there are a variety of pests that can weaken trees and spoil fruit. Caring for trees correctly and monitoring for pests can help ensure a harvest of healthy, delicious fruit. Watch out for some of these pests and diseases:
Apricot trees need to be pruned in summer instead of fall to avoid a disease called Eutypa dieback. It causes limbs and twigs to wilt suddenly and die.
Peach leaf curl is a disease that affects peach and nectarine trees. Although you may not see symptoms right now in the dormant season in California, it's time to think about treatment, especially if your tree had the disease last year.
Symptoms of this fungal disease include distortion, thickening, and reddening of foliage as trees leaf out in the spring. As weather warms, damaged leaves that die and fall off trees are replaced with new, usually healthy leaves. However, after several years without treatment, peach leaf curl will cause tree decline and reduced fruit production.
Avoid peach leaf curl by growing varieties resistant to the disease. For nonresistant peach and nectarine trees, consider spraying with...
![Foliage damaged by peach leaf curl. [J.K.Clark]](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/UCIPMurbanpests/blogfiles/41592small.jpg)
Winter slows down many garden pest problems, but it's also a key time for gardeners to take actions to prevent certain pest problems that occur in the spring. One of the most important of these preventive practices is application of dormant treatments for peach leaf curl.
Caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans, peach leaf curl is a very serious disease, which affects only peach and nectarine trees. Its most distinctive symptom is distortion, thickening, and reddening of foliage as trees leaf out in the spring. Damaged leaves often die and fall off trees but will be replaced with new, usually healthy leaves once the weather turns dry and warmer. A leaf curl infection that continues untreated over several years will...
