- Author: Christie Mesias
This past Picnic Day, Master Gardeners were available to answer the community's questions. One question reigned supreme: What is happening to my peach tree?
If you are noticing puffed, curled, and discolored leaves on your peach or nectarine tree, the culprit is likely the fungus Peach Leaf Curl. While there are some peach and nectarine varieties resistant to the fungus, that is not the case for all varieties.
Peach Leaf Curl becomes noticeable a few weeks after leaves have emerged on the tree. Left untreated for a few years, Peach Leaf Curl can detrimentally affect the growth and health of a tree, but it will not cause widespread damage to the tree immediately. While some fruit production may be decreased, the fruit is still safe to eat.
Once leaves have dropped in the fall, apply a copper fungicide, which can be purchased at your favorite garden supply store, all over the branches of the trees. Larger trees may make this a cumbersome task, but it's important to fully saturate all sides of the branch. Repeat the application in the spring before new leaves have emerged.
Be mindful of how many years you apply copper fungicide, as copper can build up in the soil and negatively affect soil organisms.
Here is a link to the calendar of operations on how to care for your peach tree for the year: https://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/Fruits_&_Nuts/Peach/
- Author: Erin Mahaney
We live near a fast food restaurant that doesn't have much landscaping, mostly white rocks and few scrubby plants. But it also has six compact, deciduous, spring-flowering magnolia trees planted in two groups of three that are quite charming. Even smaller magnolias can exceed 8' tall, but these magnolias have been hard pruned to maintain a size of approximately 4' x 4' for over twenty years. Perhaps the magnolias weren't the right choice for the location if they had to be maintained in such a compact form, but whoever pruned them did it well. The plants were healthy, didn't have any obvious pruning cuts, and bloomed spectacularly each year with with pale-pink to white flowers.
But not this year. This spring I noticed that one group of three trees had their limbs decapitated. The other trio of plants appeared to be untouched. I took these photos just after peak bloom when the trees were leafing out. Compare the pruned trio of plants to the other trio. The pruned trio has stumpy limbs with a few leaves on sparse branches and very few flowers. The other trio of plants has lush foliage, more natural branching, and previously was covered with flowers. Why do they look so different?
When pruning deciduous magnolias, many gardening experts say “don't do it” unless preventative maintenance is required. Magnolias don't require regular pruning. But sometimes there is a good reason to prune – the health of the tree, safety, to prevent a limb growing into a wrong location (like a pathway), to remove crowded or weak branches, etc. A common mistake, however, is planting a tree or shrub in the wrong location. If a plant has to be pruned continuously or heavily to fit its location, then it is likely the wrong plant for that spot. (I'll admit that I'm guilty of this error, including with my own compact deciduous magnolia, but perhaps that's a blog for another day.) These six magnolias must be pruned regularly to fit their landscape situation.
One factor explaining the difference between appearance of the two groups of plants might be when the pruning occurred. Timing matters. When pruning flowering plants, one must consider when the plant blooms and prune accordingly. Most spring-flowering plants, including magnolias, produce flowers early in the growing season on the previous year's wood. They should be pruned after flowering, ideally within a month after the blooms end. If one waits too long in the season to prune, then one might cut off the wood that supports the next year's flowers. Some websites, however, advise pruning deciduous magnolias in mid-summer to early fall to prevent the cuts from bleeding. This may then create the risk that some of the next year's flowers may get cut off. Given that the trio of hard-pruned plants have few flowers or leaves, my guess is that they were pruned late in the year, but the other group was not.
Another factor is how the pruning cuts were made. The pruned trio of plants had their limbs bluntly lopped off the top. Thisblog won't get into the details of pruning, but proper pruning involves the appropriate placement of the cut. In general, a cut should be about ¼” above a growth bud at approximately a 45-degree angle. Cutting too close to a bud can cause injury. Cutting too far away from a growth bud leaves a stub that will eventually wither and die. It will eventually decay and drop off, leaving an open patch of dead tissue. Aesthetically, it is better to cut a limb back to a fork or the trunk.
I admit I poked around in the foliage in the healthier looking trio of trees to see if I could find evidence of old pruning cuts, but then I became a little embarrassed to be examining the plants on a busy street corner. In a quick glance, however, I didn't see the same blunt cuts that were so visible with the other trio.
If a tree is hard pruned it likely will live, but it may send up a lot of water sprouts. A water sprout is a vigorous, skinny, upright shoot that grows on the crown or trunk of a tree, often as a result of over-pruning. Eventually water sprouts may regrow into “real” branches, but may create a thick tangled mess of weak branches in the meantime. Magnolias are notorious for producing water sprouts when pruned, so I'll be interested to observe whether this happens in the next year.
Regardless, the plants should recover. Maybe this is how they have been pruned for over twenty years and I never noticed before. But I thought that the difference in appearance was certainly striking enough to share.
A colorful perennial has been brightening spring gardens for many weeks. Azaleas are the easy-to-care-for stars of semi-shaded locations. The most common varieties are evergreen azaleas, which are more accurately described as having “persistent-leaves.” They grow a set of spring leaves which are dropped in the fall, and a set of summer leaves which persist through the winter.
Azaleas are long-lived and can be used as permanent plantings, so consider the following factors before planting them in your yard.
Exposure: Azaleas prefer cool, partially-shaded sites, such as under under pine, oak or maple trees.
Mulch: A two- to three- inch layer of organic mulch (leaves, pine bark, wood chips) will conserve moisture and help discourage weeds. Extend the mulch a couple of inches from the main stem to keep the bark dry.
Watering: Azaleas are shallow-rooted. If possible, use soaker hoses or drip irrigation to slowly water the base of the plants. Overhead irrigation may promote disease.
Fertilizing: If planted properly, supplemental feeding is unnecessary.
Pruning: The best time to prune is in spring, just after the plant has finished blooming.
My existing plant didn't bloom, now what? --You may already have azaleas and are disappointed that they no longer bloom. You may need to give them more sun, perhaps by opening up the branches of the overhead trees, as well as pruning the azaleas to increase next year's buds.
Reasons for stingy flowering or lack of blooms include:
- The azaleas were allowed to dry out or to have wet feet. A two- to- three-inch- deep layer of mulch can help with water retention. Check the irrigation to make sure they are not being over-watered.
- Fertilizing with too much nitrogen may interfere with blooming. Did the plants receive fertilizer while you were feeding the grass?
- If you pruned after the flower buds developed, next year's flowers were inadvertently removed. Prune shortly after this year's flowers fade.
- Less than three hours of sun per day reduces the number of buds. Prune overhead trees, or consider moving the plant and its root ball to a better location.
PLANT SALE! Mark your calendar for our plant sale onSaturday, May 18, 2024 from 9 am–noon. The sale will be held at the Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch. The plants, which are selected to thrive in our climate, have been propagated by UC Master Gardeners of Butte County. For more information and a partial list of the plants that will available, visit our website.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.