Every spring I see posts sprouting up across social media, where home gardeners are desperately asking – what is wrong with my peach tree?! Most often, the culprit is Leaf Curl infection and unfortunately, once it’s taken hold you cannot recover the affected leaves, but you can prevent it from spreading.
What is Leaf Curl
Leaf curl is a fungal disease which causes the leaves of peach, nectarine and other stone fruit trees to become wrinkled, puckered and curled. If left untreated the problem will get worse year after year and eventually will reduce the trees ability to produce lots of fruit.
The fungus itself overwinters in the crevices of the tree bark and around the buds, so once the buds have burst the fungus is able to infect the leaves and cause damage.
How to protect your trees from Leaf Curl
Leaf curl is not great, but it can be significantly reduced and controlled with a couple of well-timed liquid copper spray treatments. Prevention is always the best strategy when it comes to fungal infections like leaf curl.
The best timing of the copper spray varies with different fruit varieties. Apricots for example, are best sprayed at 90% leaf fall and then again when buds start to show pink. For peaches, spraying is best done in the late winter when buds first start to swell.
As I have a handful of different trees (and am poorly organised!) I generally spray all my trees at the same time, once in early winter and once in late winter just as the buds on the trees are starting to swell. The spray I’ve been successfully using is Yates Liquid Copper which you can find at your local Kings Plant Barn. Good coverage is really important. Don’t by shy with it and make sure you get into all the nooks and crannys.
If you’ve got more deciduous fruit trees on your property, like apples, spray those too. Liquid copper is an excellent preventative for a range of other fungal issues which could cause you strife in other trees.
Once you have flower buds showing it’s really important not to spray copper anymore, as it’s very toxic to bees when it is wet (though safe when dry). We need our bees to be safe and healthy! It’s also past the point of the copper being most effective, as the idea is to add a protective layer over the buds before they burst.
How to maintain healthy fruit trees
Following the double winter spray approach, I have seen a significant reduction in the incidence of leaf curl on my trees. Though, it often doesn’t eliminate it entirely. So, to maintain healthy trees as they grow through the season, I simply pull off any leaves which start showing signs of infection (take the whole leaf, not just the infected portion) and throw it in the bin.
It’s important not to compost the infected leaves or drop them on the ground around the trees, as these infected leaves harbour the fungus which can reinfect your plants and perpetuate the problem for years to come.
Being consistent and committed to the annual management of Leaf Curl in my stone fruit trees has resulted in a much easier task of keeping my trees healthy, vibrant, productive and beautiful – and it’s well worth the reward of fresh homegrown peaches and nectarines!
