Peach Tree Curl

Question

We just moved into this house last summer. It has two peach trees in the backyard. We noticed that the tree had some peach curl on it last year, so we had the tree looked at and they trimmed it back. This year we had blossoms come out with a few leaves, but the peach leaf curl is back on the whole tree, and the leaves are all brown. We were disgusted with the person who trimmed it and said it would be fine. We were thinking of just cutting it down, or should we wait and have it sprayed? What if we wanted to plant a different type of tree? Would it have curl leaf too?

Answer 1

Peach tree leaf curl is a common fungal disease among these fruit trees. Prevention is the best form of attack against the disease, however. Once your tree has developed leaf curl, it is difficult to save your peach harvest. Unfortunately, fungicide will not kill this disease. Prune off diseased portions of the tree and try to thin out the number of peaches you have on the tree. Also clean up any debris that may have fallen. In late fall, you can treat with a fixed copper fungicide to try and prevent the re-occurrence of the disease.