peach leaf curl
 

I have bought in some peach and nectarine trees over the winter. One of them
is now affected with peach leaf curl. Did this come with the tree when I
bought it or could it have caught it since I bought it. They arrived in
April this year.

I haven't had any peach or nectarine trees in the past so couldn't have
caught it from existing trees in my garden.

Best,

- h

peach leaf curl
 

On Mon, 9 Jun 2003 12:24:12 +0100, "H"
wrote:

I have bought in some peach and nectarine trees over the winter. One of them
is now affected with peach leaf curl. Did this come with the tree when I
bought it or could it have caught it since I bought it. They arrived in
April this year.

Helen,

The leaf curl fungus (Taphrina deformans) spores are carried by wind
or rain and the disease is exacerbated by cool damp conditions -
especially in winter.

You can controls the disease with a copper-based fungicide by spraying
in mid to late winter and repeating 2 weeks later. However, by far the
best method is to cover the tree with a canopy to keep the winter rain
off it. This is easy if the tree is fan-trained on a wall. I used this
method successfully in Leicestershire but now grow my Perigrine in a
polythene tunnel in Scotland.

Good luck

Phil