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Red spots on peach tree leaves #475771

Asked August 04, 2018, 1:43 PM EDT

I have a newly planted peach tree that was doing great but now some of the smaller leaves have turned yellow and some of the more developed leaves have red spots on the and the bark around the leaves is looking rusty.

Jackson County Oregon

Expert Response

It appears your tree may be suffering from peach leaf curl.

Peach leaf curl is caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans and occurs wherever peaches are grown. The fungus causes the growing cells at the leaf margins to multiply quickly and randomly, which results in the puckered, curled, distorted appearance. Often times the color of the leaves vary from shades of green and yellow, to pink, orange, and purple. Spores are produced on the surface of the leaf as the leaf matures, giving it a dusty appearance. Fruit can be infected and will either drop prematurely or form distortions on the surface.

The spores overwinter in bark crevices and around the buds. Primary infection occurs from bud swell until the first leaves fully emerge. Rains wash the spores into the buds and long periods of cool (50 to 70°F), wet (>95% humidity) weather are ideal for infection; little infection occurs below 45°F. If warm temperatures follow bud swell and leaf development is rapid, infections are rarely established, even if rains occur.

Sanitation and cultural controls are not effective for this disease. Some peach cultivars have been bred for resistance to this disease, so resistant cultivars and fungicides are the primary management tools.

Copper sprays during tree dormancy, as well as in-season applications, are important. Once established in a group of trees, even radical pruning to remove infections will have only modest success controlling the disease.

Here is a publication you may find useful.

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7426.html

http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/disease-and-insect-control-for-homegrown-peaches-and-plums

 Hope this helps!

 

Chris Rusch Replied August 09, 2018, 12:21 AM EDT

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