Peach leaf curl free peach?

14 years ago

I am in zone 7 on the coast in NY. I have lost a peach or 2 in the past to peach leaf curl and 1 to borers. Whats the most plc resistant peach out there? Also how can I deal with the vine borer w/o using pesticides? I have tried the coathanger. I want to each peaches without using any pesticides. Otherwise I will just go to the supermarket if I want pesticides. Pears organically are no problem here but apples are impossible. Any chance of organic peaches in my zone? Thanks in advance.

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Comments (7)

wildforager
14 years ago
I see that Miller sells a peach called "Curl Free". I don't know much about it though.

-Little John
thisisme
14 years ago
I think raintree sells that one too.
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Thanks for the tip, guys. I'll definitely look for the chlorothalonil. Ace: Yes, you'll often see that sulfur (elemental sulfur) should not be used anywhere near oil. But, you'll also see that oil plus lime/sulfur are highly recommended as a combo dormant spray. (http://www.lillymiller.com/dormants.html#3) Here's the difference: Lime/sulfur is lime (calcium hydroxide) which has been reacted with elemental sulfur, to form a new compound, calcium polysulfide (Polysul is a brand name). Although *elemental* sulfur, a common fungicide, is toxic when used in conjunction with oils, the *sulfide* form of sulfur is safe to use with oil. Thanks again, Kelly
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Nope, March is way too late for us to spray for PLC. Fruitnut is closer to the mark. We refer to it as the "holiday" spraying for PLC: Thanksgiving (you'll still have leaves on your trees no doubt), Christmas and Valentine's Day. But this year, it was too late to do a February 14th spray since we had a bit of a warm up and generally mild winter, so I only got two sprayings in this year. But, we've had a much, much drier winter this year than the last 3 years, so I think we'll be okay. I just had one of our local orchard specialists over today, and he was in the same boat as me. So, don't feel so badly :-) Patty S.
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Wildforager, I didn't know Clayton was PLC resistant. Where did you come across that info.? Kudzu, The life cycle of leaf curl is that it overwinters in leaf scars and on the bark. The disease washes into the bud scales as they loosen in spring. Once in the leaf buds, it infects the leaf tissue systemically. Signs of the disease don't show up right away. At first the leaf tissue looks like it's emerging normally. After a while you start to see the distorted leaves with occasional red bulbous tissue. Defoliation of infected leaves occurs after that. Spraying in the dormant season breaks the cycle. In my opinion the optimum time is just before bud scales loosen. Spraying in the Fall is frequently recommended, and while I'm sure it's successful in most cases, it does run the risk of allowing the disease to reestablish itself on the bark of trees before Spring arrives, which happened to me once. The advantage of Fall spraying is that it generally provides decent protection if you don't get the chance to apply in the Spring before bud swell. Once green tissue is showing sprays will do little good to control the disease, since the tissue has had ample time to become infected. Still, you might gain a small benefit in spraying now. For reasons I don't understand, just because the leaf tissue is infected, does not necessarily mean it will develop into disease. It still takes humidity and rain as leaves emerge to cause disease in leaf tissue. I don't use copper much during the growing season, but my gut feeling is that at this early stage of leaf development, you could probably apply your copper spray without any significant harm. At worse case, I'd expect it would burn the tops of the emerging leaf tissue, but this is just a guess. I mostly use Chlorothalonil (sold in homeowner formulations like Daconil, Funganil, etc.) for leaf curl. It might be an advantage to you in this case because it's much phytotoxic than copper and slightly more effective against the disease.
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Peach Leaf Curl Report: PLC resistant varieties, planted Maritime NW, Zone 8 As of May 30, 2008 for young trees planted 2-4 years ago John Muir: weak growth, leaves slow to appear, minor curl, no fruit set Oregon Curl Free: steady growth, leaves good, very minor curl, nice fruit set Avalon Pride: steady growth, leaves good, minor leaf curl, no fruit set this year Indian Free: vigorous growth, most leafed out, minor leaf curl, nice fruit set Q-1-8 white peach:vigorous growth, slow to leaf out, minor leaf curl, light fruit set Charlotte: slow steady growth, slow to leaf out, minor leaf curl, very light fruit set Kreibich Nectarine: healthy growth, fully leafed out, very minor leaf curl, very young tree so light fruit set With varied site placement taken into consideration, I'd have to say I'm encouraged by all of these trees, though John Muir is struggling with its less than desirable placement near a towering tree. I may have to move it during dormancy next winter. Oregon Curl Free is the fruit set winner this season. I'll try to post some pics later on my blog at TallCloverFarm.com ummm, peaches...one day
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theaceofspades
14 years ago
Peach leaf curl is controlled with a dormant season spray(s). Most folks use a copper powder with water. Copper is rated organic.

Borers live one season. Moths (re)attack wild sickly diseased trees. Orchard practices control Peach Tree Borer. Grow trees in full sun and prune to open center. Clean up rotten fruit and diseased branches. You can apply wood ashes, mothballs or window screens in early summer.
olpea
14 years ago
I agree w/ Ace. Peach leaf curl is easily controlled. If you are strictly against any sprays there are a number of PLC free varieties. Indian free, Q-1-8, Muir, Frost, Charlotte, Avalon, Autumn Rose. Burnt Ridge nursery lists a separate category for PLC free varieties in their catalog. Most of the major problems with PLC seem to come from west coast folks in places where they get lots of rain and have moist cool springs, like west WA. Quite frankkly, I'm surprised you're having such a time with it. Hman is right in your neck of the woods. If he has any advice on the subject, I'd consider it as well.
eukofios
14 years ago
An alternative option is to take a method from fig growers, who bundle up their trees to protect them from cold. The difference is that you can bundle up peaches to protect them from rain. I live in W. Washington and peach leaf curl is rampant.

It takes using small pruned, or genetic dwarf, peach trees like Ponderosa (Or is it Bonanza?) or Honey Babe or Garden Gold (My varieties). I bundle up the branches with twine, each major branch being one bundle. Then I cover each bundle with a white plastic trash bag "sheath" and tie that in place as well.

Keeping the rain off the buds, prevents peach leaf curl spores from getting into the buds and growing.

I've sprayed the bundles before covering with copper spray but not sure if it's necessary.

The bundling needs to be done in November. Then in February, I remove the trash bags and unbundle. I watch for when buds begin to swell, then remove the bags.

This technique changed my peach loss from almost 100% to an overabundance of peaches. Only a few leaves were infected wtih leaf curl.

I also did this with a Tri-lite peachplum, which is not genetic dwarf but is small. It worked for that as well. I plan to keep it pruned small so that the bundling is reasonably easy.
sautesmom Sacramento
14 years ago
Wow, is that really less work than spraying?

Carla in Sac
eukofios
14 years ago
"Is that less work than spraying" - no, it's more work. But some of us like to grow organically, and protecting from rain seems to work. The copper spray is considered organic, but I don't want to overuse that either and have copper build up in the soil.

Peach leaf curl free peach?

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wildforager

thisisme

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