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Fruit & Orchards

peach tree leaf fungus?

14 years ago

My two peach trees newer leaves are looking bad. Kind of wrinkled, holes in them, yellow spots and some of them appear to have whitish fungus or mold on them.

I seem to have avoided the dreaded peach leaf curl using a dormant spray of lime sulfer and oil. But now, in mid summer, the outermost leaves on my two peach trees (Luther Burbank Elberta and Indian Blood) are not looking so good.

What disease do I have? What can be done about it? It looks fungal.

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Comments (7)

Scott F Smith
14 years ago
It looks like bacterial spot. That is a very common peach disease in the east. I always have a bit of it. Spraying copper just after leaf fall and then just before new leaves come out in the spring keeps it at manageable levels. This time of year with that little amount just ride it out.

Scott
olpea
14 years ago
Scott,

I looked at these pictures shortly after they were posted, and it was puzzling to me. I'm thinking it's not bac. spot. We both know it's hard to make an online diagnosis, there are so many nuances. But notice his pictures seem to show the problem only on new growth. Normally bac. spot I get affects the leaves throughout the canopy. Plus the the leaves seem sorta crinkly. Quite frankly, I've not seen anything quite like this.
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Scott F Smith
14 years ago
olpea, I have seen bacterial spot like this. New leaves are more susceptible and if it rained when they were young they can be the only ones hit. It is not common but if there has been a long dry period you will get lots of spot-free leaves and then when the rains finally come only the new leaves get it.

In general diseases can take on many different forms depending on the weather etc. Sometimes bacterial spot is just red spots on the leaves, nothing else. On young plum leaves there can be so much missing it looks like an insect ate 'em. etc.

Scott
lifespeed
Original Author
14 years ago
The second picture shows the white mold-like stuff. I was equating this with the problem. The leaves are very crinkly, and it is only the newer, uppermost and outer leaves.

I am not so sure about bacterial spot. I sprayed both copper and lime sulfur (separately) with oil over the winter, and do not get any peach leaf curl.

What about powdery mildew? I hear this is common especially when the temps are warmer, which seems to coincide with this problem.
lifespeed
Original Author
14 years ago
OK, I sprayed both trees with Myclobutanil (Immunox). The leaves at the tops of the trees are *really* bad.

Hope that does it.
Scott F Smith
14 years ago
There are signs of powdery mildew in the lower picture. Since there was none of that in the other pictures it did not look like the main problem. The Immunox will help with that but not with the holes which have nothing to do with powdery mildew.

Scott
lifespeed
Original Author
14 years ago
I now realize that my wife's rose bushes are the Typhoid Mary of powdery mildew. I'm going to check the neighbor's roses also. I sprayed the cherry tree that is 12 feet away from the roses just in case. No symptoms on that tree.

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