The green leaves have lost that bright green color as well. They look more flat in general.

I couldn't tell from the picture - are the holes in the leaves like little pinholes all across the leaves? If so, you may have what I have - a bacteria on your tree. Bacterial spot can come from having a heavy rainfall; like we have had recently in this area.

I was told that a copper spray can be helpful if applied before the spot gets too prevalent. But it's not a full solution. It has attacked my peach and plum trees but not damaged them severely; the situation seems to clear up when there is a dry spell.

http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/disease_descriptions/ombactsp.html

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From what I can tell, the type of tree seems to help more than anything else. Last year I had a Florda Belle that had a similar problem:

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I tried spraying with a dilute copper solution. It did not help - instead it caused the tree to defoliate completely. After much debating, I decided to replace the tree with a new variety. I went to a local nursery (Plant-o-gram) and talked to the owner about which type of peach he has the least problems with. He recommended a Tropic Sweet. It has been fantastic. I planted it last fall (and dug up the ailing Florda Belle & put it in a pot).

Here is the Tropic Sweet around May:

It is quite a bit bigger now and still very healthy. By comparison, the Florda Belle put out only 4 leaves this year and I chucked it around May.

Sorry that isn't much help to you with your current tree, but thought I'd share my experience. Also, it's probably my thread you were remembering (link below).

Good luck! Let us know if you find a solution that helps your tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Diseased Florda Belle

Slopfrog,

I live in Tampa and own a Tropic Beauty peach tree, planting it this spring. I experienced a similar yellowing of the leaves and then dropping as well, very similar to your photo. The tree shed about a third of its original leaves, but has since recovered by adding about 40 new leaves. While I can't tell you what caused your tree to shed its leaves, I can encourage you that my tree experienced a similar problem but rapidly recovered.

- Aaron

Many young fruit and nut trees will experience a form of shock when we go from our dry season to our wet season especially if young and newly planted. Some trees are more susceptible to this than others. I always take a wait and see attitude and most trees are strong enough to pull through it ok. A few of my (newly planted this spring) fruit trees are going through that right now. Some trees had completely lost all it's leaves and looked dead but now have put on a new flush of fresh leaves and now look great.

Lou