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My peach trees have peach leaf curl. (Spring came too fast this year, I wasn't prepared, and I didn't get a chance to spray.)
They're still young/small trees (10' tall), but they've got a bit of fruit on them. Will peach leaf curl affect the fruit? Is there anything I can or should do to protect the fruit?
The easy answer is yes, (fungal) leaf curl will affect the fruit in the sense that some will drop early and not mature at all and the remainder may be warped or develop tumour-like bulges.[1, 2] On the other hand the fruit might not be affected at all, depending on how many fungal spores manage to get in or near to the flower buds across the tree, or whether they managed to get there at all before the fruit started growing.
There is nothing I'm aware of that you can do to protect this year's crop. Just have to monitor and plan for the autumn and next spring spraying.
"Many infected fruits drop early and go unnoticed; those that remain may become crooked at the stem end like a small yellow squash, while others develop reddish to purple, wart-like deformities on the fruit surface." - Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center
"Fruits may drop early, or turn reddish-purple with warty growths on the outer surface." - Yates (NZ)
I grow peach trees,(flat ones) and prior to spring and new leaves, the tree needs to be sprayed with copper sulphate. Do it again a few weeks later, and then put a large plastic bag over it entirely. This is the only way I got a decent crop. Plan ahead, make sure you cut the branches to fit the bag . Leaf curl is caused by the rain and wind, something we do well in the UK with. Hence, only idiots like me try to do the impossible....... Alternatively, grow it in a greenhouse. Just remembered, if you get leaf curl, and all the leaves eventually drop off, or you take them off, the tree may not look well, but don't give up, it will come back to life and new leaves without peach curl will come back later on in the season.
