Peach tree leaves curling - but not leaf curl I think....

Hi,

My small peach tree often used to suffer from leaf curl, but this year I did a lot of spraying over the winter and early spring and it seemed to have got largely free of the disease. However, with this new flush of leaves they are curling alright, but there seems to be small aphid-like insects within the underside of the curled leaf.

I tried spraying with a systemic insecticide, but it is impossible to get into the curled leaf.

Should I remove the infected leaves? Or is there a better solution (no pun intended).

Mike

If you are actually seeing bugs inside the leaves, then they sure could be the cause of the curling. Peach Leaf Curl (the disease) seems to appear on the earliest growth, not the later growth so much.

I would not spray an edible plant with a systemic pesticide. Systemic means it enters the plant and travels throughout the plant, including the fruit, poisoning it. Great way to kill pests, but it makes the fruit not edible,

You might try a frequent spray aimed at the new leaves as they start to open, before the pests move in. Then the insecticide might still be on the surface of the leaf when the pest starts working it over, rolling it up, so the pest might die.

Thanks - the systemic instructions did say that it only lasted for a couple of weeks within the plant and then was metabolised into harmless substances. Also, it can't be too 'systemic' if the beasties are still active!

Peach leaf curl is caused by a fungus it can be controled by regular spraying with Bordeaux mixture that is considered organic.

The disease is caused by a fungus.
The fungicide spray must be applied before the buds swell to protect the newly developing leaves from infestation, the damaged leaves should be collected and burnt. If not, they will spew spores the following season, thereby increasing the infection from one year to the next.

Home garden remedies are lime sulfur, or a copper spray. Both are considered organic. Coverage must be very thorough.

You can prune peach tree in Summer, this will encourage new growth that will ensure future fruit producing branches. Burn all the pruning material.

The most likely cause is aphids that make the tree very likely to be affected by spores so the fungus set in.s. If you have other fruit trees nearby then check them out for any possible infestation.

Do not forget to use the Bordeaux mixture in late winter/early spring in the future.

Thanks, but I have been through a cycle of leaf curl fungus and 'cured it with repeated Bordeaux mixture application during last winter and this spring. A very few leaves were attacked this spring and I eliminated them. It was when this season's new leaf growth started that the aphids set in.

I had three goes at spraying with a systemic fungicide specificly targeted at aphids - with a week between each application, and though the number of aphids to be found inside the curling leaves reduced, it never seemed to be really working.

I have now removed all of the affected leaves and burned them. I will use preventative insecticide from now as the new growth appears.