If spring applications are made, temperatures must be monitored closely. The spring application must be made before bud swell. A single fungicide (copper or chlorothalonil) application made in the fall after leaves have dropped or in spring before bud swell will control the disease. Peach leaf curl is not difficult to control. These are blown by winds to peach twig surfaces and remain there for the winter. Dry weather during bud swell and bud break limits leaf curl infection.Īfter the deformed and discolored leaves turn brown and fall, they produce powdery gray spores. Cool, wet weather slows leaf development and allows more time for leaf curl infection. The spores are carried on a film of water into the buds, where leaves are infected. In spring, the spores multiply during periods of moist weather until the leaf buds swell and open. Spores of the leaf curl fungus overwinter on the surface of peach twigs. Eventually the infected leaves fall from the tree. Deformed areas are red to yellow at first and then turn brown. Infected leaves, which begin appearing in mid-May, are easily distinguished from healthy leaves in that they are puckered and thicker than normal. Defoliation by peach leaf curl in successive seasons may kill the tree. Although new leaves develop, their growth reduces established food reserves, weakens the tree, and may reduce yield.
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