Peach Tree problems

[manda74]

I noticed some leaves on my young peach tree(only planted at start of May) had gone funny(peach leaf curl) so i took off all the affected leaves. I am just wondering if i am going to have problems as there are no sheltered areas in my garden for it and if anyone has any advice as i am new to gardening and i'm not sure what to do.

[starloc]

Ive had peaches a few years and had no real problems , i take them in the house with the citrus plants over the winter, from october to may/june , you need to spray them with a fungicide such as dithane ( buy a box now as they are banning it ! ), you can use bordeaux mix instead, you need to spray in mid february, then 14 days later, then when the leaves are falling off in autumn, so theres no plant unsprayed in the autumn, the buds cant get infected in the house during the winter wet weather
I have a few i have had from ebay that are all great trees, a mini nectarine its fine as well, but the ones i got this year fantasia nectarine, bought from aldi, have peach leaf curl, they had leaves when i bought them , put them outside and even though i spryed them they still have it now,

the mini nectarine had it when bought last year had a few affected leaves i sprayed and kept it in the house and nothing this year its fine

Just take the leaves off and burn them ( dont compost them ) and treat it the end of the year and next year, you can wrap it up outside uner a plastic cover , or take it in the house or a green house over the winter to prevent it

[manda74]

Thanks, what happens when it gets too big to cover up, i can't take it inside as it is planted in the ground? Is it too late to spray it with something now?

[starloc]

Its never too big to cover up!...., it gets harder to do though, i have large citrus trees outside and it does take some doing to cover them, especialy as they have 2 inch thorns that get caught on the cloth, at least peach trees dont have thorns!

You can get frost cloth. in rolls, i got 20m of 4 meter wide, put a bar on one end the hight of the tree and lean it on the tree and then wrap it round the tree, its easier with a couple of people but i do it single handed, once you get around the tree, then you can use another piece over the top, then wrap round with some cheap rope washing lines to hold the whole lot together

You could build a frame , when small you could use a few canes and a big clear plastic sheet, once the tree grows you will need something stronger if using a frame to cover it, its better just to wrap it up

Untill flowering time ( if its an early one ) in january/february you wont need to get inside it, apart from a quick check and maybe a spray of something or adding a greae band to it, but then you will need to polinate it as theres no insects to do it for you at that time of year, but it still needs wraping up as the frost kills the flowers / fruit as well as the rain bringing leaf curl

Its probably suposed to be too late to spray it now....thats because you cant spray when theres fruit on it, but with being its first year its unlikely to have any, so i would spray.... i took the leaves off mine and soaked the whole lot with dithane 945 when i did the potatoes and tomatoes , i sprayed it as i have other trees and wanted to try and stop the spread of it