My attention is now focused on the seven nude peach trees that march across my front lawn. The trees are now nine years old, have sturdy trunks spreading branches and in most years deliver far more peaches than I could ever use (assuming I don’t resort to moonshining).
My best year was 2009, when two of my trees went bonkers, each producing more than 125 pounds of fruit. I had so much fruit on my two big Avalon freestones I had to shore up perilously bent branches with PVC pipes or use metal fish stringers to transfer weight from overburdened limbs back to the tree’s trunks. It was a good year. It was also the first year I successfully fought peach leaf curl.
Anyone who’s ever grown peach or nectarine trees has most likely experienced peach leaf curl. Caused by a fungus, peach leaf curl turns a perfect long blade shaped peach leaf into an ugly red warty distorted mess. I’ve battled leaf curl infestation for most of the years I’ve grown peaches. Some seasons, I’ve been successful, other years I’ve had to sit back and watch peach curl defoliate my trees before I harvest fruit in mid-summer.
When I’ve won the epic battle, it’s been because I’ve sprayed three times; before bud bumps appear in late winter, at the end of year after leaves begin dropping and in the middle of the growing season when I can no longer stand to see ugly leaves on my beloved trees. My biggest win against Peach Curl was in 2008, when I thoroughly drenched my tree with a product from Grangettos Orchard Supply called “Dormant Spray.” The active fungicidal agents in this agricultural witches brew are copper-based chemical compounds. In general, the most effective versions of Dormant Spray are those with the highest copper compound concentrations. I also like to build deep compost barriers around the base of my trees after I spray in the belief that the nitrogen that leaks out of the decaying compost and into my trees root system will boost leaf production.
If you use Dormant spray or Bordeaux oils, you need to make sure and coat the entire tree since the fungus lives in the nooks and crannies of your trees’ bark. I also recommend using goggles and if you think you might be sensitive, a mask when spraying. Something else I’ve learned the hard way about using copper sulfate solutions in my stands of fruit trees is to avoid over spraying, accidentally spraying any apricot or apricot- related trees,, which are extremely sensitive to copper compounds.
Peach leaf curl interferes with the efficiency of a tree, and it can cut down on the amount of fruit a tree produces during the growing season. I really hate peach leaf curl!
I love my peach trees and have spent the last several years trying to grow the “perfect peach.” I’m not there yet but if I keep Peach Leaf curl under control, 2012 could be the year. Bon Appetit—Jim Farmer Forbes on 01/11/2012.
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