North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

The new growth that develops after petal fall is not affected by peach leaf 
curl and quickly hides the defoliation caused by leaf curl. However, severe 
infections that cause more than 10% defoliation can result in reduced fruit 
size. A few scattered infections cause no significant damage to the trees, 
but they can provide overwintering inoculum for the following year.  Adding 
additional fertilizer heavy in nitrogen and additional water in dry periods 
can help trees combat curl and rejuvenate from an outbreak, especially if 
copper was applied this spring, even though it may have been a late 
application.  We used a new organic fertilizer this season on our apple 
trees and I applied it to our peach trees that had curl after our copper 
spray and it brought them right back within 2 weeks.  We kept the irrigation 
on for that 2 week period at 1/4 the normal rate to avoid over watering and 
it worked like a charm.

If you had problems with peach leaf curl this season, you can treat the 
disease in the fall. The best timing for application is during leaf fall in 
the fall. The longer you wait the better. You need good coverage of the buds 
exposed when the leaves fall off. This means that the best time to spray is 
after the first frost. This is especially true with young trees, which hold 
on to their leaves until the really cold
weather comes in late November.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "akmanty" <akmanty@localnet.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 5:27 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] peach leaf curl/resistance


> Any one have experience with peaches and peach leaf curl?
> Varieties that are more resistant, especially for the north, WI, in 
> particular?