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Damaged leaves on peach tree #870619

Asked May 29, 2024, 3:50 PM EDT

What to do for these leaves? If I picked the damaged leaves off the tree, there would be few leaves left on the tree. If I spray the leaves with something, will it damage the fruit?

Windham County Vermont

Expert Response

Hello Cathie, 

Thanks for reaching out to the EMG Helpline and sharing these photos. 

It looks like you have peach leaf curl. It's an early season fungal disease and it's likely that the fungus survived the winter on the surface of twigs and buds. There's not much that can be done now - you don't need to remove impacted leaves. If you experience significant defoliation now, you can thin the fruit on the tree to compensate for the loss of leaves. 

It's best to treat trees with an appropriate fungicide after leaves fall in autumn or before the buds begin to swell in the spring. Feel free to reach back out for fungicide recommendations this fall. In the meantime, here are a few additional references on this condition:

"Peach Disease - Peach Leaf Curl" PennState Extension - https://extension.psu.edu/peach-disease-peach-leaf-curl

"
Peach Leaf Curl" Ohio State University Extension - https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/plpath-fru-26

"Good Growing: Peach Leaf Curl" Illinois Extension - https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-03-11-peach-leaf-curl

"Time To Straighten Out Peach Leaf Curl" - https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1895

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