Peach Tree Disease Management Diary
I always dreamed of having a peach tree in my garden. When I was a child growing up on a farm, we didn’t have peaches, but I always wanted them. So, just after we bought our first home, I visited a local nursery to buy a tree for the new garden. I bought the tree even before we had moved into the house. We planned to make this tree a celebration of our new life in this house the moment we moved in.
Peaches belong to the genus Prunus. I planted a Prunus persica ‘Frost’ about 9 years ago. It was a very young tree that we sited in a protected location in our back garden. It was placed in a mid-sided bed on the north side of the property, between two buildings. It had plenty of room to spread and grow and received great morning (Easterly) light and mid-day light from the south. The tree was quite lovely — in some respects.
In its first year it developed Peach Leaf Curl. Because I was fairly naive about fruit tree care at the time, I took a sample of the deformed leaves to a Master Gardener Help desk at a local nursery. The rudest MG I’ve ever met scoffed at me saying, “I just don’t understand why home gardeners in Seattle think they should plant these trees here. They’re so disease prone.” She then explained that the tree had leaf curl and I needed to start spraying it regularly to control the disease. What she didn’t realize was that
- I had purchased the tree at the nursery where she was giving advice
- she was horribly rude and insulting
- The reason I grew the tree was because I love them and was told it would do well in my garden.
- There are alternative methods to controlling leaf curl!
I decided to skip the spraying she was recommending and did some additional research on my own. I learned that if I picked the sick leaves off the plant and removed diseased debris from the ground around the tree I might control the disease through manual methods rather than chemical methods. For two growing seasons I followed this approach. I had some fear that I would defoliate the tree so much that it would starve, but the tree survived and as it became established, it no longer had the curled leaves. Occassionally, one or two leaves would exhibit signs of the problem, but it looked like the tree and I won out. (Also, I should note that I did do about 2 seasons of compost tea applications to the tree, which I believe, but cannot prove, helped strengthen the plant.)
After the tree was about 3 years old and had defeated the curl problems, it began to flower nicely and begin producing significant fruit. Before I knew better, I did mal-prune the tree, essentially topping it. Later I was to learn that topping a tree is bad, but in the case of a peach it is sometimes done to encourage new growth on which fruiting occurs. So, a mistake somehow became okay. Over the next couple of years I began better pruning to correct or adjust my mistakes. And, I continued to harvest bumper crops of peaches. Family members came to love the peach jam that came at christmas. And we gorged ourselves on peach tart tatin, peach cobbler, grilled peaches on salads, fresh peaches and so forth. And then the real nasty stuff showed up!
Yes, my peach began showing signs of peach brown rot. Likely, it had the disease long before I knew to look for it. But, when I did learn what to look for, I recognized it right away. Twigs would start to leaf out and then die back, turning brown. Blossoms would cover the tree, and some would wither and turn brown. Brown ooze would show up in the crotches of the tree. And, finally, the fruit was affected by the disease and would mummify on the tree.
I refused to do a lot of spraying on my tree, and I’ve heard that the spray methods often don’t help much anyway. Sure, I could have tried, but being a mostly organic gardener, I had no interest in going this route. So, I tried to pick the fruit a little green and use it before it turned into a mushy, nasty fuzzy grey mass. This worked a bit, but then the situation got even worse — rats decided this tree was their party banquet.
Rats! A sick tree! Inedible fruit! I was done.
The Seattle Times ran a piece on the various issues surrounding growing peaches and other fruit trees in our area. I suggest reading this article for additional information. (I will say here that in my experience ‘Frost’ does produce a very flavorful fruit, but if the fruit must be picked when young, due to disease issues, it gets a bit mealy and flavorless. Cooked or jammed it is just fine!) This article also discusses problems with growing cherries and apricots. Issues with apple and pear are an entirely other discussion.
So what’s next? Well, as you can see from the photos, our peach has been cut down and the stump has been dug out. Some suckers from the tree still exist, but they will be removed as we rework the entire area of the garden. (Yes, peaches sucker, which is another annoying thing about them in the residential garden.) The orange paint you see in the photos is part of our work in determining the flow of a new path we’ll install through the bed. 
The perennials will be moved and new trees added to provide them the shade they need. We’ve selected one tree, an Azara microphylla. And, I’ll be moving a Disanthus into this bed, but as for everything else, well I haven’t decided on everything just yet!
I guess I now know more about why the rude Master Gardener scoffed at a naive home gardener growning a peach. There really are better choices to be made. Still, I think the greatest lesson I learned from her attitude was to be kinder in teaching gardening lessons. None of us are born knowing everything, many of us learn through doing, and we look to our teachers for guidance and encouragement not ridicule.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:47 am
This is just what I wanted to know. Except I was told what is happening can spead to other fruit trees that might be near by. The tree is loaded with peaches and sap oozing all over with cruled leaves and burnt leave droping constantly. The tree gets full and beautiful sun it is in the wee front garden here in Bisamberg Austria. My daughter will be heart broken to find the tree will need to go. But it is near 10 years old so I guess from what I read it has had a full like. Question however. Can any other tree be planted in its place or is the soil shot because of this.
Thanks bunches this really helps. Suzy Just outside of beautiful Vienna Austria.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Suzy, glad this was helpful, and I’m sorry your peach tree!
Brown rot is caused by a fungal infection that can rest in the soil. As well, it can spread easily to nearby plants as you were told. Because of this, I would look for a plant that is brown-rot resistant to replace any infected tree that you remove. Trees in the Prunus genus are particularly suceptible to this disease. Unfortunately, that includes plums, peaches, nectarines and cherries. Recently, I have read that apples can also fall victim to this nasty fungus.
Thanks again for writing in.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Thank you so much for your notes on peach leaf curl. I had picked off these leaves last year right away and the tree seemed to recover.
However, this year it turned about 90% to curl it seemed overnight. I am not picking these leaves off one by one. I don’t want to spray either.
I will certainly follow the recommendation re: compost tea.
I have located the tree very close to forsythia bush. Well, it wasn’t close in the beginning but that “lovely” forsythia bush grows like a weed and I have a terrible time keeping it back. The ground covers quickly with new forsythia growth. Do you think this could be affecting the tree??
June 4th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Forsythia can get quite crazy with new growth emerging far from the original plant. In my own garden, I cut mine to the ground each year just after flowering and watch it sprout right back up. I even chainsawed most of it out one year, and it still came back. Of course, I didn’t bother to remove the roots, so I get what I get, right?
It certainly could be impacting the peach if its shoots are entertwining with the peach roots. They could be crowding each other for soil nutrients and for water. But, it is unlikely IMHO that the forsythia is causing any sort of peach leaf curl.
Thanks for writing in. Please let me know if I can help further.
June 6th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Robin
I live in the central valley of California. The University of Washington and Dave Wilson Nursery are working on some varieties of Peaches that are not as prone to Peach Leaf Curl. I’m a twenty year veteran of the nursery business and I’m so sorry to hear about your experience with the snob at the Nursery. I use to teach my staff about making new gardeners educated.
I love Fruit trees it’s my speciality. Remember it’s important to get good air circulation around fruit trees. The other important part is to buy rootstock that work in your area. Here we use different rootstocks then you would use. When you buy a package bareroot tree 60 percent of the roots have been remove to get in the package. You need to really cut the tree back to match that when you plant it. Thats why I perfer a nursery to get my bareroot.
One of the other organic things I have read is that Austrailia is trying cover crops like nasturisums to catch spores popping from the soils. The jury is still out on this though.
Good luck Lulu
Bug Trapper Department of Agriculture.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Lulu,
Thanks for writing in. I’ll have to check out the nastursium trials you mentioned. Its very interesting. In our neck of the woods that would probably bring the problem of aphid infestations, but I bet there are other “catching” plants out there.
I also find it interesting that you’re advocating cutting back the top growth on a tree to match root cut back. In my studies, I have learned that this is no longer appropriate transplant behavior. Instead, I have come to understand that it is more appropriate to allow the top growth to adjust on its own, allowing the tree to determine which portions it will release on transplant. Then, after the tree has rooted in and released any upper growth it cannot support, making more appropriate corrective pruning cuts. If you have reading references that support your asseration, please share them. Lifelong learning is important to me.
Again, thanks!
June 9th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Nope I don’t have documentation (I wish had taken pictures) just years of being in the field. yes some people do wait to see where die back occurs.
We have short springs so this may be why we have a harder time with hydration then other places and things suffer here. For us heading back works, but that’s why it’s best to check with your local nursery and professionals.
I’ll be moving up to Port townsend shortly and reading your blog. I’m sure it will keep me learning what’s appropriate for the area. Thanks I believe in learning too!!! Thanks if I can be of any help let me know.
LuLu
June 10th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Thanks Lulu. Definitely keep in touch!
June 27th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Well, I did pick off all the peach tree curl leaves. Both trees are doing well. I will be removing the forsythia as much as possible. Your comments regarding the roots I believe to be accurate.
We’ll see. I did notice one tree starting to ooze a sticky stuff. I am thinking apple trees next.
However, we have a few really old apple trees that came with our property. They have not been taken care of for fruit harvest, but I would like to tackle one of them. Is it too late to cut it right back and try to domesticate it?
Thanks,
Tanya
June 27th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Tanya, I prefer to do my apple pruning in winter here in Seattle. It may be different where you are. That being said, it should be safe to prune out any dead, crossing or rubbing branches now. I find it much easier (on me and the tree) to do my major pruning in winter/early spring when the tree is dormant. Also, I recommend getting a hand-in-hand lesson from a professional so you know how and where to make proper cuts. And, using the right tools for each task can also really help. Cutting improperly (for instance “to shape” or “to top” a tree) can lead to worse problems down the road. Removing too much from a tree in any one growing season can also lead to problems. And, removing the wrong kind of branches can lead to problems and may even reduce fruiting very significantly.
Reading more at plantamnest.org might help out with some basic pruning info. Also, check out the ISA website (http://www.isa-arbor.com/home.aspx) to find a certified arborist near you for help with your trees.
As always, thanks for writing in. I hope all of your efforts pay off!
July 6th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
To whomever,
A friend of mine has two peach trees in her back yard. They are about 20 ft apart and bloom profusely each spring but have yet to produce any fruit. One tree is about 12 years old….the other is six. No sign of leaf curl or seepage of sap. Could heavy pruning along with a specific fertilizer help? Open to and would appreciate any and all advice.
Thanks,
Brian
July 7th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Brian,
There are several reasons that the peach may not be producing fruit. Since it is blooming, I don’t know that any specific pruning with necessarily help. Is there any chance these are actually ornamental fruit trees? There are many cherry trees that bloom beautifully but never form fruit. Perhaps this is the case with these trees?
Other things that might be happening…absence of pollenators to help set the fruit…storms blowing out blooms so fruit cannot be set…poor tree cultivar/it doesn’t set fruit well…
I suggest your friend try to bring out a specialist in your area to evaluate the tree itself since so many things could be at issue.
Good luck & thanks for writing in!
July 7th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Rhaglund;
Thanks for the pointers on trying to determine why the lack of any fruit. Maybe I do need someone expert enough to be able to tell between an ornamental and a “regular” peach tree. Also need to be more informed in regard to how peach pollination is accomplished and what central Texas conditions could affect that.
Thanks again
Brian