Now is the time to think about peach leaf curl and its preventive treatment autumn.
This fungus with the pretty name of Taphrina deformans, is responsible for peach leaf curl which distorts foliage (and twigs) bringing a reddish color to peach, nectarine, nectarine, and sometimes almond trees in early spring. Attractive ? not really. The leaves are blistered, and wither or rot depending on the weather. In the event of strong attacks repeated every year, the tree can die.
sin blister
But the treatment is effective if preventive. I've never tried putting eggshells in the branches or planting garlic underfoot (maybe I should), but copper spraying has been proven to keep the disease at bay. Copper has the effect of destroying the spores of the fungus that would like to spend the winter warm in the scales of the buds.
Use a product containing copper, in the form of sulfate, oxide or oxychloride. Respect the doses and the precautions for use. Make a first treatment when the leaves have almost fallen and a second when the tree is bare (ho!) The third treatment is done just at the end of winter at the so-called pre-budburst stage.
Obviously, the treatments are done in calm weather and neither before nor after a rain. Wear adequate protection and wash well after treatment. The spraying equipment must also be cleaned carefully because the copper remains well attached to the tank, the hose and the nozzle.
