The Challenge of Dealing with Peach Leaf Curl

Author: Meera, February 23, 2016

 

 

Peach leaf curl causes deformed leaf shape, blisters, and a reddish coloring in affected areas

Peach leaf curl causes deformed leaf shape, blisters, and a reddish coloring in affected areas

 

 

The rains have turned Northern California hills and fields green with wild grasses and weeds. On my farmette, the fruit trees are blooming and the peaches have leafed out. The dreaded peach leaf curl is apparent on many leaves of my peach and nectarine trees.

 

 

The peach leaf curl disease is caused by a fungus, Taphrina deformans, according the integrated pest management information posted on the U.C. Davis site: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7426.html. This fungal infection can involve virtually every part of the tree, especially the new leaves, young twigs, new shoots, and fruits. It winters over, too, ready to infect the new growth in the spring.

 

 

Picking off the affected leaves and disposing of them in a garbage bag (never in the compost pile) seems intuitive as new the tree will produce new leaves. However, until it does, the tree is exposed to sunburn.

 

 

Many expert gardeners say the most effective treatment is prune in the fall to remove any affected branches and twigs. Spray the tree with a fixed copper fungicide after the leaves have fallen in November.

 

 

If the winter rains are heavy, you may need another round of spraying in the spring before the blossoms open. Failure to control this fungus can result in the decline of the of quality fruit and ultimately the death of the tree.

 

 

Copper fungicide, like any pesticide, is a poison. If you decide to use it, follow the directions on the packaging. Do not spray on a windy day or where the possibility of the spray can drift and contaminate areas where vegetables are ready to be picked.

 

 

Organic approaches are less effective but include the following:

 

1. Keep the plant healthy, but don’t over-fertilize it because that produces more tissue for potential infection.

2. Use good hygiene on and around the tree. Remove diseased leaves, twigs, and fallen leaves and discard (not in the compost pile).

3. Consider replacing the susceptible tree with a peach tree that is more resistant to peach leaf curl such as Redhaven or cultivars of Redhaven.

4. If you defoliate the tree, allow it to re-foliate in warm, dry weather when re-infection is less of a problem. Also thin the fruit crop in a season when there is a particularly severe infection because that will help keep the plant vigorous.

 

 

 

For more tips for farming, gardening, keeping bees and chickens, check out my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries. Each chapter features almanac sayings and ends with farming tips or delicious recipes. The books are available through Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, as well as other online and conventional bookstores everywhere.

 

 

 

The first book in the Henny Penny Farmette series, Kensington Books 2015

The first book in the Henny Penny Farmette series, Kensington Books 2015

 

 

 

The second cozy  mystery in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available Sept. 29, 2016

The second cozy mystery in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available Sept. 29, 2016

 

 

 

 

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Forget the Lawn and Welcome the Robins

Author: Meera, August 11, 2013

 

Robins are the quintessential backyard bird

Robins are the quintessential backyard bird

 

One of my favorite ways to relax is birdwatching. And nothing entertains me more than seeing an orange-breasted robin hopping around on the lawn and then halting at a full stop with its head cocked as if listening for an earthworm, as if the worms telegraphed their presence. I mean seriously. But somehow, those robins will find the worms and pull them right out of the ground.

 

When winter is nearing its close and spring is beginning, the robins are one of the first harbingers of the seasonal transition. In the spring, when other backyard birds are nesting and producing young, the robins are, too. But even though it is possible for them to produce three broods each year, less than half (40 percent) of their nests will hold baby robins.

 

Of the young robins that hatch, only about a quarter of them will make it to November each year. And as if that weren’t bad enough, of the robins that make it through a full year, only half will survive through a second year. And yet, robins can live to the ripe old age of 14 if it were not for predators and pesticides.

 

 

Robin nest tucked into a Cecile Breunner climbing rose

Robin nest tucked into a Cecile Brunner polyantha climbing rose

 

 

With the odds against these sweet birds’ survival, you’d think most people would not spray the daylights out of their lawns with pesticides and herbicides. These chemicals are toxic to the robins as well as other birds and, of course, the beleaguered honeybee.

 

Robins find lawns to be wonderful sites for foraging and I often see them searching and snatching the earthworms in the early morning. Later in the day, these cheerful birds seem to prefer fruit and honeysuckle berries. If you don’t see them, you might hear their cheery song crisp and clear, even over urban noise.

 

During certain times of the year,  you might see the robins in greater numbers than at other times, but that doesn’t mean they’ve gone far. They are either resident birds, meaning they stay close to their breeding area or are short-distance migrants. The local conditions (environmental, weather, water and food availability, predator populations, and other factors) dictate the size of the robin population in at any given time in a particular area.

 

If you love birds as I do, less fussing over your lawn (except to encourage the worms) might mean having having more robins around. Consider ways to establish a healthy ecological balance in your yard and garden to avoid spraying with chemicals that can poison these cheerful fun-to-watch birds.

 

 

 

 

 

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