Peach leaf curl is a plant disease characterized by distortion and coloration of leaves and is caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans, which infects peach, nectarine, and almond trees. T. deformans is found in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Peach leaf curl reduces the amount of leaves and fruit produced by peach and nectarine trees.
Affected species
Peach leaf curl mainly affects peach, nectarine, and almond trees. Apricots are generally immune to peach leaf curl (instead, the major apricot diseases are blossom wilt and branch dieback caused by Monilinia fructicola in the spring and Eutypa lata in the summer). However, in an isolated case in Hungary in 2011, peach leaf curl was also identified in apricot trees.
Symptoms
Peach leaf curl is a distinctive and easily noticeable fungal disease, and the severity of the symptoms depends on how early infection has occurred. Diseased leaves can usually be identified soon after they emerge from the bud, due to their red color and twisted shape. As the leaves develop, they become increasingly distorted, and ultimately thick and rubbery compared to normal leaves. The color of the leaves changes from the normal green to red and purple, until a whitish bloom covers each leaf. Finally, the dead leaf may dry and turn black before it is cast off. Changes in the bark are less noticeable, if at all. Fruit may fail to develop from diseased blossoms. Any fruit that does develop from a diseased tree is usually normal, but sometimes may also be affected, showing a reddish color. The fungus cannot grow at temperatures below . is to plant peach trees against a house wall under an overhanging roof, possibly covered by a mat during the winter, to keep winter rain from the buds before they burst (and incidentally to delay blossoming until spring frosts are over), until the temperature exceeds in the spring, deactivating the fungus.
- Commercially, spraying the leaves with fungicides is the most common control method. The toxicity of these fungicides means they are not legally available to noncommercial growers in some countries. Spraying should be done in the winter well before budding. If trees are not sprayed early enough, treatment is ineffective. Copper-based mixtures (such as Bordeaux mixture) and lime sulphur are two fungicides commonly used.
- Peach cultivars can be planted which show some resistance to peach leaf curl, or at least regenerate rapidly, such as the white-fleshed Peach 'Benedicte'. For nectarines, the cultivar Kreibich is reported to have some resistance. Removing the infected leaves and fruit after they fall to the ground is sometimes also suggested but superfluous if, in the following winter, fungicides or rain protection are applied.
History
Peach leaf curl was first introduced in America in 1852 and has now spread all over the country. By 1947, the disease was costing the United States $2.5 to 3.0 million annually.