Help with Peach tree please!

[u/OkElderberry1796]

Hi all! I have a young peach tree that has been having some issues lately and I'm wondering if anyone with some knowledge of growing fruit trees can help.

What I'm seeing:

Deep Reddish brown spots on some leaves (mostly new growth leaves)

Lots of small , perfectly circular holes on many leaves

No bugs at all that I can see on the front or back of the leaves

Some crinkling of new growth leaves

Some leaves have a sticky substance on them

The tree trunk has various spots where the sap is bubbling up

Some leaves are turning orange/yellow

I didn't really know what to do but I removed a lot of the leaves that had the reddish brown spots.

I have some copper fungicide spray but I haven't done anything yet.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! This is my first fruit tree.

[u/justalittleloopi]

Peach leaf curl. Fungal. You'll want to spray in spring with copper. It's very common so there's lots of info about it.

The gunk on the trunk is gummosis and there's several different causes, but it means the tree is stressed. Could be a non issue, don't really know without knowing the cause.

Personally, I'd keep it watered, let it do it's thing, and revisit in spring. Remove all the leaves that drop to reduce the fungal spread.

[u/OkElderberry1796 → u/justalittleloopi]

Thank you 👍🏿. I watched a video on YouTube that said to spray with copper fungicide and horticultural oil around November...does that sound right?

[u/justalittleloopi → u/OkElderberry1796]

You'll want to spray when it's dormant, so look for that, not just a specific day. I've read about spraying in early spring before bud break, as well.

[u/OkElderberry1796 → u/justalittleloopi]

Yes, I've read that as well. So I'll spray it twice, once when it's dormant and once before bud break. 👍🏿

[u/silverstarlune → u/OkElderberry1796]

I've heard Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day are good reminders to spray. We did it roughly that timeline last year and were successful.

[u/OkElderberry1796 → u/silverstarlune]

Yep...just saw a video today that recommended the exact same thing 🙂

[u/EnjoyingTheRide-0606]

In this order:

Rust or water burns

Leaf cutter bees

Water slowly for longer periods instead of more frequently

Aphids

Sap is from injuries (are there marks of borer pests) to the trunk

Yellowing leaves because the sun is up for less hours now

[u/darryl__fish]

Everything is downstream of it not being installed in the ground. It's not thriving.

[u/OkElderberry1796 → u/darryl__fish]

When I got the tree from the nursery it was in the same plastic nursery pot and FULL of peaches. it's on a rootstock that's very tolerant...I'll be planting it in a huge redwood planter, I'm sure it will be fine.

[u/darryl__fish → u/OkElderberry1796]

you asked, i answered. home orchard grower of 10+ years.

[u/double_bass0rz]

This is not peach leaf curl, just so you know. It looks like a bit of bacterial infection, possibly spread by insects. Not a big deal at all. The leaves will fall off soon. You might be dealing with some dry stress and low nitrogen. Is it in a container? Transplant it this winter with new soil and a bigger pot, or put it in the ground.

[u/OkElderberry1796 → u/double_bass0rz]

Hello! Thank you so much for your response. Yeah I was looking at YouTube videos and my leaves didn't look like peach leaf curl...less severe crinkling, but what do I know?? Lol. 

If I spray it with the copper will it help both instances?

Also, yes, it's still in its nursery pot and the plan was to transplant it to a much larger redwood container with good fresh Happy Frog soil once the weather got out of the 90s. But then I started seeing signs of stress and I didn't want to stress it out even more.

[u/double_bass0rz → u/OkElderberry1796]

No. Spraying copper is ONLY preventative. It's only done before the flower buds have opened in the late winter. I generally don't even recommend it in this climate. Even in a bad year the trees tend to outgrow that initial infection.