Peach tree not looking good

GardeningNube

Hi I was hoping someone can maybe help or advise. I have a small peach tree that I purchased bare root a couple of years ago. Last year it grew some very small shrivelled peaches (which I expected due to it being the first full year) but this year it flowered beautifully a couple of months ago but now that’s it’s growing fruits again the leaves are all shrivelled and I don’t know what to do with it. I had a problem with aphids on my plum tree last year, does this look similar? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks 

puschkinia

Could that be peach tree leaf curl?
https://www.rhs.org.uk/disease/peach-leaf-curl
I'm afraid I don't know what to do if it is, but hopefully someone who knows will come along

pansyface

It’s a very strong red. Has it always been that colour?

GardeningNube

Hi, thank you both for coming back to me. @puschkinia It could be peach leaf curl but not sure. @pansyface I had a look at some pictures from last year and the leaves look a lot darker red but that was in July and they were dark green in September. 

pansyface

Peach leaf curl produces dark red patches on new leaves but, of course, if the tree already has dark red leaves it’s a bit tricky to tell A from B. 🙂

Here is a good description of peach leaf curl and how to deal with it. It’s an American site, so the bit about treating with Bordeaux Mixture and copper fungicides is out since the EU banned all that stuff and I don’t think our new Brexit masters have got round to revoking the ban.

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7426.html

GardeningNube

Thank you @pansyface, I will have a look and see what I can do. 😊

StephenSouthwest

My peach gets leaf curl if I don't manage to protect it from rain in the winter. It then recovers as summer goes on.

I do, however, intend to make a frame to make it easier to cover it each year.

ShepherdsBarn

It looks exactly like the leach leaf curl I have on my peach every year. ☹️