I have three beautiful peach trees, one nectarine, one apricot and several other fruit trees. My question is this. I need to spray at leaf fall with something to prevent peach leaf curl BUT the leaves are still green and only a few have fallen. Can anyone advise me what to do about the spraying programme which I have carried out faithfully (with Dithane) for the past three years and have had some excellent fruit.
If you want to spray when the leaves fall then why not wait, are you expecting that they will not fall for some reason?
I have always sprayed stone fruit for peach leaf curl with copper just before budding in late winter when there are no leaves and that works for me. As for which time, if either, is better I cannot say.
David
For leaf curl, all I've ever used is home made Bordeaux mix and that works to stop leaf curl in my garden. This past year, I gave the recipe for Bordeaux mix to a friend who said that she had had leaf curl every single year and had never had one year without getting it despite supposedly having sprayed with bought stuff - I have no idea what she'd tried though. Last time I saw her (about a month ago) I couldn't get away from her because she just raved on and on about how effective the Bordeaux mix was after having sprayed this (southern hemisphere) Spring when the flower buds are swelling and before leaf burst.
I spray in Spring and should also spray in Autumn but often dont' get round to it.
If you're interested, here is the recipe for home made Bordeaux: Dissolve 100grams of copper sulphate in 3 litres of hot water in a plastic bucket and set aside overnight. Next day, in another plastic bucket, mix
100 grams of Hydrated lime in 3 litres of cold water and carefully pour the water off the settled lime into the bucket containing the copper solution. Add enough water to make up to 10 litres. I soak my trees thoroughly with this mixMake sure you get the right sort of lime - it must be hydrated, or if you can't get any, replace the lime with washing soda and follow the directions as given. This latter mix is called Burgundy mix. I know it won't mean anything to you, but these recipes are from a well known TV gardener called Peter Cundall - a living treasure.
I don't know what is in Murphy's mixture, this is an international group, you cannot count on products that you have being found world wide. I use commercial copper oxychloride or bordeax, they are very similar being a suspension of semi-soluble copper compounds.
Leaf curl is caused by a fungus, spraying it is not an all or nothing prospect. The less you spray (or the less effectively) the more fungus you get. The more you spray the less you get but you need to take into account that the environment cannot absorb large amounts of copper indefinitely, it is a poison (which is why it kills fungus) and it is not destroyed. So I spray once a year and tolerate a little leaf curl if I miss a bit. There are probably people who don't need to spray at all because the conditions don't favour the fungus. So you pays your money and takes your choice.
David
Neither, Oz.
IWait until spring, your trees are just about to shut down they don't need fertiliser or soil improver now.
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