I live in Oregon and have good luck with Apples and Pears (and of course Blueberries) in my orchard. When I tried Peaches though, they made fruit one year, then for the next two years, right after they flower, all of the leaves curl up and fall off. The branches don't die though, and gradually recover, but no fruit!
I don't prefer to use chemical sprays as I have an otherwise organic garden, but does anyone have some advice as to how to treat such a thing?
Peach leaf curl.
Here's what OSU has to say:
Pruning improperly can do serious harm to your peach tree verses the response from apples.
The web site is temp. down. Try back soon.
Inside a peach
Are you saying that is why the trees get peach leaf curl?
No, not exactly. What I am saying is that the prunus species are sensitive. The example I show is a dissected peach tree sample of what I recognize as a proper cut. So, the more you prune, the bigger the pruning cut, the more parenchyma cells that die. Trees only store starch in living cells. The less parenchyma cells that less places the tree has to store energy in the form of starch to be later changed into glucose for the following:
Improper pruning of a peach tree can be the end of the tree. Apple on the other hand, is a very forgiving tree. A peach tree has what is known as short-life disease. This is part of it. Fine pruning on a regular basis seems to be ok. I.e., if correct cuts are made. This first thing I would suggest to anyone attempting to prune a woody plant, is this book.
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