Early last month we could never have known that the promising-looking peach pictured above would eventually have something wrong with it, but a reply from a specialist confirmed the bad news. The photo below was taken yesterday at 5½ weeks later and our peach tree is ailing from bolla del pesco, or peach leaf curl as it's known in english gardening circles. The ag specialist says there is hope of saving the tree but chances of a harvest are zero. The advice that he gave was to use a fungicide called Syllit and while I despise resorting to those sort of things, if it means nursing our only peach tree back to a healthy state then Syllit it is.
How ironic for being ready to engage in battle with the aphids (which we won by the way!), yet being wholly unprepared for a fungus. The only question I have about peach leaf curl is if you should remove the sick leaves or not? I have read that you will only further weaken the tree if you remove sick leaves, while the advice on this site here says just the opposite.
Referenced links:
http://www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/peacurl.htm
http://www.caf.wvu.edu/KEARNEYSVILLE/disease_descriptions/omplfcrl.html
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/peaches.htm
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_november_2d_peach.asp
Average daytime temperature: 21°C / 70°F
