Peach diseases and their treatment

Growing a peach orchard is not an easy task. Changeable weather, diseases and pests often leave gardeners without a crop. Peach treatment is a long process that takes a lot of effort. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk of disease, it is necessary to spray the peach in spring and autumn.

Goals of peach processing in the spring

Peach is a capricious tree that needs proper care and regular preventive measures. To grow a healthy plant, it is necessary to fertilize and irrigate the land, to fight diseases in a timely manner. Experienced gardeners know how important spring processing is.

Processing a peach tree in the spring is necessary to destroy pests and fungi that hibernate in the bark and fallen leaves. Properly carried out spring processing will protect the tree from diseases and help preserve the crop.

When to Spray Peach Trees

Spring processing is carried out several times:

• before swelling of the kidneys;
• during the period of blooming foliage;
• during and after flowering.

The most important peach treatment for diseases is before the buds swell. The timing of prophylaxis in early spring depends on climatic conditions. The main requirement is that the air temperature should not be less than + 4 °C. In warm regions, processing is carried out on the 20th of March, in regions with an unstable climate – at the end of April.

Prevention is carried out with a break of several days. For this, copper-containing fungicides and a diesel fuel emulsion are used.

Spring processing is necessary for both adult and young peach. This is due to the fact that awakened fungi and pests stop growth and development, which leads to a decrease in yield.

1. During the blooming of foliage, spraying is carried out for curly and scab. To do this, 0,4 kg of lime and 0,3 kg of copper sulfate are diluted in a bucket of warm water.
2. Bud treatment will improve immunity and will be an excellent prevention against many diseases, including powdery mildew and moniliosis.
3. The last spring spraying is done after flowering. It is necessary for the fixing effect and saturation of the tree with nitrogen.

To protect the peach from fungal diseases, there are many drugs – fungicides. For spring peach processing, proven preparations are used:

• copper-containing preparations – destroy fungal infections;
• urea – saturates the tree with nitrogen;
• diesel fuel emulsion – covers the plant with a transparent film;
• нfolk remedies – lavender, garlic, tobacco.

Before processing, you must carefully read the instructions in order to know the dosage, timing and time of the procedure. To avoid the transfer of chemicals throughout the garden, prophylaxis is carried out in calm weather, in the morning or evening.

The first treatment is carried out using a watering can with large holes. This will allow the chemical preparation to penetrate into microcracks and lead to the death of fungi and parasites. For maximum effect, experienced gardeners advise taking complex measures: simultaneously spray peach with fungicides and insecticides. Since insect pests are carriers of fungal diseases.

Is it possible to spray a peach during flowering

During peach blossoming, 2 treatments are carried out: after the blooming of all the buds and after 2 weeks, when some of the petals are sprinkled. Both sprayings are carried out in order to prevent fungal diseases and to increase immunity.

For this purpose, chemicals cannot be used, as they can harm pollinating insects. The exceptions are serious diseases or if more than ½ of the buds have died, the preparations “Decisom” or “Aktara” are used. The harvest after processing will be insignificant or completely absent, but you should not be upset, as the processing will save the peach from the disease and grow a healthy tree for the next season.

In order for a peach to bear fruit generously, you need to know common diseases, their photos and treatment. Timely assistance will help the peach recover faster and prevent the fungi from spreading around the site, infecting neighboring plantings.

Diseases of peach trees and their treatment

All peach diseases are conditionally divided into 3 groups: diseases of the leaf plate, trunk and fruits. The timely fight against diseases is an important step towards a healthy, generous harvest.

Cytosporosis

Cytosporosis is a dangerous fungal disease that affects the layer between the bark and wood. The first symptoms of the disease are the formation of dark brown spots on the bark and the withering of the top of the shoot. The fungus infects the tree from above, infecting young shoots and stem branches. After the fungus moves to the trunk, the peach will be in serious danger.

If you do not start timely treatment, you can lose a large number of fruit branches and jeopardize the yield and future life of the tree.

When a disease is detected, all affected branches are shortened by a length of 0,8-1,5 m, and in case of severe infection, the entire skeletal branch is removed to healthy tissue. The place of the cut is covered with garden pitch. Cut branches are burned, as fungal spores are easily carried by the wind and can settle on neighboring plantings.

To get rid of the fungus, the peach is treated with 3% Bordeaux liquid (300 g of copper sulfate and 400 g of lime are diluted in a bucket of water).

Moniliasis

Moniliosis, fruit rot or monilial burn is a dangerous, common disease that appears on foliage, flowers, fruits and shoots. The disease on peach begins to develop in early spring. If no assistance is provided, the fungus leads to the drying of flowers and ovaries, the death of young fruit-bearing shoots. During summer infection, the stem branch may die. On fruits, the fungus appears as dark spots that grow rapidly and penetrate inside. Peaches inside turn brown, dry out and fall off. If an infected peach comes into contact with a healthy one, it also becomes infected. A chain reaction occurs, and without treatment, all the peaches on the tree begin to rot and fall off.

Disease on peach often appears in cold and wet weather during the flowering period. The carriers of the disease are weevils and codling moth. In winter, the fungus is found in the affected branches and, upon the arrival of warm days, it strikes large branches with renewed vigor.

There are 2 ways to get rid of fungus:

1. Affected shoots are burned, and rejuvenating pruning is done in the fall.
2. During flowering, the crown is sprayed with 1% Bordeaux liquid or 90% copper oxychloride solution.

Leaf spot

Spotting or curling of the leaves appears in a wet protracted spring, affecting primarily young foliage. Red spots appear on peach leaves, and after a week the inside is covered with a gray coating. The affected foliage turns black over time, becomes brittle, dries out and falls off. As a rule, the fungus affects young shoots, they turn yellow, bend and dry. If timely treatment is not started, the peach will drop all the leaves, begin to dry, and the tree will die.

If the disease is detected in time, it is necessary to act immediately. All infected shoots are cut and burned. Next, the tree is treated with copper-containing preparations. Processing is carried out in 3 stages with an interval of 14 days.

Mučnistaâ rosa

The disease appears in the first half of May on the inside of young foliage, then the fungus moves to the tops of the shoots and infects the fruits. Diseased peach leaves take the shape of a boat and crumble over time.

In the initial stage, the disease can be identified by a white coating, which is easily removed with a finger. Without treatment, the leaf plate coarsens and becomes brown. If the disease attacked the tree during fruiting, the fruits crack and grow deformed. If treatment is not started in a timely manner, a black coating appears on the peaches, they rot and crumble.

The peak of the disease occurs in the middle of summer, during a period of sharp temperature changes. To save the tree, it is necessary to begin treatment at the first signs. To do this, the affected shoots are removed, the fallen leaves are collected and burned, since fungal spores are carried by the wind over long distances. The main treatment is to treat the peach after flowering with Topaz or Topsin. Autumn and spring pruning of affected shoots is also effective.

Klyasterosporiosis

Clasterosporiasis is a widespread fungal disease. Disease activity is observed 2 times a year. Primary infection appears in early spring, when overwintered spores begin to attack the peach with renewed vigor. When the optimal temperature and humidity conditions are reached, the first signs of the disease begin to appear. Raspberry spots appear on young foliage, which grow over time. Part of the leaf dies, falls off, forming small holes on the leaf plate.

With a strong infection, spores affect the entire aerial part: leaves, shoots, flowers and fruits. Shoots are covered with brown spots with a black border. When the spot grows, the bark cracks and gum disease occurs from the affected area.

When the fetus is affected, maroon spots form on them, which, without treatment, grow and become warty in shape. The upper part disappears, and gum begins to stand out from the sores.

Help lies in spring and autumn sanitary pruning and peach crown treatment before and after flowering with fungicides.

Fighting peach diseases with folk remedies

Peach is often affected by various diseases, but in order to reap a generous harvest, it is necessary to start fighting them in a timely manner. Many gardeners use folk remedies for this, they are effective, non-toxic, and do not threaten pollinating insects.

One of the best remedies is lime diluted with clay. The solution has fungicidal properties and prevents the development of diseases. To prepare the drug, 90 g of slaked lime and 350 g of softened clay are diluted in a bucket of warm water. Everything is thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous solution is obtained. The prepared preparation is sprayed on the tree early in the morning or in the evening.

Treatment in this way improves the biological and physico-chemical characteristics of the peach, at the same time nourishing them with mineral elements.

How to spray peaches for prevention

So that the peach leaves do not turn yellow and fall off, and the tree bears fruit and develops well, you need to heed the advice of experienced gardeners:

1. In autumn, before processing, sanitary pruning is carried out. Slices are covered with garden pitch, branches and leaves are removed and burned.
2. In autumn and spring, the crown is sprayed with copper-containing preparations. The procedure is best done in calm, dry weather.
3. Spraying is carried out in the morning after the dew has disappeared.
4. Spring treatment is done through a large sprayer so that the drug penetrates into all microcracks, where fungal spores often overwinter.
5. The maximum effect is achieved if you alternate fungicides with insecticides.
6. Starting processing, it is necessary to check the reaction of the peach to the drug. To do this, a young branch with foliage is processed, and if after a day the leaves of the peach have not turned yellow, you can begin to process the entire tree.

Peach diseases take a lot of energy, therefore, in order to help it recover faster, it is necessary to carry out a balanced mineral and organic diet. In the first season after an illness, it is important to ration the yield, directing all efforts to a quick recovery.

It will also be important to increase immunity and restore growth and development with the following drugs:

• phytoactivators (“Stimunol”, “Albit”);
• growth promoters (“Epin”, “Kornevin”);
• immunomodulators (“Zircon”, “Silk”).

Conclusion

Spraying peach in spring and autumn is necessary for the prevention of diseases. With regular events, the peach will thank you with good growth, development and a high yield.