"Frost" peach problem local nursery can't diagnose

Please see if you can give me a suggestion on this disease that is hitting our spring planted peach tree. I took leaves of it down to our local nursery where I bought the tree when the disease first started showing up and they couldn't ID it....I thought it was Anthracnose from research on the web but the owner of the nursery said that doesn't bother peaches.....she gave me "Copper Soap" spray and I thoroughly sprayed the tree....it is just getting worse & worse....Thank you for any suggestions you can provide....weather here was very warm for a week early in the season, then cool with rain for abit.... now it's been close to the 100's here....I don't know if weather would affect this....the apricot, cherries, and pear trees that are planted in the same grove are not affected...Deb

Another pic

Looks like Bacterial Spot

http://www.ent.uga.edu/Peach/peach_handbook/bacterial_spot.htm

I hate to say this, but bacterial spot is hard to control if you have a variety that is susceptible, and you'd be better off taking the tree out and replacing it with a variety that is resistant to Bacterial Spot. I have two favorite nurseries that have cheap trees here in Washington State that do mail-order, D-Mail me, and I'll give you their addresses.

And anthracnose does affect peaches, but you would see it appear on the fruit.




This message was edited Jul 4, 2007 12:42 PM

This message was edited Jul 4, 2007 12:43 PM

Doesn't sound too hopeful for the tree, does it?? Thank you so very much....tomorrow when nursery is open I will take this info down and see what they say....I almost feel like the tree came with the disease...Deb

Bacterial spot may have came with the tree since it overwinters on the branches. The wet spring and then the sudden heat wave is quite conductive for bacterial spot to multiply.

Hold off on the "copper soap" if it really has copper in it, you'll just make the damage worse.

Peach leaves are sensitive to copper damage, and if you spray enough, the copper can build up to phytotoxic levels. Fungicide spray schedules using copper usually specify for the dormant, bud swell and flower petal fall stages of growth only.

This disease looks more like Coryneum blight since the spots are round-shaped; bacterial spot has more angular spots. In any case the control is similar to bacterial spot. Spray a strong dose of copper right after the leaves drop this fall. The infection moves into the petiole base at that point to overwinter. It also helps to do a few copper sprays in spring, but don't use the copper after shuck split or you will damage the leaves. I have been able to control it with copper sprays, and I had it much worse than you do at one point.

I personally have not noticed a huge difference in suceptibility between varieties -- when I didn't know how to control it all my peaches got it about equally badly. For the plums it is another matter entirely, some are quite resistant and some get it horribly.

Scott

You guys are absolutely the best!!!!! thank each of you so much....this is my husband & I's first venture with fruit trees so we will absorb all of this wisdom from each of you.....Deb

With the wet early summers and then sudden heat waves we have here in the Pacific Northwest, the "stellar" varieties of peaches have appeared to be quite resistant to spot compared to other varieties I've tried in the past.

VanWell out of Wenatchee will sell them in small quantities to non-commercial growers.