Peach diseases and pests: names, descriptions with photos, and control methods

Even under the most favorable growing conditions, peaches are not immune to diseases and insects. To ensure a successful harvest, it's important to prevent and recognize problems early. Descriptions, photos, and treatment methods will help you understand the numerous peach diseases and pests.

Peach diseases and their treatment

The peach's fussiness extends to all aspects of cultivation, including diseases. The delicate foliage, juicy peaches, and wood of the tree are constantly attacked by a variety of fungi. The latter are the causative agents of most peach diseases.

Leaf diseases

Most peach tree diseases are related to fungal infections. Poor agricultural practices and unfavorable conditions almost always lead to damage to the most delicate part of the tree—the leaves. Photos of affected fruits, trunks, and leaves can help identify peach tree diseases.

Clusterosporiasis

Peach leaf spot, or peach hole spot, is a dangerous disease that affects all above-ground parts of the tree. It is caused by a fungus that penetrates all plant tissues. The fungus forms a mycelium, which eventually infects the plant cells.

Favorable conditions for the development of clasterosporium:

• spring and autumn period;
• the optimal temperature is 20°C.

At certain temperatures and humidity levels, the disease can affect peach trees in less than a day. Obvious symptoms appear within 5-6 days.

Symptoms:

• brown spots with a red border appear on the leaves;
• If left untreated, the spots double in size;
• damaged leaf tissues die off, leaving holes;
• fruit rot.

Treatment:

1. Sanitary pruning of branches.
2. Three treatments with any fungicides, such as "Hom" or "Meteor." First, when the buds swell, then before the flowers appear, and after the petals fall.

Prevention:

• early spring pruning;
• whitewashing with lime mixed with copper sulfate.

Curly hair

It is caused by a fungus whose spores penetrate buds and wounds on the trunk and branches in the spring. Young trees are particularly susceptible. Treatment should begin at the first signs of leaf curl.

Factors that contribute to curliness:

• humidity in spring;
• penetration of infection into cuts and damage.

Symptoms:

• gum oozes from cracks and damage;
• light green bubbles swell on young leaves;
• Over time, the blisters become red;
• later, a coating appears on the blisters, in which fungal spores collect;
• the leaves turn black, dry out, become brittle and fall off;
• branches turn yellow, become deformed and dry out;
• inflorescences stop growing, fruits do not develop.

Treatment:

1. The first step is to prune the diseased shoots and burn them immediately.
2. Spray the aboveground parts with 1% Bordeaux mixture or 40% copper oxychloride. Affected peaches are treated four times. The interval between sprayings is two weeks.

Peach curl leaves branches bare. If left untreated, the branches will become bare by May. The first frosts will kill the shoots. Peach trees affected by leaf curl bear little fruit. If fruit does appear, it will be with damaged pericarp. Leaf curl almost always leads to crop loss.

Prevention in autumn:

• burn fallen leaves;
• perform sanitary pruning;
• spray with 3% copper sulfate.

Prevention in spring:

• in spring, before the buds awaken, pruning and spraying are carried out again;
• before flowering, the peach is treated with "Skor", "Horus" and other fungicides;
• After flowering, spray the trees every week;
• Subsequently, treatment with Fitosporin is recommended every 20 days.

Video about various methods of dealing with peach leaf curl:

Powdery mildew

This disease of peaches and nectarines is considered one of the most serious. It affects all above-ground parts of the tree, including the fruit. The mycelium, attached to the plant by suckers, feeds on the plant.

Powdery mildew requires no specific cause to develop. The disease develops without preventative measures. The risk increases during dry periods. Fungal spores are spread by the wind. In a short time, the disease can overtake an entire plot.

The disease begins in May, and by mid-July it has affected the entire tree. Unripe fruits become coated with a film, stop growing, crack, and rot.

Symptoms:

• At the initial stage, a whitish coating appears, which can be easily rubbed off with a finger;
• then the plaque darkens and becomes harder;
• affected shoots die.

How to cure powdery mildew:

1. Affected shoots, as well as fruits and leaves, including fallen ones, are burned.
2. Spray with Topsin or Topaz.
3. Treatment with 0.8% colloidal sulfur. The first spraying is done when the buds swell, and the next one is two weeks after flowering. Then, the tree is treated with a 0.6% colloidal sulfur solution every two weeks.

Trunk diseases

Many gardeners, while vigilantly monitoring leaves and fruit, often overlook problems with the trunk. But these are often the very things that lead to tree death. If trunk disease progresses, saving the tree is impossible.

Cytosporosis

The fungus attacks the phloem. The affected layer turns dark brown. Symptoms:

• wilting and drying of the upper part of the shoots;
• brown stains are visible on the bark;
• then the disease moves down to the lower part of the peach.

When cytosporosis reaches the trunk, the life of the peach tree is under serious threat.

Treatment involves removing and burning damaged branches. Branches are shortened by 80-150 cm or even more. Sometimes, entire skeletal branches must be removed. The pruning process must be done so that no trace of Cytosporosis remains on the tree, otherwise it will continue to spread.

Prevention of cytosporosis:

• pruning, watering and other agricultural activities;
• spraying with 3% Bordeaux mixture before the leaves appear (in spring) and after they fall (in autumn).

Gum flow

When a peach tree is gummed, a sweet substance flows from the trunk, which hardens and turns into gum. If the leakage is chronic, the tree dies.

Peach gum appears due to damage to the bark, which disrupts cell function. Starch-containing cells appear in the wood. When the cell wall of the starchy cells dissolves, fluid leaks from the cracks.

Causes of bark damage:

1. Poor agricultural practices. Problems can arise from high humidity, severe pruning, clay soils, and incompatibility between the scion and rootstock.
2. Climate influences. Damage can be caused by damp and cold weather, sunburn, and frost cracks.
3. Pests. The bark can be damaged by insects and rodents.
4. Fungi and bacteria. Damage can be caused by canker, fire blight, clasterosporium, and moniliosis.

Methods of combating gummosis:

1. The glue is removed from the wounds. The damage is treated with copper sulfate. After the solution dries, the trunk is whitewashed with a mixture of lime, clay, and copper sulfate.
2. Cover up the damage with garden pitch.
3. Large damages are repaired with a mixture made from mullein and clay.

After completing the treatment, it is necessary to establish the underlying cause of the gum disease and begin to eliminate it.

Prevention:

• cultivation of winter-hardy varieties;
• maintaining normal soil acidity;
• insulation for winter;
• whitewashing the trunk;
• comprehensive measures to combat diseases and pests peach;
• balanced feeding;
• disinfection of the instrument during pruning;
• treating cuts with garden pitch.

Fruit diseases

As peaches ripen, gardeners are faced with yet another problem: fruit diseases. If these appear on peaches, the harvest is doomed. The gardener's task is to prevent the spread of various types of rot and fungi before the fruit even forms.

Moniliosis

This fungal disease is dangerous for all stone fruit crops. Moniliosis most often occurs in the spring, during inflorescence formation.

Reasons for appearance:

• The carriers of the fungus are insects that feast on nectar or collect it;
• hot summer.

Symptoms:

• wilted and drooping leaves;
• affected inflorescences;
• first, brown spots appear on the fruits, then they rot, become wrinkled and dry out;
• From the side the tree appears to be burnt.

The spots spreading across the rotting fruit become covered with a light gray coating containing fungal spores. If the weather is damp, the rot quickly affects all fruit crops in the area.

How to combat moniliosis:

1. The affected branches are cut off and the rotten fruits are picked off, and then burned.
2. Fungicide treatment. Before flowering, peach trees are sprayed with Horus, after flowering with Topaz, and then Topsin. This approach eliminates not only the fungus but also the insects that carry it.

Scab

Scab is a fungal disease common on stone fruit crops. It attacks the fruit, leaves, and young shoots. The fungus overwinters on the bark, and spores develop in the cracks.

Causes of scabies:

• high humidity in spring;
• warm and humid weather in summer.

The fungus develops especially intensively in rainy weather and temperatures from +18 to +24°C.

Symptoms:

• round brown-green spots appear near the petioles of the fruit;
• the spots on the fruits grow and become dark;
• fruits become deformed, stunted, and crack;
• there are rusty spots on the underside of the leaves;
• the leaves dry up and fall off.

How to treat scab:

• after flowering – spray with fungicides once every 10 days;
• First, the wood is treated with "Hom", and then with "Topsin M" and "Delan".

Scab prevention:

1. Plant trees in sunny areas. Scab is more common on trees growing in shade.
2. Avoid planting on marshy soils.
3. Collection and disposal of fallen leaves, diseased fruits, and infected branches.
4. Regular sanitary pruning.
5. Thinning the crown to stimulate ventilation.
6. Regular inspection to detect signs of scab.

Pests: causes and control

Peach pests are voracious, and control begins in early spring. If gardeners take early action to eradicate them, they won't have to resort to excessive pesticides and lose part of their harvest. Pictures and photos of the insects will help you identify the most dangerous peach pests.

Aphid

This pest is most common on peach trees. These insects are very small and live in colonies, measuring 1-2 mm in length. They nest on succulent young shoots and suck out virtually all the tree's sap. Aphids cluster on the undersides of leaves and at the tips of shoots.

Signs of damage:

• young and non-lignified shoots dry out;
• leaves curl, become deformed and fall off.

Yellow, orange, green, and black aphids can be found on peach trees. They cause identical damage, and the control measures are the same.

How to control aphids on peaches:

1. If there are only a small number of aphids, there is a chance to wash the insects away with a stream of water.
2. Spraying with tobacco decoction. 200 g of leaf tobacco is diluted in a bucket of water.
3. Spraying with hot pepper decoction. Use 8-10 hot peppers per bucket of water.
4. Treatment with "Aktara", "Karate" or "Intavr".
5. Plants with a scent that repels aphids are planted. These insects tend to avoid fennel, dill, calendula, and marigolds.

Weevils

It causes significant damage to peach fruits. The weevil itself is a gray beetle that overwinters in the soil and fallen leaves. Its larvae are white worms that live inside the fruit. The cause of the damage is untimely or complete lack of insecticide treatment.

The beetles are active during the flowering period, attacking buds and fruit ovaries. Female beetles lay eggs in the fruit. Peaches harboring larvae fall before others. The weevil can produce 2-3 generations per year.

How to fight:

1. Collect and destroy fallen fruits.
2. Control adult beetles before they lay eggs. To do this, spray trees with insecticides containing malathion. The first spray is applied as soon as flowering ends. Subsequent treatments are repeated at intervals of 10-14 days. If the weather is rainy, spraying is increased.

Fruit mite

Like aphids, mites suck sap from the above-ground parts of trees. This small arthropod overwinters in the bark, usually where skeletal branches emerge from the trunk. Fruit mites nest on the undersides of leaves, building a nest of webbing.

Signs of damage:

• the shoots are drying up;
• crop yields are declining;
• the leaves fade and fall off.

How to fight:

1. Treatment with colloidal sulfur.
2. Timely sanitary pruning.
3. Clean the tree trunk area. It should be free of debris, fallen leaves, etc.
4. Spraying with Fitoverm, Karate and other effective insecticides.

Fruit moth

This is a variety of the common food moth. Its wingspan is 2 cm. It lives for about a month, with the moth stage lasting only 3-14 days. During this time, the moth lays hundreds of eggs. The hatched larvae cause damage to the peach tree. These voracious caterpillars quickly consume the tree, especially young shoots and buds.

Signs of damage:

• the eaten shoots wither and die;
• the tree, deprived of green mass, weakens and loses immunity.

An affected tree is defenseless against diseases, frost, and other pests, and is at risk of dying.

How to fight:

1. In the fall, dry branches are trimmed, dead bark and plant debris are removed, and all of this is burned.
2. In October, the soil under the trees is dug deeply.
3. In the spring, the trunks are whitewashed with lime or trapping belts are placed on them.
4. If caterpillar nests appear, the branches are cut off and burned. First, spread plastic sheeting under the tree to burn any fallen pests along with their nests.

Oriental codling moth

This sulphur-brown butterfly belongs to the large family of leafrollers. Its wingspan is 1.5 cm. It reproduces rapidly. Its larvae can quickly destroy an entire crop.

Signs of damage:

• The fruit contains a worm that will burrow out the pulp, filling the empty space with excrement. Such peaches are unfit for consumption;
• The pest can attack young ovaries. They rot and fall off.

How to control the oriental codling moth:

1. Deep plowing between rows helps to destroy overwintering pupae.
2. Removing dead bark deprives the codling moth of a place to overwinter.
3. Wormy fruits are collected and destroyed. They can also be buried half a meter in the ground.
4. Affected shoots are cut off.
5. Spraying with "Karbofos," "Chlorophos," "Rovikurt," or other insecticides. Treatments are carried out three times per season, at two-week intervals. The first spraying should be done during the butterfly's mass flight.

Recovery from illness

Diseases catastrophically weaken the peach tree's immunity. This already delicate and demanding crop, once infected, loses much of its vitality and risks not surviving the winter.

How to restore peach health:

1. Feed the tree with complex mineral fertilizers.
2. Cover the tree thoroughly for the winter. It's recommended to completely wrap the tree in burlap. If the tree is small, you can even build a small shelter over it. For added security, you can cover the structure with spruce branches.
3. Use special products to boost the tree's immune system. Garden stores sell products with phytoactive properties that stimulate peach tree growth and development, as well as various immunomodulators.

What to spray on a peach tree to restore it:

• phytoactivators – Stimmunol, Albit, Immunocytophyte;
• growth stimulants - Epin, Kornevin, Heterauxin;
• immunomodulators – Zircon, Silk.

Disease and pest prevention

For peaches, and other fruit trees as well, just like for humans, it's easier to prevent disease than to treat it. Moreover, diseases inevitably affect fruit production, sometimes even leading to a complete failure of the harvest.

General preventive measures:

1. Always clear the area around and around peach trees. Prevent weeds from growing, remove leaves and fallen fruit. Burn all organic waste; don't pile it up, as many inexperienced gardeners do.
2. Don't limit yourself to spring pruning. Be sure to carry out sanitary pruning in autumnRemove all damaged branches. Don't give pests a chance to survive the winter. Discard all pruned shoots.
3. In late autumn, dig up the soil around the tree trunks so that any insects that have settled down for the winter will freeze to death when they reach the surface.
4. In autumn and spring, whitewash the trunks with lime mixed with 3% copper sulfate, or with special garden paint.
5. Every spring, treat the tree with Bordeaux mixture. It will save the peach tree from many problems.
6. Install insect traps in early spring. You can buy them or make your own.

Although peach trees are susceptible to fungal diseases and numerous pests, most problems can be avoided by applying preventative sprays and responding promptly to the first signs of damage.