It’s a rough time this year for peach trees

Special to The Enterprise

Question: I have a fabulous peach tree that has produced luscious white peaches for almost 20 years. It has had some peach curl in prior years and usually I just plucked off those leaves. This year, suddenly, about two weeks ago, I found my tree just covered with peach curl and looking very sad. Please tell me what I should do.

Answer: We’re sorry to hear about your peach tree. Unfortunately, it is something most of us with peach or nectarine trees are dealing with this year.

Peach leaf curl is a disease that affects peaches and nectarines. It is caused by a fungus Taphrina deformans. Peach leaf curl is rampant this year because infection is promoted by cool wet weather. We have certainly had our share of that this year. Disease symptoms begin to show shortly after leaves emerge. The fungus, which infects the areas between the cells of the leaves, causes the leaves to redden, thicken and curl. They will eventually fall from the tree. It may also infect new growing shoots, causing them to thicken and often die.

The fungus survives as spores on the surface of the tree during the heat of summer. Once the weather cools and rains start, the spores bud and multiply. As rain falls, the spores are splashed from one area of the tree to another. In bad years like this one, the entire tree is likely to show severe symptoms. There is nothing you can do once the infection begins to manifest.

The good news is that even a bad leaf curl infection will not kill the tree. The infected leaves will fall and new leaves will emerge. By that time, warmer conditions will not favor the fungus and the new leaves will be fine. But a bad infection that requires the tree to produce a second set of leaves

Calendar

Today n Davis Science Café is back Wednesday with n Summer House will celebrate its 50th anniversary of providing service to developmentally disabled adults in Yolo County. This will be celebrated at our annual meeting which is planned from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Yolo County fairgrounds in Woodland. All are welcome to join, but RSVP at juliekirby@ summerhouseinc.

“Using Nanoparticles to Stimulate Your Immune System to Fight Cancer,” from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at G Street WunderBar, 228 G St. in downtown Davis. Each month, Professor Jared Shaw with the UC Davis Department of Chemistry hosts the Davis Science Café, featuring scientists who are studying some of today’s cutting edge topics. This month’s speaker is Prof. Kit Lam from UC Davis departments of biochemistry and molecular medicine, and chemistry, who works on the development and application of combinatorial library methods for basic research and drug discovery including cancer drug development and drug delivery. The event is free to attend, with complimentary soft drinks courtesy of the UCD College of Letters and Science. Contact Shaw for information at jtshaw@ucdavis. edu or https://twitter. com/DavisSciCafe1.

Ask A MAster GArdener

will likely cause the tree to drop most or all of its developing fruit, because it will have less energy to devote to fruit production.

Copper-based fungicide sprays containing copper ammonium complex are the only products available to the home gardener to manage peach leaf curl. There are several brands available on the market. The current recommendation is to spray once after the leaves have fallen in late December. In a particularly wet year, a second application in early February is recommended. The effectiveness of the spray can be increased by adding horticultural oil or similar product to the spray to increase adherence to the bark of the tree. But even two applications had little effect in a year like we just had.

Peach Trees are shortlived (15 to 20 years) so you may want to consider taking yours out and planting a new one. Choosing a resistant variety is a good option. Currently available resistant peach varieties include Frost, Indian Free, Muir and Q-1-8. We recommend planting resistant varieties whenever possible. The regular spraying of copper products results in a buildup of copper in the soil. There it harms the beneficial soil organisms, bacteria and fungi that plants, including your peach tree, rely on for healthy growth. More information can be found by following this link: https://ipm.ucanr. edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/ pn7426.html,

Question: I have a semidwarf Valencia orange tree in my front yard and this year, it seems, none of the blossoms are staying on. What is left on the tree falls off with the slightest touch. There are no other visible signs of any disease on the tree. What could be the cause of this and how can I prevent this from happening next season?

Answer: Thanks for contacting UCCE Master Gardeners Help Desk. Citrus is generally quite easy to grow without many serious problems. Citrus will normally self-thin. It is possible that with all the rain this year, your tree simply produced more blossoms than it can support.

From your photo it looks like your tree is planted in lawn, which is not recommended because the lawn absorbs nutrients your tree needs, and is watered too frequently and shallowly. We suggest that you remove the lawn at least two feet away from the trunk of your tree on all sides. Make sure your tree gets regular (every two to six weeks, depending on temperature) deep watering at the drip line (the outside edge of the canopy) during the dry season.

Also, be sure your tree is being adequately fertilized. Most citrus experts recom- mend applying fertilizer two or three times a year. The first application should be in the winter, again in early spring, and if needed, in June, before the weather gets really hot. org. Summer House began in the summer of 1973 as a six-week pilot program to determine the success of group home living for adults with disabilities. Today, it supports 12 residents in the Woodland home, 12 in the Davis home, and approximately 50 other adults in Woodland, Davis, Esparto, West Sacramento and other parts of Yolo County through independent living and supported-living services.

Finally, all fruit needs to be harvested before your tree blooms in the spring. You want the tree to be putting its nutrients into spring growth and developing new fruit, not maintaining the old.

— If you have a gardening question, contact the Master Gardener Help Desk at 530-666-8737. Or send an email, with pictures attached if that would be helpful, to mgyolo@ucdavis.edu. Stop by the Master Gardener desk at the Davis Farmers Market to ask a question in person.

Wednesday, June 21 n The Woodland League of Women Voters will host its first Summer Solstice Event , featuring dinner followed by a presentation by Mindy Romero, Ph.D. Dr. Romero is the founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy (CID), formerly known as the California Civic Engagement Project. The event will take place at the historic Woodland Hotel, 436 Main St. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Dinner tickets are $32. The League’s Annual Meeting for members, which the public may also attend, will follow the presentation. More information about the event, how to become a sponsor and to purchase tickets is available on the League’s website at https://my.lwv.org/ california/woodland.