Peach leaf curl
A fungal disease that makes young peach, nectarine and almond leaves pucker, thicken and turn red in spring.
Also known as: Taphrina deformans
Symptoms and identification
New leaves are puckered, curled and blistered, turning red or purple, then whitish as spores form. Affected leaves drop early and the tree is weakened. It is caused by a fungus, not a virus.
Causes
Spores lodge on buds over winter and infect leaves as they open in cool, wet spring weather.
Organic treatment
Remove affected leaves and feed the tree to help it regrow. Spray a copper fungicide in late autumn after leaf fall and again in late winter before buds open.
Prevention
Keep rain off wall-trained trees with a cover from midwinter to late spring, and grow resistant varieties.
Chemical treatment (use with care)
Apply a fungicide labelled for leaf curl at leaf fall and before bud break.