Spraying copper for peach leaf curl

dibble35, Sep 22, 11:49am
What happens if you spray after the leaves have started to grow? I sprayed 1 peach and 1 apricot today that havnt yet burst into leaf, but the other 2 trees that have peach leaf curl - I cant spray - why not? Does it burn the leaves? I did pick off and get rid of all the affected leaves, and I will spray in winter. Only my 2nd year growing peaches and 1st year growing nectarines. I chose early ripening ones that shouldnt get brown rot. TIA

gpg58, Sep 22, 12:18pm
may cause fruit russeting, but i have occasionally sprayed late, and still had a reasonable crop, despite a lot of curled leaves.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/should-copper-sulfate-fruit-trees-92720.html https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/peach-prunus-persica-russeting

maclad, Sep 22, 12:23pm
Timing of your spray is crucial and you need to spray just as the leaf buds start to show green on the tips, earlier or later will not do. Picking off infected leaves does not help, the virus is already doing its damage. I only sprayed once this year and no leaf curl as I watched plants each day and had spray ready to go.

dibble35, Sep 22, 1:47pm
Good to know, I may have to redo the Apricot again but the Peach i think i caught at the right time. I assumed that the less infected leaf around the better, didnt want that infecting the entire area, but if it doesnt make any difference I wont bother removing anymore, thanks for all the info

maclad, Sep 22, 1:55pm
I am not sure that you need to spray apricots for leaf curl. I would concentrate on peach and nectarine

lythande1, Sep 23, 2:28am
You need to keep spraying every couple of weeks anyway.

cantabman1, Sep 23, 3:06am
yep, you need to spray at least twice a year. I do my trees in the winter, and then after petal fall so as no harm to any bees.
The above comment is a bit excessive, as one will never completely get rid of leaf curl.

maclad, Mar 20, 11:59am
I have absolutely no leaf curl, I am very diligent regarding timing of sprays and have had no leaf curl in the 3 years that I have had these trees. I believe that if I keep it at bay then there are no leaves to contaminate soil and hopefully it will stay away