Diseases and pests of peach and methods of dealing with them

Major diseases

Clasterosporium disease

This peach disease is one of the most widespread and harmful. The entire above-ground part of the plant is affected - shoots, foliage. Flowers and buds, ovaries. The disease on the leaves is especially noticeable - red-brown spots with a dark red or brown-crimson border. Leaf tissues affected by the fungus die off, dry out quickly and fall out, forming bald spots, which is why the disease is also called perforated spotting.

The fungus-pathogen forms a mycelium in the tissues of the peach, which eventually penetrates into the cells and causes their death. It overwinters calmly on affected branches, shoots and flower buds. In rainy spring weather, conidia, freeing from gum, spread to the healthy organs of the tree, and sporulation forms on the mycelium. Therefore, in early spring, before the onset of sap flow, but with the onset of a positive temperature, pruning of diseased, damaged branches and shoots should be carried out... Places of cuts are disinfected with a lime solution with the addition of iron or copper sulfate.

Chemical treatment with copper oxychloride or meteor is effective in treatment. In this case, the first spraying is carried out during the period of swelling of the buds, the next two at the beginning and end of flowering.

Curly leaves

A protracted, rainy, wet spring can provoke the massive development of this peach disease. The causative agent is a marsupial mushroom, which manifests itself already during the growing season on newly blossoming young leaves, first with a purple tint or border, and after 7-10 days in the form of a gray bloom on the back of the leaf. Shoots are mainly affected. The leaves die off, curl and fall off, as a result of which the shoot is completely bare, and also dries up or dies during the first frost. The infected peach practically does not bear fruit, the yield drops sharply, and if ovaries appear, then the pericarp is severely deformed.

Before sporulation, shoots and peach leaves affected by curl are removed and burned. Before the onset of rains in the autumn period, a blue treatment with a copper-containing preparation is carried out. In the spring, the peach should be sprayed several times: the first - in the phenophase with copper oxychloride, the second - after 8-12 days with such preparations as fast, chorus with the addition of 65% hg.

The photo shows leaves damaged by curl.

Powdery mildew

One of the most serious diseases of peach and other stone fruits. Shoots, foliage and fruits are affected by a light gray felt bloom. Shoots infected with powdery mildew become deformed, retarded or die off. The mycelium has special suction cups with which it penetrates the epidermal cells of the tree, sucking nutrients from the peach and destroying it. Conidia are carried by the wind and cause recontamination. The disease develops as quickly as possible in dry hot weather.

It is necessary to promptly remove sources of primary infection - affected shoots and branches, fallen leaves and fruits. The main treatment is to sprinkle with topsin or topaz at the end of flowering. Simultaneous spraying with insecticides compatible with these preparations also has a beneficial effect.

In the photo below, you can see an example of an infected peach and its fruits.

Stone fruit moniliosis

It manifests itself in the spring during the flowering period. The flowers turn brown, dry up and crumble, the leaves, annual shoots and young fruit branches also darken. The ovaries crumble, and not fallen fruits darken, deform and rot. The infection is spread by oriental moths, weevils, geese and beetles, or when a healthy and diseased tree is cross-pollinated. The disease develops actively during wet, cool weather in spring. Well-developed large branches and two-year-old shoots can dry out in a short time.

Regular rejuvenation of the tree and pruning of damaged shoots and fruits should be carried out. As a prophylaxis of moniliosis, before the beginning of flowering, they are treated with the preparation chorus, then, after flowering, they are sprayed with topaz and the third time with topsin. This is how all the pests-carriers and the mushroom itself are destroyed.

Fruit rot

With this disease, the yield significantly decreases, and can approach zero, since the peach fruits are affected, they deform, gradually rot and fall off. Numerous light gray or gray pads appear on the surface of the infected fruit. At first, the rot looks like a brown spot, which grows rapidly. The causative fungus hibernates in dried fruits on a tree and begins to actively develop during the ripening of ovaries, the size of a walnut. In the summer, several generations of the fungus appear, the disease is spreading rapidly.

It is necessary to collect and destroy the damaged carrion daily, and in the fall, remove the fruits remaining on the trees. Before flowering, the peach must be treated with drugs such as Teldor or Topsin M. Repeated spraying is carried out at the end of flowering and during the period of fruit growth.

The main pests of peach

Aphid

Small insect, mainly located on the back of the leaf. Damages young shoots, foliage, causing them to curl and dry out. With slowness in the fight, aphids can rapidly develop and damage a large number of nearby trees. At the first signs of an insect on a peach, it should be treated with potent pesticides, since aphids are resistant to weak pesticides.

Leaves and shoots damaged by insects can be seen in the picture.

Flower beetles

This is a large group of beetles. Adults pierce buds, buds and flowers, eating out stamens, pistils, petals, and less often young leaves. They are carriers of many peach fungal diseases. In fruits, beetles gnaw small narrow holes in which they lay their eggs.

Chemical treatment of wood until the buds swell is effective in the fight against weevils. Fishing belts, imposed above the trunk, pruning and removing buds with a brown top, cleaning the branches and trunk from peeling and dead bark, whitewashing the trunk with a lime mortar give good results in the fight against insects.

Mites

Small, broadly oval arachnid insects. They overwinter on the bark of a tree, at the base of large branches. Strongly weaken the tree, with a large number: the yield falls, the shoots do not develop, the leaves become discolored and fall off.

Good results are obtained by spraying the tree with organophosphate compounds, pyrethroids and neonicotinoids. In addition, it is necessary to carry out regular pruning of the tree, keep the near-trunk zone clean, whitewash the trunk and install trapping belts.

Fruit moth

Narrow-winged small butterfly of dark gray color. Caterpillars overwinter in cracks in the bark, forks.In the spring, they bite into the buds, and then into young shoots, eating their core. As a result, the shoots wither and die. During development, one caterpillar is capable of damaging 5-6 shoots. Mature caterpillars hide in dry leaves, bark crevices, or in the trunk circle. The butterflies, hatching from a cocoon, lay their eggs on the buds and flowers of the peach.

Prevention consists in cutting and burning damaged shoots, carrion and root vegetation. Also effective is the regular loosening of the soil under the crown and the imposition of a trapping belt on the skeletal branches and trunk of the peach.

Eastern moth

This small butterfly uses the peach as its winter home. Insect cocoons can be found on damaged shoots, in cracks and exfoliation of the bark, under fallen leaves in the near-stem zone. Caterpillars eat new shoots and small ovaries, and eventually peach pits that have not hardened. The picture shows a developed moth.

Prevention - pruning and processing

Since peach diseases can develop with lightning speed at the most favorable time for its development and destroy not only the crop, but also cause irreparable harm to the plant, preventive treatment should be carried out regularly. To prevent the development and infection of fungal diseases, 2-4 times a year, blue spraying with Bordeaux mixture or other low-toxic fungicide should be carried out. Processing is carried out in early spring, when the buds have not yet opened, and in autumn, when the tree has completely dropped the foliage.

When fighting pests, in addition to chemical treatment, it is necessary:

• timely cut off damaged shoots, remove volunteers. It is advisable to burn them at a distance of at least 15-20 m from the garden plot;
• Regularly loosen the soil in the near-trunk zone under the crown, apply a trapping belt on large skeletal branches and a tree trunk;
• Remove excess weeds near the tree, as well as root growth;
• Carefully peel off the peeling bark on the trunk and branches;
• In addition, the annual application of mineral fertilizers in the spring, allows you to get not only a good harvest, but also strengthens the tree itself, increasing its resistance to disease.

Video "Peach - Pests and Diseases"

The video shows the available methods for controlling the main pests. Explains the prevention and treatment of the most common peach diseases.