Peachy Time to Deal with Leaf Curl

At this time of year most people are not thinking about next year’s fruit crop, but to be successful with peaches and nectarines, the critical time is now.  There is a particularly obnoxious foliar disease commonly called “peach leaf curl (PLC)”, caused by a fungal pathogen, Taphrina deformans.  This fungal foliar affliction can defoliate peach and nectarines on both ornamental and fruit bearing trees.  This fungus is responsible for creating strange and weird contorted, puckered up, yellow to red to purplish, deformed leaves.  Strangely enough, the PLC fungus...