Peach tree borer?

[Pat]

I planted a dwarf peach tree 4 years ago. It had some peaches the 2nd year (surprised me) and gobs of them last year. However, the tree was attacked by something that made the leaves shrivel up and had ugly red spots on them and many of them died and fell off.
Last year the tree continued to grow and produced hundreds of peaches. Due to my greed or ignorance, I left them all on and when we had a violent storm one of the main branches was ripped off. This year the leaves had much of the same problem but not as severe and no peaches at all. I have three questions.

1. If the tree has been infested with the Peach Tree Borer can it still produce peaches?
2. Is there anything I can do if it is the borer?
3. Can it survive with the scar caused by the lost branch?

 

[Stumper]

The answer to all of your questions is.... yes. Have you seen any evidence of borers? This would be; Sap globules on the trunk (with bore hole under the exuded sap) ,Frass (little piles of tiny sawdust) around the trunk.

 

[geofore]

peach tree

Pat,
When was the last frost this spring in your neck of the woods? I live in PA. and we had a warm spring and a late frost in the last part of May which got many of the fruit trees. Little or no fruit on the trees this year. Did the trees flower then get frosted before they set fruit?

 

[Pat]

peach tree borer

Stumper: yes I did see sap on the tree and now am seeing it on an ornamental bush (like a plum tree). I sprayed the tree with a chemical designed for fruit trees as soon as I discovered the wilting and spots but they continued. My understanding is the borer is inside the tree. I never see anything crawling on the leaves.

Geofore: I can't recall if we had a frost after blossoms. It was such a wierd spring. Rainy and cold.

 

[Stumper]

Pat , Most sprays don't do much against borers. There are some products(obtainable from the local nursery) which you daub into the bore hole. You can also try burying moth crystals (paradichlorobenzene-also available as urinal cakes) around the trunk just under the soil surface. This will get the borer species that over-winter in the soil. (this is a cheap fall and spring treatment). Peach tree borers are really hard to combat but frequently the tree will survive and bear for a few years even without treatment. It is probably best to think of peaches as a 15 year tree at best and plan for frequent replacement. I suspect that the leave shriveling you describe may be a seperate problem. Be sure to clean up the old leaves and dispose of them this fall. Best wishes.

 

[Pat]

Thanks for the advice. I cleaned up the entire area under the tree yesterday and will get the moth crystals and try that.

 

[Stumper]

Pat re: the leaves. Try a web search on Peach leaf curl, Taphrina deformans. If the pics you see look like your problem you will find some info on fungicide applications.

 

[Pat]

Stumper: you were right on target with diagnosis of Taphrina deformans. That's exactly what the leaves look like. All shriveled and spotted. Thanks a million. I'm going to use the fungicide this fall after most leaves are gone and think I'll still try the moth crystals.

 

[treeclimber165]

These guys are gooooood.