Help with IDing peach tree disease

T

tobyrzepka

Location
Portland
Hey all, I have a 7 year old red star peach in my yard in Portland, Maine, and up til two years ago it was healthy and producing wonderful fruit. In the last two years we've seen a combination of symptoms and I'm trying to figure out if it is a combination of pathogens or just one, and what I should do for treatment. The photo here shows severe damage to the bark in certain localized places (most of the tree does not have this but one or two branches do). The fruit starts out fine, but quickly shrivels up and turns fuzzy and brown. Meanwhile various branches of the tree have stopped producing new shoots altogether, and parts of the tree have pale yellow/brown curled leaves that fall prematurely. I assumed that the issue was brown rot, but I couldn't find any info on that causing peeling bark. Could it be brown rot and also bacterial infection? Any input would be helpful, thank you!

Toby

PXL_20230318_163456737.jpg
 
I'm not an expert on fruit trees by any stretch of the imagination, but it sounds like you have a couple of things going on here. My guess, and it would only be a wild guess is that you have scab going on with the fruit, which I do know is a serious fungus problem that needs to be delt with asap, and as far as the limbs I would lean toward some bacterial infection that is causing those cankers. But this comes from someone who lives in an area where we have no fruit trees, so take that as it is. I just wanted you to get someone's opinion.
 
southsoundtree said:
Sanitizing your pruning tools is one small part of your movement forward.
Click to expand...
Sanitizing your pruning tools is a BIG part of containment.
30 - 40 years ago I had a small, but varied orchard.
3 peach, 2 pear, 12 apples (3 types), apricot, grapes, etc.
I am sure I killed many of them by NOT knowing about the need to sanitize tools after removing various diseases (fire blight, etc)
For a small number of trees (e.g. one), sanitize after EVERY cut. If not, you could be just spreading it further along the branch.
 
GregManning said:
Sanitizing your pruning tools is a BIG part of containment.
30 - 40 years ago I had a small, but varied orchard.
3 peach, 2 pear, 12 apples (3 types), apricot, grapes, etc.
I am sure I killed many of them by NOT knowing about the need to sanitize tools after removing various diseases (fire blight, etc)
For a small number of trees (e.g. one), sanitize after EVERY cut. If not, you could be just spreading it further along the branch.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, I have not been sanitizing so I'm sure that's part of the issue.
 
I don't think peach has been described as a host for fireblight.
My colleague Sharon Douglas (now retired) at the Conn Ag Expt Station has this little factsheet for peach in New England: https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/Fact-Sheets/Plant-Pathology/Disease-Control-for-Home-Peach-Orchards.
From the single image, I could go with either Monolinia brownrot or the perennial Valsa canker.
Although folks have grown peach for decades in northern New England, it's always a bit iffy with these diseases that are aggravated by cold exposure.
 
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