Treating leaf curl organically

Leaf curl in nectarine and peach trees is caused by a fungus, Taphrina deformans, that reduces the number of leaves and fruit on trees and therefore the overall health of them. All of the peaches and nectarines in Rea Lands Park have the disease this year. A simple organic remedy at this time of year is to spray liquid seaweed (containing Ascophyllum nodosum) onto the leaves. This will either clear up the fungus completely or, at the very least, mitigate the spread of it.

Curly leaf looks much like this.

After just one season of not treating leaf curl these trees will look much worse and the effect will severely restrict the development of the plant.

Because liquid seaweed is an ideal organic plant food we sprayed the neighbouring trees too. Here are the first apricots to set in Rea Lands Park.

Plums,

cherries,

blueberries,

figs,

and quince are also all setting fruit now.

To mitigate disease and give the fruit the best possible circumstances we will continue to spray seaweed on the trees every fortnight throughout the growing season. The next challenge will be to protect the fruit from local bird populations.