Fruit tree pests/disease

[Amanda.R]

My stone fruit trees are being totally crippled by something, it appears there is something nesting in the wood as there are patches that are bleeding lots of sap, All the leaves on them are bubbling up and curling as well they look very sick but most of them still have tiny baby fruit on them.
Does any one know what this is? and if so how I camn treat them without using any chemicals?
Amanda

[moneypenny]

No idea sorry. It might be a good idea to take a sample cutting to a nursery specialising in fruiting trees and see what they have to say. Good luck with it...

[Jakaluma]

Don't know, but it doesn't sound good. We had a curling leave thing on some of our trees (stone fruit and also some natives) - I pruned ruthlessly and it got rid of it, but not sure how they're going now cos we've moved. Might ask our tenant.

Let us know how you go

[GreenMummy]

Hi
This reply is verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry late, so you've probably sorted this out, but I'll throw in my suggestion anyway!
It sounds like Peach leaf curl, a type of fungus. Prevention is better than the cure, and a suggeston is to cover the tree to prevent the fungus getting onto the plant. It's suggested to remove any diseased leaves and destroy them, and new healthy leaves should grow back in their place. If the tree gets repeated attacks, it could die.
Hope that helps!

[Nyree]

And if anyone else has this prob, the trick is to spray with bordeaux (copper) just before the buds open. To soon & it won't work - too late & it won't stop the fungus, either.

[Jamie]

Sounds to me like borers and leaf curl. The copper spray before bud burst will help the leaf curl. White oil will help with the borers, apparently (we have just found one in our peach tree). Not certain how you would feel about using it, though. I'm guessing it's a petrochemical base.

[hanabi]

Sounds like the borers are too far gone for spraying alone. A really hard prune (back to the lowest borer holes and throw the cuttings in the bin, not the compost) *might* save your trees but if there are lots of weeping holes in low down branches, it might be too late. Depends how mature the trees are.

ETA, a good application of fertiliser at the root zone will help give the tree more energy to heal after such harsh treatment.

[Amanda.R]

Thanks for all the replies even though they were late, I did some research and discovered I did have peach leaf curl on my nectarines, peaches, and apricots, I sprayed them with lime and copper sulphate mix, but it rained that night and now its too late to do it again i think because they now have leaves and blossoms?
I gave them a good pruning too, is there anything else I can do now they are getting leaves and blossoms? I have already piked off a few curled leaves.
My pear and cherry trees were being destroyed by cherry slug I read somewhere if you put ash around bottom of trees in winter the new eggs cant hatch so I am just waiting to see how they go now as its a little to early to tell with both problems.