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Have I killed my leaf-curl infected nectarine trees?

Jellybean12Jellybean12 Posts: 3
in Problem solving

Hi everyone, this is my very first post though I do a lot of browsing in this amazing forum.  

I'm living in south-west France and planted young peach and nectarine trees in November 2015.  All four trees showed signs of leaf curl that first spring. I think I was a bit too zealous and ended up removing all the leaves from the two nectarines, thinking they would continue to grow new shoots but nothing more happened last season.  Now I see there is no new growth this spring, apart from a few side sprigs further down the trunk on one. 

I will post some photos tomorrow but I would love your advice - do I just call it a day and pull them up (REALLY don't want to do that) or is there a radical solution I could try to give them a chance to grow some new shoots this year?

As extra information, I sprayed them in Bouille Bordelaise in mid February to try to prevent an outbreak this year.

Many thanks in advance

Posts

  • Hortum-cretaeHortum-cretae Posts: 979

    I think perhaps that they've succumbed to something. However, I doubt that removing the leaves was the main reason. Plants will just sprout new ones, IF they're not struggling otherwise, perhaps from drought. If there are no flowerbuds (which are the first thing to show) or no leaves emerging yet, then I think they've had it.  Have you scraped back a bit of the bark on any of the stems to see if they're green underneath?  If they're brown, or grey, they're dead!

    H-C

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    I agree with H-C.  Peaches & nectarines should be flowering anytime now (my peach is), the leaves come a bit later.  The bark test is definitive to check whether they are still alive or not.

    Last edited: 24 March 2017 08:51:30

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • Jellybean12Jellybean12 Posts: 3

    Thanks for your responses, I guess my instinct tells me the same thing but having dug by hand all of those holes and planted those trees in the freezing midst of winter, it pains me image

    Would you think I should get rid of the one that has some growth on the lower part of the trunk, above the graft line...would it be worth try to lop off the rest of the tree and see if it can develop from those lower branches? Scraping at the bark on the upper trunk, it looks dead all right.

    imageimage

  • Hortum-cretaeHortum-cretae Posts: 979

    You'll be waiting a long time for anything decent to become of that. I'd replace it. 

    H-C

  • Jellybean12Jellybean12 Posts: 3

    Thanks for your advice, I have taken up the two offending articles and went to the garden centre where there was a 30% discount on my new trees, which makes me feel marginally better.  He also told me that the whole region was decimated by leaf curl last year and that they lost a lot of stock themselves.  He reckons I didn't kill it, which is a relief at least image

    Anyway, two new healthy looking specimens planted today, so I guess it will be next year when I finally get to battle the birds for a few nectarines and peaches! 

    Thanks again.

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546

    You can apparently protect your trees from leaf curl, at least to some extent, by covering them to prevent rain splashing the spores about. Easier against a wall probably, but you could try giving them umbrellasimage  

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=232

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