All of the rain we Northern Californians got this year actually helped most of the disease problems we typically get at this time. I usually have powdery mildew on some of the roses, tons of aphids and brown rot or fire blight on the fruit trees. The consistent rain kept that from occurring. Those gloomy days, end on end, were actually protecting the garden this year.
The only real "problem", which is mainly superficial at this point, is peach leaf curl. I get this every year, but this particular year it is persistent. Peach leaf curl, which predictably is on my peach tree (a rare heirloom tree that produces an outstanding peach), looks like ugly orange bubbles on the pristine green leaf. It has to be plucked off slowly, deliberately, and only a few leaves per day-otherwise the tree would not have any green leaves. It is not a method that can be rushed and it demands patience to keep the tree alive for about 30-45 days.
After the damaged leaves are removed, young, fresh, green leaves fill in, about double the leaf production from the initial leaf set. After that is done, the tree is vigorous and allows the resultant fruit to come in unblemished, large and delicious.
I'm hoping you can see the metaphor. I don't enjoy picking off the damaged leaves and throwing them away. They are sticky and hard to remove. Every day right now, I consistently go outside and remove the bad leaves. I'm in the middle of the process, which coincidentally started about 24 days ago, and some of the uglier ones are in the back of the tree, harder to reach. That also happens to be where the best fruit set is. Still, I can see it's going to be one of the best harvests ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment