Nectarine tree with lots of flowers and leaf curl
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September 21, 2020 at 2:53 am Reply
Hi I am a 50y/o newbie.
firstly I apologise for my ignorancesecondly thanks for the admission to this page.
i have a nectarine in full flower (Southwest Western Australia). Do I need to strip off flowers to increase fruit quality? And do I neEd to spray with a leaf curl spray now?
September 22, 2020 at 3:41 am ReplyHi Daz, I am also new here.  😉
How old is it? For trees aged 1-2 years, the flowers and starting fruits should be snipped off not allowing them to set off two fruiting seasons. By doing so, you are keeping the energy for the third year season. However, you should also let it bear a small crop by this time basically what it can bear. For the spraying part, it’s better to spray it before the buds have opened.
Let me know if you have other questions.
September 22, 2020 at 5:46 pm ReplyThere’s nothing to apologise for. Gardening and plants are a wide domain so there’s so much to learn. What’s important is we share what we know. 😉
For your question, for me the key to productivity is maintenance pruning and the goal is to remove branches that had fruits the past year. Keeping them means less fruits in the current year and perhaps no fruits at all in the coming year. If you do this, you’re good to go for a bountiful harvest. No need to snip off flowers.
Leaf curl is a common disease for peaches and nectarines. Is your tree severely sick? As what Brond has mentioned, it should be done in fall when almost all the leaves have dropped and another one in spring before flower and leaf buds open. Once they swell, I’m afraid there’s not much to do to fight against it but you can make sure it’s has enough water and food so it can support further growth of leaves.
Cheers!
September 23, 2020 at 4:32 pm ReplyUse sulfur or copper-based fungicides for leaf curls among which liqui-cop is highly recommended because Metallic Copper Equivalent (MCE) is lower, about 8%..
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