Pets that may be exposed also have a vaccine - talk to your vet about protecting those that might be at risk. This fungus disease can occur on ornamental as well as backyard fruit trees. It is most noticeable on the leaves within a month after bloom and is easily recognized by the red, thickened, folded, puckered, and curled leaves. The diseased areas develop a powdery gray coating and leaves may then turn brown, wither, and drop from the tree. Yearly defoliation resulting from peach leaf curl can seriously weaken the trees and make them more sensitive to cold injury.
Infection occurs during the spring just as the buds begin to swell.
Spring rains wash spores of the fungus to the surface of leaf buds and provide conditions for spores to multiply. Once the bud scales loosen in spring, spores are carried in water films to the emerging leaf tissue where infection takes place. Once the buds open and new leaf growth is present it is too late for control this season. After pruning hybrid tea roses in the spring, apply a spray of liquid-lime sulfur to help control black spot and cane cankers. This dormant spray will bum out old infections and limit production of spores for new infections.