sparcel:

Here are some things that would be useful to know in trying to figure out your problem:

1. Where, exactly, in Ohio are you located? North or south? High country or low? Have you had very chilly nights since you planted the tree?

2. Was this a bareroot tree that you ordered in by mail or online, or was it a container tree from a local nursery that was already leafed out when you purchased it?

If you took a container tree out of a protected nursery environment and placed it in an exposed location, a couple of light frosts could cause the damage in your photos, or I should say photo, since I only looked at the first one. Next time order a bareroot tree from a reliable nursery rather than a container tree and you will avoid these kinds of problems.

Belle of Georgia will be a tough variety for you to grow. It is an old peach, with no resistance to bacterial spot, which is a problem throughout most of the east. It is also a soft peach, and very susceptible to brown rot late in the season. Belle of Georgia is a delicious white peach where it can be grown well, but you might be better off with a more modern variety that has a better chance of avoiding these problems.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

That looks like sunburn to me -- tree went from low sun to high sun when you transplanted it. If that is what it is, you are over the hump already and the new leaves will look fine.

Scott

Jellyman,
Belle of Georgia is listed as a resistant(R) variety to bacterial spot with the U. of West Virginia.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bacterial spot resistance of Peach

Ace:

Belle of Georgia was the first peach variety I ever planted, in 1978. By the 5th year it was already showing signs of bacterial spot, characterized by yellowing and premature fall of the leaves and black spots on the fruit. By the 10th year the disease had progressed to canker that was causing substantial dieback, and I took the tree out. Belle of Georgia might be resistant to bacterial disease in West Virginia, but it was not in East Virginia. I am quite sure the source of my tree was Stark Brothers, which was my main supplier in those days.

Other varieties I have since lost to bacterial disease include Jerseyglow, Hale Haven, Bellaire, Starking Delicious, Madison, and Sweethaven. Of the 5 varieties I am currently growing, only a white peach called Sugar Giant shows those black spots on the fruit from time to time, though the tree so far is not affected.

Granted, I am doing a better job of caring for the trees now, and I credit their health at least partially to dormant copper sprays, which I am pretty sure help to hold bacterial disease at bay. But Belle of Georgia also suffered from a high incidence of brown rot at ripening time, and we rarely picked a decent ripe peach from the tree. It is not a variety I would plant again here.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I would concur with Ace on this - Georgia Belle is relatively good of my 30 peach varieties for bacterial spot. I have yet to get to the brown rot phase however since the squirrels have been swiping all the fruits before that. It is also a very productive tree.

Speaking of bacterial spot, this has been a bad year for me with all this rain. I did both late fall and early spring dormant copper and am still having a bad outbreak on several trees. My Flavor King pluot has every leaf completely shot-holed and many have fallen off. Too bad it happened this year, it is completely loaded with fruit for the first time.

Scott

scott,
Georgia Belle is an old time cultivar originated from seedling of a Chinese peach. As with diseases, my one year old Flavor King has shot hole also but not bad. Still, it is the only tree in my orchard like that. The spray treatment for active bacteria spot is the same for fireblight. Copper and antibiotics. Have you bagged the Flavor King plums yet? The bacteria originates from the tree onto the fruit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bacterial spot

To answer some of the initial questions -

1) I live in the Central Ohio area (Columbus) outside of the city in what is mostly farm land. There have only been a few nights that got down to the low to mid 40s since the tree was planted. Most nights have been in the 50s to 60s. The daytime temps have been very warm with some very sunny days.

2) The tree was purchased as a container tree that was very well 'leafed out' as you mentioned.

I am crossing my fingers and hoping the issue is sunburn that was mentioned as the problem has not appeard to worsen in the last week.

Ace, I have never found the fruit infection to be anything but cosmetic, so I don't worry about that; my major worry is the overall tree health. Copper is phytotoxic but I have been spraying it in small quantities, 1/4 tsp/gal to knock the disease back a bit. My primary control has been dormant copper which most years works very well, just not this year. I will hit it hard in the late fall with the dormant sprays and hope that next May is not another record rainfall.

Scott