Welcome to the joys of growing stone fruits. Damned if you don't spray, and often damned if you do. Good luck.

Keep on the copper when its possible (spring, late fall) and hope for the best. Peaches can often keep going in spite of a long canker infection.

Scott

Could be borers also.

Hi Scott, how often can I spray with the copper. My trees are just starting to blossom at the moment
Fireball what are the symptoms for borer and how do you treat it.
Two of the trees are only two years old the other one was here when we moved in so I guess it could be five or more years old.

Thanks for the posts I appreciate it.

AussieKev

You can spray dormant strength copper before leaves appear. You can spray weak copper through shuck split (when the growing peach puts a crack in the flower remnant). The label should have different rates for the two.

I should clarify that the main thing you can do is wait it out, the infection is in the wood where copper is not going to reach. The copper just helps it from spreading. So, I would be doing 2-4 copper sprays a year, no need for any more.

Scott

Scott, there are copper formulations that can be sprayed on leaves. Are these less affective than more caustic formulations when used as a dormant spray?

I have a quantity of copper that was recommended to me by my chemical supplier to treat bacterial spot in apricots. I also used it to combat peach leaf curl at sites with a strong history for it. I actually only used it when trees were dormant but have been spraying my tomatoes with it for much of summer.

Results have been satisfactory, but I'm a copper novice.

Harvestman, my impression is its all about concentration. All the "summer copper" products are lower doses. There might be some coppers you can't use in the summer at all, I'm not sure. I always have used a copper hydroxide (Champion or Kocide).

Scott

"External evidence of peach tree borer tunneling is a wet spot on the bark or the presence of oozing, gummy sap. The sap is clear or translucent and often dark from the sawdust-like excrement of the insect. Most injuries occur along the lower trunk beneath the soil line. Lower branches rarely receive injuries. (Note: Oozing wounds on peach that produce an amber-colored gum may be caused by cytospora canker, a fungus disease often confused with peach tree borer."

It does sound like canker from the location of the sap however we have had borer damage on some of the stone fruit trees around me higher up on the trunk and on some of the branches.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05566.html