Yesterday I noticed on my nectarine (unknown rootstock, no scion; I got whacker-happy two years ago) and my UF Beauty peach (new addition), small purple-red spots that go through to the bottom of the leaf. It looks like someone dropped colored liquid on the leaf and it spread as it was absorbed. The spots on the peach have yellow halos around them. Some of the leaves are dying/yellowing.
The nectarine doesn't have this, only tiny brownish-purple spots, no halos or yellowing, and I only found two of these on the nect.
It said a trigger for the disease is wet conditions. I have been watering the tree every other day since it's a new transplant, and only wetting the leaves, and I do this in the morning so they have time to dry out. We haven't had much rain, maybe an inch or so in the passed 7 weeks maybe. I don't get it.
I purchased this tree less than two weeks ago from a reputable nursery, and I had no problems with my nect. until my peach came along. But then again, I don't know if the nect. has it too, I only see tiny dark specks on the leaf. They don't come off though.
The UF Beauty is supposed to be the most resistant to bacterial spot. I did internet searches for this fungus/disease, the descriptions sound just about right, but the photos don't look anything like it. The description also didn't say anything about halos on the leaves, it only said:
"Early season infections result in very deep lesions in the flesh, and infections within 30 days of harvest result in circular, yellowish spots on the fruit surface"
There wasn't any information on how to control/eradicate the disease other than saying to buy disease resistant plants and rootstock. No brainer.

If this is bacterial spot, how do I get rid of it, control it, etc? It doesn't say that it will kill the tree, just defoliate it and weaken it, and damage the fruit. It only has one little peach on it. Does this spread to other stone fruit? I don't think I've touched the peach and nect after the other. Does anyone else have any ideas on what this could be?!

Thank you in advance!
Christine

Can you post your photo again? All I get is the graphic
telling me "My image for this link is no longer posted
here".

I cannot say whether you have a bacterial leaf spot but I
can say this has been one of the worst years I've seen for
Shot hole fungus. Just took a good look at my fruit trees
in my home orchard and came away rather surprised that
so many trees have holes in their leaves. The lower limbs
on the Almonds have taken a beating. The limbs that had a
good cover spray look just fine. I don't think I've ever seen
this many holes in the leaves of my Plums and Cherry Plums
yet the fruit seem unaffected, so far. The Apricots have some
holes in the leaves but the fruit are fine, same is true for the
Nectarines and the Peaches, they have some holes in some
of the leaves but the fruit seem to be okay.

You may want to look at this link below and see if the
symptoms on the juvenile Peach and the leaf is the same
or similar as to what you are seeing. I will say next year
I will be applying more than one spray of Ziram but for me
in most years Ziram mixed in with Copper sulfate have
done real well for me. I only hit my trees once this year
and now wish I had hit them a second time.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r602100711.html

Snickles

Hi Snickles,
The description for shot-hole disease sounds right, but the photos do not look like what I have.
I have noticed holes in the leaves on the peach tree and the other day I found a nectarine leaf that had a hole, and the part that fell out was sitting on a leaf directly below it in the same exact shape as the missing piece.
The spots on the peach still appear and the leaves are yellowing and dropping all over the place. I pick them off and new ones appear in different spots the next day. What could be causing that? Is it a side effect of the disease or fungus that now has gotten hold of my tree?
Here is the photo that I posted, I moved it accidentally.




Thank you for your help!
Christine

If you can, show me what the underside of the leaf looks like
where you have the blotches of discoloration on top of the leaf.
I'll go into more detail when I've seen the photo I need to see.

Snickles

Snickles,
The underside of the leaf looks exactly the same. The spots go through to the underside. When these photos were taken, the disease was pretty bad affecting quite a few leaves all over the tree. Since then I've been pulling the leaves off that are affected. It seems to have slowed down a bit. Last night we had some rain and I'm curious as to whether or not it will come back.

Angular splotching is closer to being a rust than a bacterial
leaf spot. I am not familiar with bacterial leaf spot in the
South but I know what it looks like out here. We used to
see it more commonly on the old "water" Peach rootstock
back in the 60's and early 70's before we had Nemaguard
and Nemared rootstocks. The bacterial leaf spot here has
a pronounced speckling at the tips of the leaves, more so
than on other areas of the leaf. We will also see a yellowing
of the leaf where the heaviest concentration of the spots are
and the yellow can encompass half the leaf being yellow
the other half green and then the whole leaf goes yellow
relatively soon, shrivels up and drops off.

The leaf you showed is not showing the halos attributed
to Bacterial leaf spot and Shot hole fungus. At one stage
the leaf spot can look almost like a Shot hole fungus can.
Notice the halos in the third pic to the right. The speckling
here have more concentric shapes than an angular splotching
will have.

http://www.ent.uga.edu/Peach/peach_handbook/bacterial_spot.htm

Go to this link and tell me if this is closer to what you are
seeing. Then click the leaf lesions link.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r602100611.html

Sometime look at this .pdf file also to see some close-ups of the
angular splotching (Figures 3-6).

http://newsletters.caes.uga.edu/SRPN/3-3/SoutheastRegionalPeachNewsletterV3-3.pdf

Snickles

Snickles,
The photos of the leaf lesions from the UC Davis website are ones that I've already looked at as another possible suspect, but it's not what the tree has. There are no raised areas on any of the leaves, and they do not turn black. The photo that I posted is the last "stage", then the discolored area falls out of the leaf. It begins as a tiny purple dot, then expands, and finally looks like the photo posted.

I've gone through the Univ. of Florida extension website (very close to where I am-area specific) with a fine toothed comb looking for anything that closely resembles what the peach has. I have found nothing, it's very difficult to look for something when I do not know the name. I think I may just need to bring a leaf to the nursery where I got the tree.

Thank you for all of your searching!
Christine

There are no raised areas on any of the leaves, and they do not turn black.

I am not sure what you are referencing by the above. Rust on Peaches out
here are an indentation on the surface of the leaf and a raised area on the
underside of the leaf. We usually see more evidence of the disease on
the undersides of the leaves which is why I asked for a photo to which you
deferred to the one photo you have of this tree.

By the angular splotches on the leaves and with that coloring you showed in
the photo, this does not appear to be a bacterial leaf spot. Yes, bacterial
leaf spot can start out a purple in color but it does not immediately have a
yellow or orange ringed halo at first. The speck will develop the halo later.
It is just a speck but there are many of them mostly visibly seen concentrated
at the tip of the leaf. Your leaf does not show that and you have made no
reference to the leaf tip either. Besides your photo shows no obvious halos
so I am curious why you even mention them.

There are other factors that can cause the discoloration you showed in
the photo but there has not been any reference to the age of the tree, it is
a standard or dwarf Peach. What possible chemical contaminants has this
tree come in contact with and were there any lime sulfur sprays applied in
warm weather? What kind of insect activity have you noticed as a scale
insect can help cause these type symptoms.

What you need to find out is which rootstock this tree was either grafted
or budded onto. We can see evidence of a disease not mentioned yet that
emanates from the rootstock and can show these symptoms in the leaves.
I am not going there until I have more concrete information.

What matters is how widespread this problem is throughout the tree and
a good photo of the entire tree may help. Forget going back to the nursery
to get an answer on what this disease is, if you are serious about knowing
then contact an extension specialist through the University of Florida or
your state Cooperative Extension and send them some samples of the
leaves showing the symptoms before and after the leaf has shriveled up
and fallen off the tree, provide a photo of the entire tree right now and
give them as much history of this tree as you possibly can. If this was
purchased as a bare root tree and it is in its first or second year in the
ground, you may not get a definitive answer on what is causing this but
if this area of concern was not caused by a rust, an insect, from pesticide
drift, from non infectious bud failure, then I'd be looking at the root
system as you main target area to concentrate on as being your culprit.
We used to see what you showed in the one photo a lot from rooted
cuttings and with many Peach seedlings germinated from seed.

I am done with this issue now.

Snickles