Q: Last spring my peach tree leaves were red colored, wrinkled and distorted looking, and they turned yellow and fell off the tree early. What was wrong with it, and how can I prevent it from happening again?

A: It sounds like your peach trees had a common fungal disease called peach leaf curl.

Symptoms of this disease include blistered, distorted leaves that can turn red in spring. As the disease progresses, leaves may turn yellow or brown and drop prematurely. If severe, the disease can sometimes infect young shoots and blossoms, which can result in poor yields.

Peach leaf curl is rarely fatal, but early defoliation can weaken trees, leaving them more susceptible to other stressors. The fungus overwinters on tree buds and bark and infects leaves just as buds begin to swell in early spring. Cool to mild (50-70 degrees), wet weather favors the development of this disease.

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To prevent infection again, be sure to keep your trees healthy by watering as needed during the season and avoiding overfertilization. Sanitation measures like removing fallen leaves and twigs can help, but because spores remain on bark and buds, this alone will not keep it at bay. A well-timed fungicide application should help prevent infection, but this must be done prior to bud swell in early spring or in late fall/early winter once leaves have fallen.

If you use a fungicide, be sure to use a product that is labeled for use on fruit trees and against peach leaf curl caused by Taphrina deformans and read and follow all label instructions. Note that fungicides are not effective against this disease when you notice symptoms on the leaves or after buds have begun to swell. Finally, if you plan to replace or add new trees, consider planting cultivars that are more tolerant to the disease such as ‘Redhaven’, ‘Frost’ or ‘Indian Free.'

Write to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Home Gardening at or the Horticulture Answer Service, 4344 Shaw Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63110.

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