Hey guys! I’m looking for some really quick pointers as to what to do… I just received an order from a local nursery in France, that included one peach and one nectarine. Both of them have very suspicious looking black spots on their trunks and after sending photos to the seller believing it to be the start of black knot fungus, he told me it’s winter damage and not to worry. I thought I would make a quick post on here to see whether anyone shares my opinion or whether I’m being overly cautious, and as she nursery told me ‘it’s winter damage, nothing serious’. I don’t want to be waiting to see whether it grows and spreads!
Thanks so much, looking forward to hearing some opinions, good or bad!
I’m not 100% sure about this, however I have about 15 peach trees. Peaches do all kinds of things and usually survive. They get gumosis, black branches, different fungus. Mine live. I prune out the bad looking stuff every winter. Depending on where it is I would suggest pruning it out. It appears not to be black knot to me. Other experts might chime in but I say don’t worry.
Great news, I’ll leave it and keep an eye on it. I really didn’t want to have to prune it out as that would leave me with about 40cm of tree! Thanks for the advice!
It reminds me of the black mold that grows on leaves when sap drips on them from aphids sucking above. I wouldn’t be surprised if that spot got scratched enough to ooze a little sap and grow that mold there. If so, I would consider it harmless.
I had this sort of black wounds on young peach trees, especially after big rains. From my experience, as we go from droughty weather to very drainy days, peach trees absorb lot of water and sap leaks out of very little wounds or lenticels. Then when the trees age, the problem disappear.
I used to paint this sort of wounds with a mixture of red copper oxide powder diluted in a little water to prevent fungal and bacterial diseases entering. This was advised by an old guy opusoculi on the forum au jardin.
Then I listened to Marc André Selosse’s videos about tannins/polyphenols and learnt that sap has elements to fight diseases and the immune system of the trees fight diseases and compartimentalize to stop infections from spreading.
If you taste an olive, a chesnut, or an acorn, directly picked from the tree, they’re are bitter : because of the polyphenols. And these trees with bitter fruits have a strong immune system and can live for decades.
Peaches, apricots, plums, have been selected to be sweet : less polyphenols hence weaker immune system hence shorter lifespan than olives or oaks.
I wouldn’t worry too much about your peach trees. I’m sure they’ll get over it.
