As much as we want our fruit trees to be beautiful, highly productive and healthy with as little attention as possible, being proactive in Spring with disease prevention is well worth the effort.  Fungal diseases like leaf curl and brown rot on stonefruit trees can be prevented with a few well time Spring spray applications, rather than dealing with a bad infection if left unattended. 

Spring's wet, warm weather is highly conducive to the growth and spread of fungal and bacterial diseases. 

Before budburst (so in late August - early September in most regions), apply a good dose of Copper oxychloride (we like Yates Liquid Copper as it's very easy to mix). Apply to the tree until it drips, to ensure there is good coverage on the stems and all of the cracks and crevices of the bark. This will provide coverage against diseases until the next rain event, which will wash the product off.  If this occurs and flowering hasn't started, spray again with Liquid Copper. 

After flowering, continue to protect your trees. The soft new growth will be burned by copper sprays, so use Yates Fungus Fighter.  This systemic product protects against leaf curl, brown rot, black spot, powdery mildew and rust, and can be used on a range of fruit trees (up to four times in a growing season). 

And once that's done, you should be able to look forward to a heavy crop of blemish free fruit this Summer!