What's eating my peach reliance?

Peach Reliance, a cold-hardy variety, faces peach leaf curl (the most visible spring problem), plum moth, aphids, and scale insects. In North American gardens, oriental fruit moth and Japanese beetle are additional threats. Peach leaf curl is the biggest overall threat — a single dormant copper spray before buds swell prevents severe defoliation.

Colonies on shoot tips cause curling and stunting of new growth; heavy infestation weakens the tree and contaminates fruit. Insecticidal soap or pyrethrin spray at bud burst; pinch off heavily infested shoot tips; encourage aphid parasitoids.

Early-season larvae bore into shoot tips causing wilt ('flagging'); later generations tunnel into maturing fruit near the pit. Pheromone traps to monitor; mating disruption lures for orchard-scale use; spinosad at egg hatch; destroy wilted shoot tips promptly.

Armoured scales encrust bark and fruit, causing red halos on skin and dieback of older limbs. Horticultural oil dormant spray in late winter; remove heavily infested branches; encourage parasitic wasps.

Larvae bore into peaches similarly to plum, leaving frass at the entry point near the stalk. Pheromone traps from May; spinosad at first adult catch; destroy all windfalls.