Hello, we had a couple of hard rains here in So Cal (Inland Area of San Gabriel Valley) I cam back from out of town and noticed reddish brown spots on some young leaves. I removed the infected leaf and will rake any fallen leaves. Should I treat the tree or wait and see.

This is the tree that is planted in a bad spot. I intend to try and get a decent crop this year. If I don't get one I plan to cut it down and replant a new one in a more suitable spot of the yard.

Where's all our fruit tree people??
I'll try to answer--my peach tree does this every year, and I get a good harvest anyway.
Since the peaches turned out ok, I never looked into the spot issue.
Not saying you should ignore it, but that's my experience. I'm guessing it's a fungus that never progresses to a serious stage because Kansas, like So California, won't have many rains after the spring rains. The dry weather seems to limit fungal activity. Hopefully someone else will pop in and give a more scientific answer! I garden organically, so I wouldn't know what to recommend if you needed to spray.

Thanks, Cindi. I see we have more storms coming. It appears winter is finally arriving. I plan on keeping an eye on it and removing damaged leaves as they crop up.

Hi, that's the beginning of a nutrient deficiency or high salt intake. What you are actually seeing is some sunburn where the leaves are suffering. Here's what I suggest:
1) Keep off those conventional fertilizers...they are salt based and could cause this effect.
2) You don't say "in a Pot" or "in the Ground". Plants in Pots will always become nutrient deficient.
That's the Good and the Bad of container growing, You control the medium) Remember to
fertilize regularly. (That's a lot more frequently in a pot, Micro nutrients too)
3) In spring plants are "off and running" so it's not abnormal for some plants to become deficient.
(Plants are metabolizing super rapidly and even when a nutrient is available, some get missed)
4) If your tree is in a pot, be very aware of it's spring water needs.
So, if I were you, here's what I'd do. First be sure there is no salt build up. No chem fert's and also be sure to leach the root zone on your plant. (ie run lots of water to your plant every couple of months) If you already see a problem in spring, give those trees some quickly absorbed nutrients. (Yes, you need the top 3 NPK, but what I do is give my trees Fish emulsion and Kelp (Seaweed) , thereby getting the NPK but also all the organically available Micro nutrients as well. It is quickly absorbed and you will see a response quickly too. I don't see a pathogen on your leaf, just burn. That's a Good Thing! Good Luck, Lori

Thanks LlamaLlori, I work at Home Depot in the garden department and can pick up some Kelp/fish emulsion. I recently fed the tree with Bandini 15-15-15. It's been planted in the ground in a poor shady location so my intention is to see what the crop looks like (and tastes) and decide the trees fate at seasons end.

"A poor shady location" might be the root of your problem, Blondie. Where there's shade there are usually other trees close by, along with their roots which extend out beyond the reach of their branches quite often. So you peach tree is really struggling for both water and any nutrients against the competition of the other tree roots.

Also, fruit trees need full, all day sun to produce good sweet fruit and lots of it. I'd be just keeping that little tree alive until fall, scout out a new location for it and move it as soon as the leaves drop in the fall.

Hi Elaine,I moved here 12 years ago and ignored this tree until about a year ago. The main trunk was severed by ? Before I moved in. That coupled with the being under a giant Ash spells trouble. I wanted to give it a chance though so I'll see if it can have a decent crop with a lot of TLC. I've scouted 2 other locations a tree could work. One borders a neighbors property so half the fruit would go to them. It's got the best sun exposure though.

Update****** I pulled the damaged leaves off and bagged them. After 2 rains I see no reoccurrence. I sprinkled some compost, coffee grounds and a bit of gypsum. Ran out of fish emulsion and will pick more up this week.

Great news!

Thanks for letting us know.