[jaws]

My son bought me a peach tree which is in the garden - not against a wall (I don't have any in the garden). The second year it was OK but last year I had terrible peach leaf curl and tried to take off as many distorted leaves as possible and it dropped all its peaches. I used a copper fungicide this year and once again the tree is covered with peaches and some curled leaves. Should I leave the leaves alone or try and pick off some or all of the affected leaves? Will this do any good or will it stress the tree too much.
Should I prune the tree (and how) to keep it small enough for the cover we used the first winter. Should I use fungicide as well as cover - is the fungus in the tree now for ever?
Thanks for any advice

[Trillium]

Check this previous thread about the same subject.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=35981.0

I wouldn't prune the peach tree as such as it's sensitive to pruning and you'd trim out a lot of fruit buds. Just take out dead and crossed bits. Now that the tree has experienced the curl, it's in the bark and blowing in on rain so you'll likely have it for a long time. By all means gather up the affected leaves and burn. But you must also feed the tree well to renew it's vigor and help it put out new leaves for the rest of this year as well as keep its fruit.