Check these first
- Does it rub off with a finger? Powder that rubs off is a fungus; marks that stay are scarring from pests.
- Is it on the upper or lower leaf surface, or concentrated on new shoots and leaf joints?
- If it is cottony, look inside the fluff for insects.
Most likely causes
From the pests and diseases recorded for this plant, the ones whose symptoms match, most serious first. Symptoms alone rarely confirm a cause, so use the linked page to check the signs and treatment.
Peach Leaf Curl
New leaves thicken and pucker into waves and turn red to pale pink. They later bloom with a white powder, brown, and drop, weakening the tree.
General description; not specific to this plant.
How to identify and treat: Peach Leaf CurlBrown Rot
Blossoms brown and die, and round brown lesions on fruit expand rapidly. Grayish white powdery mold forms in concentric rings on the lesion and the fruit finally dries into a hard mummy.
General description; not specific to this plant.
How to identify and treat: Brown RotPowdery Mildew
White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.
General description; not specific to this plant.
How to identify and treat: Powdery MildewOther possible causes
- Sclerotinia Rot — The crown, stem or head rots in a water-soaked way and is covered in white cottony myceliu…
- White Rust — Creamy white slightly raised irregular pustules form on the leaf underside and burst throu…
- Leaf Spot — Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gr…
Other symptoms on this plant
What other growers did about it
A page like this one can tell you what peach white powder on leaves is and what to try. What it cannot tell you is what actually happened to someone who had it on the same plant, at the same point in the season, and what they did next.
Gadenin is a free garden journal built around that. You photograph the plant, tag what you are seeing, and the entries line up by date for each plant you grow.
- Tag the problem and the app tells you how many other growers have logged the same thing on the same plant.
- Growers who make their records public can be followed, so you can read what they did and how it turned out.
- Next season your own entries come back at the same point in the year, so you check the plant before it starts.
Free on iPhone. Recording, tagging and reading public records cost nothing.