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Peacock Spot

Peacock Spot

Venturia oleaginea

Fungalalso: Olive leaf spot, Bird eye spot, Peacock eye, Olive peacock spot

A common fungal leaf disease of olive, also called olive leaf spot or bird eye spot, named for the muddy, ringed spots it makes on the leaves. Cool, wet weather drives it, and bad cases cause heavy leaf drop from the lower canopy, weak bloom, and reduced fruit set.

🔎 How to spot it

Look on the upper surface of leaves, especially lower and inside the canopy, for sooty or muddy blotches that develop into dark circular spots about a tenth to a half inch across. Classic spots show concentric rings of olive green, gray, and brown with a yellow halo, the peacock-eye or bird-eye pattern that gives the disease its name. Infected leaves often yellow and fall.

🥀 Damage it causes

The infections and the leaf drop they cause are the damage. Heavy defoliation of the lower canopy weakens the tree, and where it is severe a strong bloom fails to develop and crop production falls; twig dieback can follow. Because the lower, inner canopy holds moisture longest, that is usually where defoliation is worst.

🔬 What causes it

The disease is caused by the fungus Venturia oleaginea (whose asexual stage is called Spilocaea oleaginea). Spores are spread by splashing rain to the leaves, and infection takes hold in cool, wet conditions, roughly 35 to 80 F and best around 58 to 75 F, when leaves stay wet for about two days. Most infection happens in fall, winter, and spring, while summer heat suppresses it. The fungus survives in existing leaf spots, which produce a new crop of spores in fall.

🛡️ Prevent it

Improve air movement and drying by pruning for an open canopy and spacing trees well, and avoid wetting the foliage with overhead irrigation. Plant in a sunny, well-drained site, and where the disease is a regular problem choose more resistant olive varieties. Raking up fallen infected leaves reduces the spore supply.

🧯 If it is already here

A copper-based fungicide is the standard treatment, applied as a preventive in late fall before the winter rains begin, with a second application in spring if wet weather continues. Bordeaux mixture and fixed copper products are approved for organic growing. Copper protects healthy leaves rather than curing spotted ones, so timing it before wet periods is what makes it work.

💡 Good to know

The ringed peacock-eye spot is distinctive, but light infections can be easy to miss until leaf drop appears. Because the disease is driven by leaf wetness and cool wet seasons, trees in damp, crowded, or shaded sites suffer most, while those in open, sunny, breezy spots often need little or no treatment.

🌱 Plants it affects

79 plants in the library can be affected by this problem

🍓Albion StrawberryAmethyst Falls WisteriaAnnabelle Smooth HydrangeaAnnual VincaArbequina OliveArizona Sun Blanket FlowerAroniaAsian PersimmonBecky Shasta DaisyBilberryBing CherryBlack RaspberryBlack Tartarian CherryBluecrop BlueberryBoysenberryBrown Turkey FigBrunneraCarolina JessamineCascara SagradaCatawba GrapeChicago Hardy FigCleyeraClimbing HydrangeaConcord GrapeCornelian CherryCranberryCrimson Cherry RhubarbDiabolo NinebarkEarly Amethyst BeautyberryElderberryEndless Summer HydrangeaEvergreen HuckleberryFeather Reed GrassFountain GrassGateway Joe Pye WeedGoji BerryGoldflame SpireaGoldsturm Black-Eyed SusanGooseberryHeritage RaspberryHoneoye StrawberryHoneyberryHummingbird SummersweetJapanese PierisJune-Bearing StrawberryKobold Blazing StarLily of the ValleyLimelight Panicle HydrangeaLingonberryLynwood Gold ForsythiaMajor Wheeler Trumpet HoneysuckleMammoth SunflowerMedjool Date PalmMedlarMoerheim Beauty SneezeweedMontmorency CherryMulberryMuscadine GrapeNatchez Mock OrangeNiagara Grape🍓Ozark Beauty StrawberryPatriot BlueberryPineapple GuavaProCut SunflowerQuaking AspenRainier CherryRed CurrantRegent SaskatoonRoyal Heritage Lenten RoseSalal🍓Seascape StrawberrySheffield Pink Garden MumSnow Queen Oakleaf HydrangeaSpeedwellTennessee Red Valencia PeanutTexas Scarlet Flowering QuinceThompson Seedless GrapeTifblue BlueberryTriple Crown Blackberry

For educational and informational purposes only. Disease management advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a problem positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.