How and with what to treat gooseberries for scab: the most effective methods of combating the disease

What kind of disease is this

Scab is a fungal disease that quickly spreads throughout the plant in conditions favorable for the fungus to reproduce.

It is often confused with powdery mildew. The differences lie in the fact that the causative agents of powdery mildew are not marsupial fungi, like scab, but erysifaceae, or powdery mildew.

What is dangerous for gooseberries

Scab disrupts the process of photosynthesis in gooseberries, affects and destroys the berries , which leads to a sharp reduction in yield.

With severe infection, the shoots suffer, which is why nutrients reach the plant in small quantities, and due to lack of nutrition, the gooseberry dies. Bushes weakened by scab may not survive the cold winter or fail to bloom in the spring, making it impossible to harvest at the end of the season.

Spreading

Microscopic fungi are carried by the wind or on the wings and legs of pests . If the gooseberry bushes are very thick, the disease spreads faster when watering or precipitation occurs: drops flow down the leaves, bounce off the soil and reach new shoots and bushes.

Anthracnose

Another common fungal disease familiar to many gardeners. The first signs are small reddish spots (diameter 1 mm) on the leaves, which later begin to darken, swell and expand. The disease appears 1.5-2 months after the start of the growing season.

Gooseberries suffer from anthracnose much less often than currants.

Control measures

In early spring, treatment with 1% Bordeaux mixture will help (repeat after harvesting). Since the fungus overwinters in fallen leaves, in the fall it must be carefully raked out from under the bushes and burned. Also, Alirin-B solution (2 tablets per 1 liter of water) with the addition of liquid soap (1 ml per 1 liter of water) copes well with anthracnose. Treatments are carried out 3-5 times with an interval of 7-10 days.

Signs of infection

Scab appears on the fruits, leaves and shoots of gooseberries.

Among the external signs noted:

• peeling of the skin of the berries;
• brown spots on fruits (ranging from light shades to dark brown-brown burns):
• warts on leaf blades and shoots.

The leaves are the first to suffer . Velvety spots appear on them with a focus in the center of the leaf blade. After the spores mature, they grow and change color from light to rusty.

After this, the disease spreads to berries . The shape of the fruit changes and they crack, allowing spores to penetrate the pulp. Bacteria dry out the berry from the inside, leaving only dry skin.

The last stage is the defeat of the shoots . Spots appear on them, the stems become deformed and stop growing. The nutrition of the plant is disrupted, after which the bush can no longer be cured, and the gooseberry dies.

Black Negus

A huge contribution to the spread of gooseberries in the northern and northeastern regions was made by I.V. Michurin, who bred many varieties of gooseberries.
Of the numerous Michurin pets, Black Negus is most often found among gardeners in the Moscow region, Leningrad, Pskov and other regions. The color of its berries is indeed completely black, the skin is shiny, which gives them a special attractiveness when the fruiting period begins. In terms of ripening time, this is a mid-season variety, but delays in harvesting do not reduce the quality of the berries, and they do not fall off the bushes for a long time. The berries do not crack in any weather. Bushes 1.6 m high, with thick, strong shoots covered with dense thorns. The leaves are dull green, large, and pubescent. Black Negus took all the best from the parent pair of varieties: Krasilny and Anibut. Thanks to the painstaking work of I.V. Michurin, Black Negus has become resistant to spheroteka and suitable for processing. These qualities have been preserved in the hereditary structure of the variety to this day.

Red juice and pulp are very rare

The standard black has lost its position on berry plantations, but in breeding scientists still use this Michurin “black” variety when breeding new gooseberry varieties.

Causes, causative agents of the disease

The causative agents of scab are pathogenic microscopic fungi known as ascomycetes, or marsupial fungi. They move easily through the air and reproduce quickly in suitable conditions, namely :

• if the soil moisture in the area is increased as a result of frequent watering or prolonged rainfall;
• when watering, the foliage of the plants gets very wet, the moisture flows down the shoots to the roots and stagnates there;
• air humidity remains high at a temperature of +12…+27°C;
• in the morning heavy dew, fog, rain;
• the gooseberry shoots were not thinned, the foliage is very thick;
• on the site there is an invasion of pests moving between plantings;
• the bushes were planted after black currants or another variety of gooseberries.

Gooseberry pest damage: leaves and berries fall off

Having excluded all of the above factors, you need to inspect the plant for the presence of pests. Often the plant sheds its leaves and then its fruits due to damage from the yellow sawfly. How to recognize a pest?

• The plant suddenly begins to lose leaves, they turn yellow and fall off prematurely. The bush becomes bare, only unripe fruits are visible on it.

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• Gooseberry berries become smaller as caterpillars take nutrients from the bush.

The pest is parasitic throughout the season. However, the greatest damage to the plant is caused by the second generation of the pest. Most often this occurs when the berries are ripening. Sawfly caterpillars eat almost all the leaves from the bush, photosynthesis processes are disrupted, as a result of which the plant drops its fruits.

Treatment options

Scab is easy to cure in the initial stages of manifestation . For this purpose, various methods are used, which together give good results.

Traditional methods

At the initial stage of the disease, when the first external signs only appear, and the scab has not spread throughout all the gooseberry bushes, folk remedies are used :

1. Mullein solution. 1 part mullein is mixed with 3 parts water and infused for 3 days. Then the bushes are sprayed at least 2 times, with a break of 7-10 days.
2. Ash solution. For 10 liters of water take 1 kg of ash. After thorough mixing, the solution is infused for a week, after which it is used to spray the bushes once every 2 days until the signs of the disease disappear.
3. Soda and soap. Rub 50 g of laundry soap and dilute it in 10 liters of water. Add 40 g of baking soda. The solution is used twice: before flowering begins and after it ends.
4. Manganese sulfate. A universal remedy used by gardeners as a top dressing, for preventive purposes and as a way to combat scab at the initial stage. To do this, prepare a 1.5-2% solution, which is used to treat gooseberries throughout the entire growing season once every 3 weeks.

Agrotechnical techniques

Agrotechnical practices help protect the plant from scab and stop its spread throughout the plantings :

• regularly weed the soil around the gooseberries, remove fallen leaves, branches and stones;
• if diseased shoots are found, they are removed, and the cut areas are sprinkled with wood ash or moistened with a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
• thickening of the bushes is not allowed, it is important that air passes freely between the branches and shoots and dries out the moisture;
• carry out regular watering corresponding to the gooseberry variety;
• provide timely protection of gooseberries from pests using insecticides, vinegar solution, tobacco fumigation, mustard infusion (insects carry the fungus on their paws and wings);
• follow the fertilizer application schedule for gooseberry varieties;
• Preventively treat the bushes with copper sulfate or other copper-containing products.

Biological drugs

Biological preparations are safer than chemicals, but their effectiveness is much lower, so several treatments are required throughout the season :

1. Copper sulfate. 20 g of copper sulfate and 70 g of crushed laundry soap are diluted in 5 liters of water. Spraying is carried out once a week, in damp weather - every 3-4 days.
2. Bordeaux mixture. 100 g of copper sulfate is diluted in 1 liter of water. Lime is slaked separately in the same proportions. The resulting solutions are poured into 6 liters of water and sprayed with the same frequency as indicated above.

Chemicals

Of the chemicals recommended:

• “DNOC” (10 ml per 10 liters of water), in early spring;
• arsenates (10 g per 15 liters of water), until the berries appear;
• "Acrex" (10 g per 10 l), during the dormant period, autumn and spring;
• “Karatan” (10 g per 10 l), during the dormant period, spring and autumn;
• "Nitrophen" 125 (12 g per 10 l), in the spring before the buds appear.

Spraying is carried out early in the morning or in the evening under the weather conditions specified in the instructions for the drug.

Processing rules

Time spending

Preventive treatment against diseases and pests should begin in early spring. This is very important because it is easier to prevent a disease than to treat it later. During the season, gooseberry bushes are treated in accordance with the growing season:

• until the buds swell;
• during the period of kidney swelling;
• during the budding period (before flowering);
• immediately after flowering.

Spring

Spring is an excellent time to prevent gooseberry diseases. While the snow has not yet melted and the buds are just beginning to awaken, scald the bushes with boiling water; this is an excellent prevention of the appearance of mites and fungi.

A little later, treat the bushes with Bordeaux mixture at a concentration of 3%, this will protect against mycoses. Repeat the treatment when the bushes fade, but copper sulfate and lime are diluted at a concentration of 1%.

In early spring, while there is still snow, it is better to re-check to see if there is any leaf debris left somewhere. Choose a time between the thaw and the next spring frost and loosen the soil again. At least disturb her. This will increase the likelihood of completely getting rid of the larvae of unwanted insects on the site: most pupae do not tolerate frost well.

Features of struggle during flowering, fruiting, dormancy

During the flowering period, you cannot use chemicals , as they will scare away the bees and the gooseberry will not form an ovary. In this case, scab is treated with folk remedies.

They are also used during the fruiting period, if the disease appears less than a month before picking the berries. If the fruits are still far from ripening, gardeners use chemicals, which by the right time will be completely washed off from the surface of the fruit, or the active substances harmful to the human body will go through a period of decay.

In the dormant stage, gooseberries can be treated with biological products, chemicals , and folk infusions and solutions.

Getting rid of scab on berries, leaves, branches

When spraying gooseberry bushes with the selected solution or preparation, make sure that the liquid reaches all parts of the plant and thoroughly saturates the soil around the trunk. This allows you to destroy the mycelium and reduce the likelihood of relapse.

In dry weather, spraying is carried out once every 7-10 days, and in high humidity - 2 times more often.

It is better to dig up bushes that have suffered greatly from scab and burn them outside the site , and pour boiling water over the soil and sprinkle it with wood ash. A solution of potassium permanganate will also work.

Prevention measures

To avoid scab on gooseberries, it is necessary to follow agricultural practices. With comprehensive care, bushes rarely suffer from fungal diseases. This includes rationing watering and fertilizing. At the same time, they try to avoid excess moisture in the soil. Be sure to loosen the soil so that water does not accumulate in it. Good results are obtained by mulching the soil with straw or peat.

To feed the bush in summer and autumn, potassium and phosphorus compounds are chosen. Nitrogen preparations are used only in spring, as they promote shoot growth. Complex fertilizing increases plant immunity. Every year the bush is inspected and dry, old, broken branches are cut off.

As an additional prevention of scab on gooseberries, it is recommended:

• use varieties resistant to diseases: Severyanin, Harlequin, Chernomor, Plum, etc.;
• choose healthy seedlings;
• maintain a distance between bushes of 1 m;
• destroy fallen leaves in which fungal spores overwinter;
• dig or loosen the soil in the fall.

The most reliable way to prevent gooseberry diseases is to carry out preventive treatments. They begin in early spring after the snow melts. To combat diseases on gooseberries in the spring, use a urea solution at a concentration of 5%. In the future, folk or chemical preparations are used. Spraying the crop with fungicides is carried out no more than once every 2 weeks.

Scab-resistant gooseberry varieties

Varieties that are not afraid of scab and powdery mildew:

• Neslukhovsky;
• Lefort (photo below);
• Spring;
• Houghton;
• Malachite;
• Ural grapes;
• Chernysh;
• African;
• Negus;
• Russian yellow and Russian red;
• Isabel;
• Kolobok;
• Firework.

Preventive measures

Prevention is an effective measure to combat scab. We are talking about processing bushes in spring and autumn, after harvesting .

The risk of gooseberry scab infection is reduced if the plantings are treated with a 7% urea solution every spring before the planting buds awaken. Spraying is carried out in the early morning or in the evening after sunset. The liquid should completely wet all parts of the plant and thoroughly moisten the soil underneath.

In autumn, fallen leaves are raked and taken outside the site, where they are burned with the rest of the plant debris. The tree trunk circle is dug up, after which urea is again used according to the scheme described above.

Video

We suggest watching several videos in which experts give advice to novice gardeners on how to combat scab:

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