Hello, dear readers!
The bright spring sun, warm wind and rain quickly remove the snow from our summer cottages. And earlier than other plants in the garden, the snow disappears and the earth warms up on the circles of gooseberries and currants.
The plants begin to wake up, but their enemies wake up along with them: various pests, some of them wait out the winter under fallen leaves, others in the soil under these bushes.
The causative agents of various gooseberry diseases are also beginning to become more active; you can read about them here.
Therefore, in order for the gooseberries to grow healthy and delight us with an excellent harvest, we need to take care of this in early spring. What pests of gooseberries can we encounter when growing them?
There are a lot of them, these are spider mites, gooseberry sawflies, gooseberry moth, gooseberry shoot aphids, gooseberry moths, currant gall midges, currant borers, and currant glass beetles.
Let's take a closer look at each of the gooseberry pests .
Caterpillars on gooseberries: how to fight and how to treat them
How to deal with caterpillars on gooseberries depends primarily on the type of pest. Most often, bud rollers, gooseberry moths, moths and other no less beautiful and voracious butterflies are identified on the bush. Measures to combat them necessarily include agrotechnical measures in the garden plot and the use of special chemicals. Before treating gooseberries for caterpillars, make sure that this procedure will not harm the environment. Start fighting in early spring and respond promptly when butterflies and caterpillars appear. here is the video
The following describes in detail how to recognize and defeat such dangerous gooseberry pests as moths, bud rollers and gooseberry moth.
Spider mite
It appears in early spring on the underside of leaves, then entangles them in a web.
It feeds on the juice of leaves, sucking it out. The leaves begin to turn yellow and gradually die off.
Spider mites multiply rapidly, especially in hot weather. They can produce from 5 to 8 generations during the summer.
The mites themselves, as well as their larvae and eggs, are so small that it is almost impossible to see without a magnifying glass. Spider mites overwinter in the axils of fallen leaves, under lumps of soil.
Control measures . We spray the bushes with an infusion of wormwood, which we do as follows: take half a bucket of crushed flowering wormwood and fill it with water (10 l), let it brew for one day, then boil for 30 minutes, cool, filter, dilute with water 1:1 and, for better adhesion, add soap, about 40 g.
It’s also good to treat gooseberries with tobacco infusion - mix 400 g of tobacco in 10 liters of hot water and leave to infuse for two days, then also add 40 g of soap.
With great success you can use infusions or decoctions of garlic, potato tops, onion peels, burdock leaves, celandine, and tansy.
If the gooseberry bushes are severely affected and folk remedies no longer help, then you should turn to chemicals for help, which are best used either before flowering or immediately after harvesting.
Gooseberry sawfly
1 - sawfly, 2 - sawfly larva, 3 - damaged shoot
The sawfly is quite common in our summer cottages. Its voracious larvae can completely eat up the leaves on the bushes in just 2-3 days, leaving us with only thick veins.
After the loss of leaves and berries, not receiving full nutrition, they become small, and then generally wither and crumble.
The larvae of this harmful insect hide in their dense cocoons in the soil under bushes in winter, and in the spring, when young leaves begin to bloom, the females fly out.
They manage to lay from 70 to 150 eggs each on the lower part of the leaf, and after 7-10 days the emerging armada of larvae begins to eat the leaves.
Control measures . In the fall, be sure to dig up the soil under the bushes, destroying the sawfly larvae that have already left for the winter.
In spring and summer, periodically shake off the larvae from the bush by placing film or some other bedding under it, and destroy them immediately.
We collect berries that are damaged by the sawfly. They should never be left on the ground under bushes, as the larvae in them will go into the soil for the winter.
Regularly during the season we spray the bushes with infusions of wormwood, tomato tops, wood ash, and dry mustard.
You already know how to prepare an infusion of wormwood, but here is the recipe for preparing a solution from tomato tops: take 4 kg of stepsons or tomato tops, fill them with 10 liters of water and boil for about half an hour over low heat, then filter the broth and spray, having previously done this solution - two to three liters of decoction per 10 liters of water.
For better adhesion of the solution, add 40-50 g of soap to it.
Leaf-gnawer: how to treat gooseberries against pests in spring
Elm leaf beetle, or garden looper, or apple leaf beetle Liperus xanthopoda Schr. , is a black, shiny beetle, 4-6 mm long. It has yellow legs and yellow antennae with a dark tip; in the female, the length of the antennae is equal to the length of the body. The beetles gnaw large holes on the leaves without touching the veins. Before treating gooseberries in the spring against such pests, you need to understand that they develop in one generation and are found in spring and summer on all fruit trees, many deciduous trees and many berry bushes. When present in large numbers, it severely damages leaves and causes them to dry out prematurely.
Control measures. Preventive spraying of all trees and shrubs in the garden when buds open and immediately after fruit blossoms with the drug fufanon or its analogues (kemifos, karbofos).
Look at what these gooseberry pests look like in the photo, which shows their appearance and distinctive features:
Gooseberry moth
1 - butterfly, 2 - caterpillar, 3 - pupa, 4 and 5 - berries damaged by caterpillars, 6 - pupa in a cocoon in the soil
This is one of the most insidious and common pests of not only gooseberries, but also currants.
In the spring, when the leaves begin to bloom, butterflies fly out from the moth pupae hibernating in the ground under the bush and lay their eggs inside the blooming flowers.
From the eggs, after about 1-1.5 weeks, caterpillars emerge, which within one month can eat the contents of the ovaries.
The affected berries begin to turn red long before ripening, then rot and crumble. Or they continue to hang on branches, entangled in cobwebs.
The measures to combat the moth are the same as for the sawfly: we collect and destroy berries with caterpillars, dig up the soil and spray the gooseberry bushes with the same solutions.
We make an infusion of wood ash like this: take one third of a bucket of ash, dissolve it in 10 liters of water, let it brew for two days, filter and the solution is ready to treat the plant.
Infusion of dry mustard - infuse 100 g of mustard in 10 liters of boiling water for two days, then dilute the infusion with cold water in a 1:1 ratio. This solution is best used at dusk or in cloudy weather.
I want to tell you about another very effective way to combat moth. In the fall, although it is also possible in the spring, as soon as the snow melts, we completely cover the trunk circles of gooseberry bushes with pieces of roofing felt or other similar material.
This way we will prevent the moth moths from flying out of the soil and they will die. It is advisable to repeat this technique next year.
Gooseberry diseases and their treatment
How do you know when it’s time to treat a bush? Let's consider the main problems of this culture and ways to solve them.
Spheroteka (American powdery mildew)
The most common disease of gooseberries. All parts of the plant suffer. Powdery mildew-resistant varieties are affected, but less frequently.
Powdery mildew can appear at any time during the growing season. Shoots and leaves are covered with a whitish coating. At first it washes off well, and then it becomes denser and spreads to the ovaries and berries, spreading quite quickly.
Old pockets of powdery mildew look like dark felt.
The affected shoots become deformed and dry out, the leaves curl, the berries stop growing and rot right on the bush or fall off.
The disease is caused by fungi of the genus Sphaerotheca, the most favorable time for growth of which is warm and humid weather. Powdery mildew can be prevented by free planting of bushes, regular pruning of old branches, thinning of the crown, moderate watering, and removal of plant debris from under the bushes.
If powdery mildew has already appeared on the bush, then at the beginning of the process, when individual fruits and leaves are affected, they can be carefully cut off and burned. If the process spreads, it is urgent to treat the plant with fungicides - drugs that kill the fungus.
Be sure to check its hazard class and conditions of use before purchasing the drug. For example, if there is an apiary nearby, you cannot use substances that are harmful to bees.
The general rule for treatments: they must be completed at least 2 weeks before harvesting. But what to do if the fungus attacked right before cleaning? There are folk remedies that can slow down the growth of the fungus.
For example, dissolve a teaspoon of soda and 50-60 g of grated tar or antibacterial soap in a bucket of water and thoroughly treat all bushes.
If nothing is done, the affected bushes will die within 2-3 years. Moreover, the disease will spread.
As soon as the coating turns gray, it means that the spores are ripe and ready to disperse. A new generation of mushrooms will fall off along with the leaves, infect the soil, and powdery mildew will become much more difficult to control.
The disease is dangerous not only for gooseberries, but also for all types of currants. Therefore, if you had to use old-fashioned methods before harvesting, be sure to treat the affected plants with fungicides as soon as the berries are harvested.
Scab (gray rot)
Scab affects fruits and leaves. Foci of brown color and irregular shape appear on them, small at first, then merging. The disease is caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea Pers. It grows well in high humidity. In the heat, the mycelium dies, and the dead parts of the leaves crack and fall off.
In conditions that are comfortable for the fungus, a gray-smoky coating appears on diseased foliage: these are the parts of the fungus in which spores form. Diseased berries rot, but despite this, they hardly change color. Subsequently, such fruits fall off or dry out.
The routes of infection, prevention measures and treatment are the same as for powdery mildew.
Rust
Mycosis begins with orange swellings that are located at the bottom of the leaf (goblet rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia ribesii caricis) or with small yellow spots on the top of the leaves (columnar rust, caused by Cronatrium ribicola). Despite the similarity of symptoms, these mushrooms are distant relatives of each other.
Goblet rust overwinters on sedge, so the disease is more common in lowlands. The fungus becomes active in May-early June. Diseased leaves and ovaries fall off, and the plant looks healthy until the end of the growing season.
Columnar rust overwinters on Siberian cedar or Weymouth pine. Sick trees can be recognized by the presence of tumors on the bark - foci of sporulation. In cultivated shrubs, this type of rust appears in mid-summer.
The yellow spots on the affected leaves turn brown, and bright orange bumps appear at the bottom of the leaves, which then turn into columns. When the spores mature and disperse, the diseased foliage falls off.
Both diseases do not kill cultivated bushes, but significantly reduce their yield. The life cycle of rust fungi means that there is a natural source of the disease near your bushes, which is most likely impossible to eradicate.
The fungus infects plant debris under cultivated bushes with its spores.
Rust prevention measures are the same as for powdery mildew, but after obvious manifestations of the disease, fungicides should be applied 3-4 times in the next season:
- at the beginning of the growing season;
- during tying buds;
- after flowering;
- if the disease continues to appear after harvest.
In case of goblet rust, it is worth mowing down the sedge growing in the country house or near it. In case of columnar disease, contact the forestry enterprise, which includes diseased coniferous trees.
Anthracnose
Gooseberry anthracnose is caused by the fungus Pseudopeziza ribis f.grossularia. The disease begins at the end of flowering and reaches its maximum in July-August.
On the leaves, the fungus appears as angular-rounded spots about 1 mm in diameter, which, merging, form large spots. The center of the spot gradually becomes black and shiny, then light tubercles appear in this place - fruiting bodies.
Lesions on leaf petioles, stalks and berries look like small brown ulcers.
The mycelium grows between plant cells, where it overwinters. In spring it forms spores that disperse within a month. Optimal conditions: high humidity, temperature for sporulation +21...+25°C, for mycelium growth +5...+30°C.
The disease leads to a reduction in yield by 75% in the first season and by 80% the next year. The frost resistance of bushes is significantly reduced: more than half of the branches may die.
Prevention measures are standard, treatment with fungicides with copper from the appearance of the first leaves until the bush enters a dormant state.
Septoria (white spot)
Fungus caused by Septoria ribis Desm. mainly affects leaves. Gray round spots with a dark edging appear on them. Then dark dots form on the spots - the fruiting bodies of the fungus.
After this, the diseased leaves dry out, curl, crumble and eventually fall off. Thus, even in the summer, the bush loses almost all its foliage.
Prevention and treatment measures are the same as for powdery mildew. In addition, resistance to the disease decreases if the plants lack manganese, copper, zinc and boron, so when the disease appears on the site, it is worth feeding gooseberries and currants, which also suffer from septoria.
Verticillium (wilt)
The causative agent of the disease is the fungus Verticillium dahliae. Wilt is a mycosis that affects almost all types of plants. Fungi are usually more species specific.
This same fungus is normally a saprophyte (feeds on dead parts of plants). But if the roots of the plant are damaged by careless loosening or by pests, or a fresh cut of a branch touches the ground, the fungus can enter a living plant and begin to clog its vessels and poison the owner with waste products.
The fungus itself cannot reproduce inside a living plant. The only way for him to produce offspring is to kill the owner.
Sick and young plants are primarily affected; healthy ones are able to resist wilt. It is interesting that the symptoms of the disease can appear in one part of the plant, for example, a branch. The productivity of plants affected by wilt is sharply reduced, and the shoots that grow to replace the dead ones are fruitless.
In diseased gooseberry bushes, the leaves turn yellow and dry, and the growth of the bush slows down. Up to a third of the bushes may die, while the remaining ones will have reduced productivity. Spontaneous recovery of the plant from wilt is possible.
Vertilicium spores are frost-resistant and can be stored in the soil, waiting for favorable conditions, for up to 10 years. Comfortable temperature for germination is +20…+23°C, humidity 70-80%, acidity 6-7.
Mosaic
Mosaic is a viral infection. The leaves of affected bushes acquire a yellow pattern along the veins. At the same time, the plants stop growing, the new leaves are small and wrinkled, and practically no fruit is formed.
The disease is incurable. Sick plants are uprooted and burned. The carrier is aphids, so the main preventive measure is treatment against this parasite.
Gooseberry shoot aphid
The gooseberry shoot aphid is also a common pest, the eggs of which remain overwintering on the shoots.
In the spring, these eggs hatch into larvae. They settle on the petioles of young leaves and consume their juice.
Then some of the larvae turn into winged female dispersers and occupy more and more new tops of young shoots.
The growth of shoots slows down, the leaves begin to deform and a dense lump of leaves forms at the top of the shoot. It is inside this lump that large numbers of aphids live and feed.
The following year, plants infected with gooseberry shoot aphids develop very slowly, and buds also bloom later.
Measures to combat aphids are as follows: firstly, I recommend watering the bushes with hot water (in early spring); secondly, during the period when the larvae begin to appear, spray the plant with fufanon, Iskra or another preparation.
After this, we spray the gooseberry bushes only with folk remedies, the same as when fighting spider mites. For example:
- in 10 liters of water, stir well 200-300 g of chopped garlic, then filter the resulting solution and treat the plant;
- infuse 150-200 g of onion peel in 10 liters of water, after 4-5 days, filter the infusion and start spraying;
- pour 1.2 kg of green potato tops with ten liters of water, leave for 3-4 hours, filter and spray. If we have dry tops, then we take 600-800 g.
- infuse 4 kg of crushed burdock leaves in 10 liters of water for 2-3 days, then filter the infusion and process the plant.
Leaf roller: how to spray gooseberries against pests in spring
The bud roller, or bud roller Spilonota ocellana F. (syn. Tmetocera ocellana F.) , is a butterfly with a wingspan of 14-18 mm. The front wings are gray with a wide white stripe in the middle and several dark strokes, the hind wings are brownish-gray. The eggs are transparent, shiny, the caterpillar is 9-12 mm long, brown, with a black head and a black chest shield. The pupa is brown, 6-8 mm long.
Before spraying gooseberries against pests in the spring, you need to know that third-instar caterpillars overwinter in white cocoons near the buds and in cracks in the bark. In early spring they emerge from the cocoon, bite into the buds and feed on the rudiments of leaves. After the buds open, the caterpillars feed on the buds and leaves, pulling them together into a dense lump with a web. Therefore, before spraying gooseberries against pests, you need to collect and burn all plant debris that has been preserved since the fall.
Having finished feeding, the caterpillars pupate and about 9-15 days after the end of flowering of the apple trees, butterflies fly out. The flight of butterflies is extended, and the mass flight is observed from the second ten days of June. Each female lays up to 180 eggs, placing them one at a time on the upper side of the leaves. The hatched caterpillars live between two leaf blades, held together by a web, or between a leaf and a fruit, to which they are attached by a web. The caterpillars are yellow-green, with a black head and chest shield. From a young age, they gnaw out leaf parenchyma and fruit skin, which leads to deformation and drying out of damaged leaves and fruits. The leaf roller damages all fruit and many berry crops, as well as forest species.
Control measures. If there is a large number of pests in the garden, annual spraying is carried out in early spring, during the swelling of the buds, with one of the drugs: Fufanon, Kemifos, Actellik. The treatment is repeated 2-3 weeks after the end of flowering.
Gooseberry moth
a - damaged shoot, b - butterfly
The gooseberry moth attacks both gooseberries and currants; its caterpillars completely eat up the entire leaf, leaving only the petioles.
The caterpillars overwinter under fallen leaves, and in April they emerge from their cocoons and feed on buds and young leaves.
By the end of the gooseberry flowering, they complete their development and pupate (in June) on the leaves, attaching to them with cobwebs.
Then, after 3-4 weeks, butterflies fly out of these pupae and begin to lay eggs on the underside of the leaves, from which new caterpillars soon emerge. And the gooseberry leaves are in danger again.
After devouring the leaves again, the caterpillars leave for the winter.
Measures to combat gooseberry moth: thorough cleaning of fallen leaves (if any remain) in autumn and early spring; burning them to kill the caterpillars; digging up the soil; treatment of gooseberries with infusion of chamomile or decoctions of tobacco, shag; if there are a lot of pests, then it is worth spraying a couple of times with a solution of karbofos (the first - in early spring, when the caterpillars appear after wintering, the second - in the summer, when they reappear, but no later than 20-30 days before harvesting).
Moth
It overwinters under fallen leaves, and with the onset of April moves to gooseberries. Capable of eating the entire leaf, leaving only the veins. At the end of flowering, the caterpillars finish pupating and settle on the foliage, holding on to it with the help of a web. After 3 days, butterflies fly out and lay their eggs on the underside of the leaf plate. The caterpillars emerge from the eggs again, and everything starts all over again.
Moth in the caterpillar and butterfly stages
Control measures. The most important point in protecting gooseberries from moths is cleaning and destroying fallen leaves, as well as loosening the soil around the trunk of the bush. In addition, they are treated with chamomile or tobacco infusion. If there are a large number of pests, chemical treatment using a solution of karbofos will be appropriate. Such procedures are carried out in several stages: in early spring, summer and a month before harvest.
Currant gall midge
Currant gall midges are small, up to 3 mm long, brown mosquitoes, which are divided into two types: leaf gall midges and shoot gall midges.
The leaf gall midge flies out at the very beginning of gooseberry flowering and lays eggs on the youngest leaves that have just appeared on the tops of the shoots.
Then the larvae appear and feed on the juice of these leaves. The leaves stop growing, dry out or take on an ugly shape.
The shoot gall midge appears already during the flowering period and lays eggs on the lower part of woody shoots, especially in cracks and places of damage.
The larvae that appear after some time crawl under the bark and live there in colonies. In these places, dark depressed spots become visible on the shoots, which then turn into cracks.
Gooseberry branches affected by the shoot gall midge begin to dry out and break. In September - October, the larvae go to the soil for the winter.
Ways to combat gall midges . First of all, it is necessary to prevent them from leaving for the winter by timely pruning the affected shoots, collecting leaves with larvae and burning them.
Digging the soil under the bushes and mulching it with peat in a layer of at least 6 cm also helps reduce the number of this pest.
In case of severe infestation of gall midges, you can spray the bushes with solutions of karbofos or fufanon, before flowering and after harvesting.
And during the ripening of the berries, it is better to use folk remedies: infusions of wormwood, tomato tops, wood ash, dry mustard.
Gooseberry mosaic
Mosaic is a viral infection from which there is no escape. Plants affected by mosaic need to be uprooted and burned as quickly as possible. How to understand that it is a mosaic? Typically, on the leaf blades of diseased plants at the height of the season, you can see a clearly visible bright yellow “pattern”, which is usually located along the main veins. After its appearance, the plants seem to stop growing and developing, they practically do not produce fruits, the leaves become very small and wrinkled.
Next - about gooseberry pests .
Currant borer
Currant borer primarily damages gooseberry branches. The larvae of this beetle eat away the core of the plant shoots, starting from the top and moving lower.
The yield of the bush drops sharply, and the berries remain small. In winter, the larvae of the borer are found inside the shoots and pupate there.
Young beetles begin to emerge from the shoots in late spring (May) - early summer (June). Approximately 8-10 days after this emergence, female beetles begin laying eggs on the bark of shoots, as well as on leaf petioles.
They cover the eggs with their secretions, which harden on the bark, forming a hard oval shield. Then, after 12-16 days, the larvae crawl out from under the shield and begin their dirty work.
Control measures include cutting and burning affected branches; correct and timely pruning of the bush; planting healthy seedlings.
Prevention
Pest attacks do not go unnoticed for gooseberries. Even with timely treatment, the yield, endurance and frost resistance of the plant are reduced. Therefore, it is important to prevent damage to plantings in advance.
What to do to avoid gooseberry infestation by pests:
- In autumn, be sure to remove fallen leaves, old branches and other plant debris from the site. After this, the soil around the plant is loosened and mulched.
- Sanitary pruning is no less important. Every year all damaged, dry and diseased branches are removed. After all, it is in the damaged bark that many pests overwinter.
- In the spring, after the soil has thawed, the soil is loosened and mulched.
- In early spring, a gooseberry bush with buds that have not yet opened is watered with boiling water. This will help destroy all pests.
- Before flowering, it is recommended to treat gooseberries with insecticides. It is advisable to do this with all fruit and berry plants in the garden.
- During an epidemic of pest invasion (most insects are especially active in May, the second half of June and July), they are treated with folk remedies, for example, spraying the leaves with a decoction of bitter herbs.
This is interesting:
Pests and diseases of honeysuckle: signs of damage and methods of combating them
Pests and diseases of lemon: treatment and prevention at home
Diseases and pests of currants, methods of combating them, preventive measures
Currant glass
This is also a very dangerous pest of gooseberries and currants; its caterpillars make passages in the very core of the branches, moving from top to bottom.
Glasswort can be easily detected precisely along these passages when pruning gooseberries in spring.
Caterpillars overwinter inside damaged branches. In the spring, they pupate there, and already in early June, butterflies, very similar to wasps, fly out of the resulting pupae.
Their flight lasts up to 1.5 months. Butterflies lay eggs near the buds, as well as in cracks in the bark and in places of various damage.
Appearing after a certain time (about 10-15 days), young caterpillars with renewed vigor, gnawing through the bark, penetrate inside the shoot.
There they can live up to two years, feeding on the pith. Gooseberry branches affected by currant glass first wither, then dry out and break.
Glassworm caterpillars can damage up to 50% of the branches if measures are not taken to destroy them in a timely manner.
Control measures - in autumn and spring, mandatory sanitary pruning, without leaving stumps, followed by burning of the cut branches; loosening the soil under the bushes (May-June) and treating it with a mixture of the following ingredients: tobacco, wood ash, mustard and ground pepper (300 g of ash, 1 tablespoon each of mustard and pepper, 200 g of tobacco dust).
Scatter 3-4 tablespoons under each bush. And during the period when butterflies emerge, it is good to spray the bushes with infusions of dry mustard or celandine, a decoction of tansy, and only after harvesting can you treat the bushes with any chemical preparation.
This is the final article in a series of articles about our northern grape - gooseberries, about its beneficial properties, about the variety of varieties of this wonderful berry, about growing and caring for it, about methods of propagating gooseberries, about its diseases. I would like to hope that these articles will help you, dear summer residents, to successfully grow gooseberries on your plots.
See you soon, dear readers and rich harvests!
Gooseberry septoria
Usually, with septoria, gooseberry leaves are also the most affected. Initially, a couple or several more spots may appear on them, having a rounded shape and a grayish color with a noticeable dark border. Next, dark dots form on the surface of the spots; these are pockets of mature spores with infection, ready to scatter over a long distance. After the ripened spores appear, the leaf blades usually begin to dry out, curl and crumble or fall off. Typically, bushes lose up to 95% of their entire leaf mass much earlier than expected.
How to fight? Be sure to collect all fallen leaves and other plant debris and burn them. Loosen the soil in the bush area both in autumn and spring. Treat with fungicides, Bordeaux mixture and copper sulfate, as against anthracnose.
In addition, septoria especially actively attacks plants when there is a lack of manganese, copper, zinc and boron in the soil, so it is necessary to ensure that these microelements are normal in the soil.
Septoria gooseberry blight. © Reddit
