Contrary to popular belief, gooseberries are susceptible to diseases and vulnerable to parasites, so every gardener needs to know how to deal with pests and diseases that affect this berry crop.
Gooseberry diseases and their treatment
How to understand that it is time to treat the bush? Consider the main problems of this culture and how to solve them.
Spheroteka (American powdery mildew)
The most common gooseberry disease. All parts of the plant are affected. Powdery mildew-resistant varieties are affected, but less often.
Powdery mildew can occur at any time during the growing season. Shoots and leaves are covered with a whitish coating. At first, it is well washed, and then it becomes denser, passes to the ovaries and berries, spreading quickly enough.
Old pockets of powdery mildew look like dark felt.
Affected shoots become deformed and dry, 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 the growth of which is warm and humid weather. Powdery mildew prevention is the free planting of bushes, regular pruning of old branches, thinning of the crown, moderate watering, harvesting 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 and burned. If the process spreads, it is urgent to treat the plant with fungicides - drugs that kill the fungus.
Be sure to check before purchasing the drug its hazard class and conditions of use. For example, if there is an apiary nearby, substances harmful to bees cannot be used.
General rule of treatments: they must be completed at least 2 weeks before harvesting. But what if the fungus attacked right before harvesting? 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 plaque turns gray, it means that the spores are ripe and ready to dissipate. The new generation of mushrooms will fall along with the foliage, infect the soil, and it will become much more difficult to cope with powdery mildew.
A disease is dangerous not only for gooseberries, but also for all types of currants. Therefore, if before harvesting you had to do with old-fashioned methods, be sure to treat the affected plants with fungicides as soon as the berries are collected.
Scab (gray rot)
Fruits and leaves are affected by scab. On them there are foci of brown color and irregular shape, at first small, then merging. The disease causes the fungus Botrytis cinerea Pers. It develops well in high humidity. In the heat, the mycelium dies, and the dead parts of the leaves crack and crumble.
In conditions comfortable for the fungus, gray-smoky plaque occurs on diseased foliage: these are the parts of the fungus in which spores form. Sick berries rot, but, despite this, almost do not change color. Subsequently, such fruits fall or dry out.
The routes of infection, preventive measures and treatment are the same as for powdery mildew.
Rust
Mycosis begins with orange swellings located underneath the leaf (goblet rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia ribesii caricis) or with small yellow spots on the top of the leaves (columnar rust, causative agent - Cronatrium ribicola). Despite the similarity of symptoms, these mushrooms are distant relatives of each other.
Winter rust on sedge hibernates, so the disease is more common in the lowlands. The fungus is activated in May and early June. Sick leaves and ovaries crumble, and the plant looks healthy until the end of the growing season.
Columnar rust overwinters on Siberian cedar or Weymouth pine. Diseased trees can be recognized by the presence of tumors on the bark - foci of sporulation. In cultivated shrubs, this type of rust appears in the middle of summer.
Yellow spots on the affected leaves turn brown, bright orange bumps appear on the bottom of the leaves, which are then transformed into columns. When the spores mature and dissipate, the diseased foliage falls off.
Both diseases do not kill cultural bushes, but significantly reduce their productivity. The life cycle of rust fungi implies that there is a natural focus of the disease near your bushes, which, most likely, cannot be eradicated.
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 for the next season:
- at the beginning of the growing season;
- while tying buds;
- after flowering;
- if the disease continues to manifest, after harvesting.
With glassy rust, it is worth mowing sedge growing in the country or not far from it. In case of columnar - contact the forestry, which includes diseased conifers.
Anthracnose
Gooseberry anthracnose causes 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 angularly-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 - fruit bodies.
Lesions on leaf stalks, stalks, and berries appear as small brown sores.
The mycelium grows between plant cells, where it hibernates. In the spring forms spores that disperse over the course of a month. Optimum conditions: increased humidity, for maturation, temperature + 21 ... + 25 ° C, for mycelium growth + 5 ... + 30 ° C.
The disease leads to a decrease in yields by 75% in the first season and by 80% in the next year. The frost resistance of the bushes is significantly reduced: more than half of the branches can die.
Prevention measures are standard, treatment with fungicides with copper from the appearance of the first leaves to the transition of the bush to dormancy.
Septoria (white spot)
Fungus causative agent Septoria ribis Desm. affects mainly leaves. Gray round spots with a dark fringing appear on them. Then dark dots form on the spots - the fruiting bodies of the fungus.
After that, diseased leaves dry up, curl, crumble and fall off as a result. Thus, in the summer, the bush loses almost all of the 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, therefore, when a disease appears on the site of the disease, it is worth feeding the gooseberries and currants, which also suffer from septoria.
Verticillosis (wilt)
The causative agent of the disease is the fungus Verticillium dahliae. Wilt is a mycosis that affects almost all types of plants. Usually fungi are more species-specific.
The same fungus is normally saprophyte (feeds on dead parts of plants). But if the roots of the plant are damaged by inaccurate loosening or by pests, or a fresh cut of a branch touches the ground, the fungus can get into a living plant and begin to clog its vessels and poison the owner with waste products.
The fungus itself cannot multiply inside a living plant. The only way for him to give birth is to kill the owner.
First of all, sick and young plants are affected, healthy ones are able to resist wilt. It is curious that the symptoms of the disease can appear in any one part of the plant, for example, a branch. The productivity of wilt-affected plants is sharply reduced, the shoots that grow instead of the dead are sterile.
In diseased gooseberry bushes, the leaves turn yellow and dry, the growth of the bush slows down. Up to a third of the bushes may die, the rest will have a decrease in yield. Spontaneous healing of the plant from wilt is possible.
Vertilitium spores are frost-resistant and can be stored in the soil, waiting for favorable conditions, for up to 10 years. Comfortable temperature for germination + 20 ... + 23 ° C, humidity 70-80%, acidity 6-7.
Mosaic
Mosaic is a viral infection. The leaves of the affected bushes acquire a yellow pattern along the veins. At the same time, the plants stop growing, new leaves are small, wrinkled, and practically no fruit is formed.
The disease is incurable. Sick plants uproot and burn. The carrier is an aphid; therefore, the main preventive measure is the treatment of this parasite.
Gooseberry pests and control
Gooseberry pests can be very different. Read more about them and the methods of struggle below.
Spider mite
When an inconspicuous cobweb appears on the underside of the leaves, which becomes clearly visible if the leaf is doused with water, then a spider mite has settled on the gooseberry.
These mites feed by sucking juice from the leaves. A whitish spot appears at the puncture sites. At first it is small, then it grows. Leaves dry and fall off. Bushes affected by the mite lose their yield and frost resistance.
Treatment against the spider mite is desirable to produce before setting fruit, otherwise the crop will be inedible. Anti-insect drugs will not work; acaricides (anti-mite agents) are needed. You will have to apply the drug 2, and possibly 3 times.
If many leaves are affected, treatments must be done with different preparations, there is a risk that the tick will get used to the same remedy. Spray bushes with an interval of 7-10 days, no more.
The drugs have almost no effect on the eggs of the tick, and the second treatment must be done when new ticks hatched from the eggs already laid, but they did not have time to leave their offspring.
Kidney currant tick
A bud mite begins to multiply when the buds swell (eggs are laid in them), and finishes doing this with the formation of ovaries. The mite multiplies quickly, gives several generations per season, and each inhabits new buds.
Affected buds resemble a head of cabbage with a diameter of about 1 cm. As a result, leaves and young shoots on diseased bushes develop incorrectly, the plant cannot fully produce photosynthesis, and its yield drops to almost zero.
In addition, spider mites carry the mosaic virus. Control measures:
- In early spring or late autumn, when the buds are inactive, tie the branches of the bushes and pour boiling water over the gooseberries. By the way, this will increase the gooseberry's resistance to powdery mildew.
- If the lesion is minor, you can pluck all the diseased kidneys from the bush and burn them. Do it in the fall.
- In case of severe damage, a total pruning of the bush is carried out ("under the stump"), trying not to lose a single bud, the branches are burned. After the procedure, it is better to treat garden tools with acaricides.
- You can choose an acaricidal preparation that meets the needs of your particular bush. Either pure, or acting on insects too.
- If you plan to root the cuttings, treat them with daily brewing: take 10 g of black tea for 10 liters of water, soak for a day, then immerse the petioles in the broth for 3 hours.
Colloidal sulfur, which many recommend as an effective acaricide, cannot be used on gooseberries, as the leaves may fall.
Gooseberry fire
Green caterpillars with a black head, measuring only 12 mm, feed on both gooseberries and currants. Puppet fireflies winter in the topsoil and hatch when the gooseberry blooms. Butterflies lay their eggs first in the flowers, then on the ovary.
The first caterpillars eat the flowers, and the later generation - the seeds and pulp of the fruit. Damaged berries darken, then rot or dry out. Where the caterpillar has settled, the branch will be braided with a clearly visible cobweb.
By mid-June, the caterpillars turn into pupae and prepare for wintering right under the bush. It is easy to destroy them: it is enough to loosen the ground under the bush right before frost. Instead, in the late autumn, you can hobble or mulch bushes, then in the spring butterflies will not be able to fly out.
To prevent a moth to start on the bushes, use a soap-ash solution, decoctions of onions, tansy, and yarrow to spray gooseberries during flowering and the formation of ovaries. You can plant tomatoes near the bushes, their smell will also scare away the caterpillars.
If single berries are affected, pick the caterpillars by hand. If the bush is seriously infected, industrial insecticides can be used, after making sure that they can be used during the formation of ovaries and ripening of fruits. Traps with pheromones help with all types of caterpillars.
Gooseberry sawfly and gooseberry moth
The body of the sawfly is bluish-green in color, with black spots. Moths are more noticeable: they are bright yellow in color with black stripes and spots, they reach 3-4 cm in length.
Both species feed on leaves, and if they multiply, they are able to almost completely deprive the foliage bush in just a week. The methods of fighting are the same as with the gooseberry moth.
Glassmaker
If shoots began to suddenly wither near the bush, and a black spot was clearly visible on the cut of the dead branch, then the glass-case killed the branch. In adulthood, this wasp-like butterfly feeds on gooseberries, and lays eggs in cracks at the tips of branches or near the buds.
When hatching, the caterpillar moves along the core of the branch to its base. The death of branches due to the fault of the glass vessels occurs immediately after flowering. If this happens, immediately cut the branch to the ground and burn it.
You can bring this butterfly to the site with planting material. If you can protect yourself from this, then not from the neighboring glass cases. Therefore, from the site it is necessary to remove the bird cherry, which attracts these butterflies, and plant the elderberry, which scares them away.
Like other butterflies, the glass bowl does not like the smell of tomatoes, calendula, onions and garlic, marigolds, nasturtiums. The butterfly focuses on the smell, and all these plants perfectly mask target bushes.
Treatment of bushes is carried out by pruning: with a significant lesion - “under the stump”, in other cases - to the cut without a black dot in the core. Coat the slices with garden varnish.
In May-June, once a week, loosen the soil under bushes with ash and tobacco dust, this should prevent the caterpillars from pupating. Treat the gooseberries, currants and raspberries with insecticides as soon as the first leaves appear on them, and repeat the treatment after 10-14 days. It is important to spray all three crops, since the life of the glass pot is closely related to each of them.
Aphid
The well-known sucking insect feeds on plant sap, which leads to deformation of shoots and leaves. Usually this is the first sign of aphid damage to the gooseberry, the colony itself can be noticed only when it has already reached gigantic proportions.
In this case, you will have to use insecticides. If the aphid has just begun to colonize the bush, it is enough to cut off the affected shoots from it and burn them.
Aphids not only reduce the yield of plants, they can carry incurable viral diseases of the gooseberry. Ants themselves bring aphids to the site. Therefore, no matter how sorry for these hardworking insects, when aphids appear, anthills will have to be removed from the site.
During the fruiting period of gooseberries, the growth of the aphid colony can be controlled by using a soap solution (250 g per bucket of water).
Gall midges
They are small, only 3 mm long, insects that look like mosquitoes. Among the many species of these insects, there are useful ones, for example, eating aphids. But there are also pests, and gooseberries with currants got as many as three of these: shoot, flower and leaf.
It is almost impossible to notice the gall midges themselves, but the results of their vital activity are striking: drying branches, dried or twisted leaves at the ends of branches, drying ovaries - all this will not pass by the gaze of an experienced gardener.
Gall midges are fought like caterpillars. Of the features - gall midges are well scared off by tomato tops, steamed for a day with laundry soap (5 kg of tops and 250 g of soap per 10 liters of water).
The infusion bushes are treated 2-3 times in a couple of days. In addition, gall midges do not like the aroma of mint, so it’s good to plant it next to the bushes even without signs of damage, which will be an excellent prevention.
Gooseberry treatment for prevention
Gooseberry preventive treatments are of four types: spring, autumn, regular and pre-planting. Together, they allow you to protect the shrub from various types of diseases.
Choose a place for planting gooseberries on which neither gooseberries nor currants used to grow: they have too many common diseases and pests. It should be open, but not low. Bushes need to be placed freely.
Plan a tomato plant nearby or create a flower garden, depending on the purpose of your site. The flower garden leaves room for creativity, combined with benefit: many ornamental plants scare away pests.
Avoid thickening of the crown: regular pruning will not only protect the plant from pests, but also increase yields. Be sure to treat the cuts with garden pitch, this will protect the plants from many pests and diseases.
Regular mulching and loosening of the soil will allow you to get rid of the pupae of butterfly pests. The mulch is replaced once a month, at the same time the soil is loosened.
In summer, it is good to treat the bushes with soapy water (250 g of soap in a bucket of water). Soap is also added to most mixtures, infusions and decoctions from "folk" gardening: in these formulations, soap is responsible for fixing the active ingredients on the sheet, as if gluing them, but only until the first rain.
Spring
Spring is a great time to prevent gooseberry diseases. While the snow has not yet melted, and the buds are just beginning to wake up, scald the bushes with boiling water, this is an excellent prevention of the appearance of ticks and mushrooms.
Treat the bushes a little later with Bordeaux liquid at a concentration of 3%, this will protect against mycoses. Repeat the treatment when the bushes have faded, but copper sulfate and lime are diluted at a concentration of 1%.
In early spring, while the snow is still lying, it is better to re-check whether there is anywhere deciduous decay. Choose a time between a thaw and another 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.
Autumn
After harvesting, spray the bushes again with 1% Bordeaux mixture. In late autumn, remove all fallen leaves and other plant debris from under the bushes and burn it, and loosen the soil and mulch with humus. If you think that a bud mite could start on the bushes, pour boiling water over them again.
We recommend reading the article on how to care for gooseberries in the fall after harvest.
Autumn is a great time to prune gooseberries. Do not feel sorry for old branches, because it is on them that the bark often cracks, and wood is more attractive to parasites.
In the spring, the unawakened branches are removed, in the summer those that interfere. Autumn is the time of "general cleaning" of bushes. Pruning under the stump is a radical measure, but justified. A completely renewed, healthy bush will thank the gardener with a good harvest.
It is imperative to monitor the condition of the gooseberry bush. If you identify pests or various diseases on it in time, then it will be much easier to cope with them.