Gooseberry is a beautiful juicy berry, common in gardens. Like any other plant, it can be attacked by pests. This attack must be fought, otherwise there is a risk of insect infection of the whole plant. Special attention is paid to caterpillars that make the greatest contribution to the death of berry bushes. Below you can find detailed information on pest control.
Symptoms indicating that the plant was attacked by pests
Symptoms of gooseberry disease will depend on which pest attacked the leaves of the berry bushes. Appearance is the main indicator of a plant's disease. Are the leaves starting to curl? Shoot aphid may be the reason, it sucks the juice from young leaves. A sign of the appearance of the pest will also be the formation of cobwebs and yellowing of leaves characteristic of the spider mite. This very small insect is difficult to notice, but despite its size, it does colossal damage. You may not even pay attention to how the plant begins to die rapidly.
Gooseberry
Important! Many insects can only attack gooseberries. They will not touch other bushes, such as grapes or tree leaves.
Common gooseberry pests and control methods
If the gooseberry caterpillars have eaten leaves, how to deal with the pest? A separate place in the harm to the health of plants is carried by caterpillars. Butterfly larvae winter under the fallen leaves of trees, and in spring they wake up and leave their cocoons. At first they feed on young buds and shoots. Each type of caterpillar is worth special attention.
Caterpillar
Gooseberry fire
Gooseberry firefly eats not only gooseberry leaves, but also currants. The butterfly begins to lay its larvae in early May inside a flower or young ovary. In the bud she can place 2 eggs at once. The body of the caterpillar is light green, and the head is black. A sign of the attack of this insect is a spider web, which they capture several berries at once. The berries begin to redden long before ripening, and after that they begin to rot. During the month of its life, one caterpillar eats up to 10 gooseberries. After their meal, they go down to create even more pupae. In 1-1.5 weeks, new larvae grow.
Fire
Methods of struggle
In spring and autumn, it is important to dig the ground under the bush and get rid of the foliage that has fallen under it. Together with the foliage, the larvae of the fireworm will be destroyed, even before they went for the winter.
Important! If, after these actions, a gooseberry remains on the gooseberry, how to deal with it is a separate issue. First of all, it is necessary to get rid of infected berries.
Gooseberry suffered from a fire
Together with other plants, gooseberries should be processed during the season with infusions of wormwood and tomato tops.
- for a solution you need half a bucket of flowering wormwood;
- it must be filled with 10 liters of water;
- let the solution infuse for about a day, after which it must be boiled for 30 minutes;
- after this, the infusion should be cooled, filtered and diluted with water in proportions one to one;
- so that the product sticks to the leaves, 50 g of soap is added.
In extreme cases, you can resort to chemicals: carbofors, actellica and etafors.
Gooseberry sawfly and gooseberry moth
Sawmills have two types of false caterpillars: the first one is about 17 mm long and has a greenish-bluish color, with a dark head. The second type is even smaller: about 10 mm, has the same color, but the head is already light in color. Why false caterpillars? Sawfly - not a butterfly. Its larvae are no less voracious than caterpillars, in just 2-3 days they are able to eat all the leaves of the bush. After loss of deciduous cover, the plant ceases to be capable of photosynthesis and slowly dies, first the berries decrease in size, and then completely fall off.
Sawfly
Larvae survive in winter in the upper layers of the soil, as does a fire-bomb. The insect lays from 80 to 140 eggs, after which a whole detachment of the same pests is born.
Gooseberry moth is not inferior in the amount of losses to sawflies. Her offspring is painted mainly in white, closer to the abdomen the color changes to orange. The body of the larva is covered with black spots, and the head has the same color. The length of the parasite is about 4 centimeters. In a cocoon from a web, they survive the winter and begin to eat a large number of kidneys. Caterpillars pupate in the flowering season. After sitting for about a month in a chrysalis, a butterfly hatches and lays eggs on the back of the leaf.
Moth
What to do when there are green caterpillars in gooseberry berries
As in the case of a firegun, before and after the season you need to carefully dig the soil, about 15 centimeters. In summer, the caterpillars shake off the leaves, laying a film under the bush. Insects are destroyed by boiling water.
Important! Damaged berries are picked. They may contain laid eggs or pests themselves. If you do not do this, then they will fall to the ground and the larvae will survive the winter safely.
As before, you can use 2 types of solutions. The recipe for bitter wormwood is written above, the following will be the preparation of infusion from the tops of tomatoes:
- 4 kg of tomato tops will be required;
- you need to fill them with 10 liters of water;
- everything boils for about an hour over low heat;
- Having filtered the product, it can be used to protect the bushes. To part with water in proportions of three liters to ten liters of water;
- a little soap is added before use.
Glassmaker
This pest extends to gooseberries and currants. Light larvae survive the winter no longer in the soil, but inside the tree and branches. They are about 20 mm long. When spring trimming gooseberry branches, you can find their moves.
Glassmaker
At the beginning of spring, the pupal stage passes. In late spring or early summer, adult individuals similar to bees wake up. The butterfly begins to lay eggs again in damage on the bark of the tree and at the base of the kidneys. Hatching babies are able to destroy the branches of a shrub with renewed vigor. Inexperienced gardeners do not even suspect that the glass-box eats about half of the branches. At first they wither, and after a while they become dry and break easily. The fruits almost do not die, but they become much smaller.
Methods of struggle
At the beginning and end of the season, it is important to carry out sanitary pruning of branches, and then burn them to eradicate the parasite.
The soil of the plant can be sprinkled with a solution of tobacco and ash. You need to mix 350 g of ash, 200 g of tobacco and add 1 tablespoon of mustard and pepper. Under each bush, 3 tablespoons of the mixture are poured.
Currant Gallic
Gall midges are small mosquitoes that lay their larvae inside the bush. From the very beginning of spring, the gall midge lays larvae on the youngest leaves. Gall midges are shoot and leaf. Based on the name, they differ in the location of the larvae. Sheets affected by insects become dry and gradually wrinkle, because they lose their juice. The branches, struck by another detachment, will be dry and brittle by autumn.
Gallitsa
Ways to fight
In order to get rid of the pest, you need to prune the branches in autumn and winter, remove the leaves under the bush and burn it all. Dig the soil to further eradicate the gall midges.
Also, gooseberry lovers are scared away by mint and tomatoes. Nearby it is allowed to plant mint or use an infusion of tomato tops. With severe damage to plants, you can resort to the chemicals of karbofos, fufanon.
Currant Goldfish
First of all, this bug begins to damage the branches of the bush. White larvae eat away the core of the stem, gradually moving lower and lower. After damage by this parasite, gooseberries become small and lethargic. The currant goldfish inside the bark hibernates, and there it turns into a chrysalis.
The beetle begins to creep out of the shoots during the late spring and early summer. After 10 days in freedom, the females lay their eggs on the cortex and on the leaf petioles. They protect their offspring with a shield created from the glands of the female, after which the masonry becomes almost invisible. After 2 weeks, larvae appear and destroy the plant.
Goldfish
Methods of struggle
Timely pruning of shrub branches and harvesting leaves will save the crop. If the bush is just getting ready to plant, make sure that it is healthy. Insecticides can help against a large number of pests. They can easily be purchased at the store.
Kidney tick: if all the leaves are eaten by the gooseberry, what to do
After the invasion of kidney mites, problems with leaves arise. Such a pest is not large, but very dangerous for the garden. These ticks have a worm-shaped body, with two pairs of paws. It is difficult to look at the parasite with the naked eye: the maximum length is only 2 millimeters.
Kidney tick
In this situation, the enemy is terrible in its quantity. In one kidney there can be about 10 thousand larvae that instantly eat everything. Such a quantity of the species is provided by the female’s enormous fecundity: in her life she can lay about 200 thousand new bud mites. The tick easily infects not only other buds of the bush, but also other plants. After the raid of such ticks, the leaves become ugly and sick.
Methods of struggle
Due to the small size of the pest, it is difficult to detect, but still real. When the buds begin to bloom in spring, they should be examined for rounded subspecies. If they are found, they are removed from the stem. With an abundance of such cabbage, you will need to remove the entire stem.
Important! In addition to removing the stem, you can weld the tick. In early spring, you need to pour water on the bush at about 60-70 degrees. After this, the ticks simply do not survive.
There is a solution that drives away the larvae. For it, either 200 g of crushed garlic is used, or 300 g of onion husks, diluted in 10 liters of water. Let the solution infuse, and after that it can be used for weekly treatment.
Spider mite
A distinctive feature of this tick is the tangling of cobwebs of plants. An insect appears in early spring. Having chosen his place of residence and part-time place for a meal, a spider mite braids a leaf with a web. He eats leaf juice. Depleted leaves turn yellow, and later completely die.
Spider mite
Like kidney mites, they are fertile. Females are able to postpone about 7 generations and have microscopic dimensions. They hibernate in the same way as all pests, underground and in fallen leaves.
If gooseberry leaves are eaten, what to do
Mites do not like the smell of tobacco, so there is a recipe for a solution from it: 400 g of tobacco is poured with 10 liters of hot water. You need to let this water brew for about two days, and then you can treat the plants with it. Soap can also be added for better adhesion. It is still permissible to use a tincture of bitter wormwood.
If folk methods do not help get rid of gooseberry fans, it is worth resorting to chemical preparations. Bushes are processed before flowering or after harvesting.
Shoot aphid
Aphids are considered the most common pest. She begins to develop from the petioles of young leaves, and drinks their juice.
After development, some larvae transform into winged females, and capture new young shoots. Leaves after such an invasion become stale and deformed. In subsequent years, the leaves will develop poorly, and shoot aphid colonies will thrive.
Gooseberry aphid
Ways to fight
As in the case of ticks, in early spring the bush is doused with hot water, which simply boils the pest.
You can use folk tinctures from onions and garlic, shown in the example with a kidney mite. You should plant onions and garlic near the bushes.
Potato Topper Tincture Recipe:
- you need to use a kilogram of green potato tops. Or you can use 700 grams already dry;
- tops are poured with 10 liters of hot water, and let it infuse;
- it's time to treat the bushes with a solution.
In more rare cases, you can use chemicals: Spark, Fufanon and others.
Pest Prevention
The best solution from pest control is prevention.
Garden care
Gooseberries must be constantly inspected, removed weeds next to it and take care of the soil beneath it. Every year it is necessary to carry out pruning so that the air passes quietly to the plant.
Some gardeners plant plants near the bushes that repel pests: mint, tomatoes, onions or garlic. It is worth spraying bushes with hot water with the onset of spring. This will not allow insect parasites to wake up in time.
The garden will need comfort and safety. Protecting plants, in the future it will be possible to collect a beautiful harvest from gooseberries. There are many pests that love this bush, but each of them has its own opposition.
