How to treat gooseberries from pests and diseases

To get a generous harvest in the fall, you must not forget to take care of the gooseberries from the first spring days. This unpretentious and stable shrub does not cause much trouble. However, nutrition and protection from diseases and pests are a necessary item in spring work.

Processing gooseberries in the spring can be directed against a specific disease or pest, or it can be preventive. It all depends on the condition of the plant.

gooseberry diseases

A healthy bush in a clean and fertile land rarely suffers from diseases and insect attacks. However, well-groomed plantings are not found in every garden. Launched and overgrown bushes on poor soils become a breeding ground for infections.

Diseases are mainly fungal in nature, with the exception of some viral diseases. And although there are quite a few of them, this does not mean at all that the gooseberry culture is capricious and unstable.

In the spring, traces of diseases may appear on gooseberries:

Disease protection measures

Processing begins in March, on bare branches. Before the buds swell, a very simple but effective treatment of the shoots with boiling water can be carried out. Branches are carefully watered with hot water from a watering can, destroying pathogenic spores.

Before bud break, it is necessary to sprinkle bare bushes with a 3% solution of iron sulfate.

Instead of 3% iron sulphate, you can use a 1% solution blue vitriol. At the same time, they dig up the ground under the gooseberries, and then cover it with a thick layer of mulch or a black film. This kills the larvae that hibernate in the soil and prevents them from getting to the surface.

After bud break, the bushes must be re-treated iron vitriol. After that, gooseberries should be sprinkled with a solution of soda. Sixty grams of soda is diluted in 12 liters of water, adding liquid soap to the solution. Spraying with soda is repeated twice with an interval of a week. One soda without pre-treatment with iron sulphate acts poorly.

Spraying is done early in the spring lime solution: for 12 liters of water, take 3 kg of freshly burnt lime and 200 g of iron sulfate. Spraying is done 3-4 times with a strong development of fungal diseases.

The treatment of bushes with 1% Bordeaux liquid is carried out three times:

• before bud break;
• after flowering;
• 3 weeks after flowering.

Well destroys the sphere library by watering the bushes slurry. In a ratio of 1: 3, manure is diluted in water and allowed to ferment for a week. Filter and dilute again 1: 3 and water the bushes.

Helps fight it and other fungi ash infusion. For 12 liters of water take 1 kg of ash. This solution is infused for a week, then filtered and branches and leaves are processed with it. Liquid soap is added to the solution to stick the solution to the branches.

Some pests are affected by strongly smelling and poisonous herbal decoctions. You can get rid of aphids, ticks by spraying the bushes:

• decoction of tomato tops;
• potatoes;
• wormwood;
• horseradish;
• onion and garlic husks;
• ammonia solution.

After the gooseberry blossoms, all these herbs grow in abundance.

Recently, there has been widespread use fungicides- preparations for the destruction of fungi. They are of chemical and biological origin. The gardener from a wide range of proposed products independently chooses how to process gooseberries.

Topaz is sprayed on gooseberries at the beginning of the growing season to suppress the manifestation and spread of infection. Dissolve in a bucket of water 2 ml of the agent from the sphere library and 4 ml from rust. The powerful effect of the drug lasts for a week, it is effective in any weather.

Along with Topaz, private households use Hom, Fitosporin-M, Fundazol, Skor, Oksikhom and others.

When carrying out preventive or protective treatment of bushes, the gardener must not forget how to process gooseberries. It is better to do this procedure together. One person lifts a gooseberry branch with a stick, the second waters it from above and below.

Spray gooseberries only in cloudy weather or in the evening, on a dry leaf. Repeat after rain.

In some diseases - bacterial cancer, tinder fungus, mosaic, plants are dug up and burned. The soil is disinfected with liming.

How to spray gooseberries with the development of infection, the gardener decides based on the degree of infection and the possibility of acquiring protective equipment.

1. They try not to plant shrubs in lowlands with moist soil and stagnant air, where they are strongly affected by fungal and bacterial diseases. In such places, sedge grows in abundance, which is a carrier of rust.
2. Leaves and branches damaged by fungi are removed, black is washed off the leaves, lichens are scraped off the shoots and burned.
3. A good prevention of diseases is thinning the bush, removing old branches, and proper pruning.

Gooseberry pests

There are very few insects that harm only gooseberry plantings. Basically, the damage is caused by insects common on all berry bushes.

Pests that need to be dealt with in the spring:

1. Leaf aphid. Every gardener has come across a colony of small, green or black, inactive insects. Their presence is given out by twisted leaves on young shoots. Feeding on the juice of plants, they do not allow it to develop.
2. Root Aphids: These insects are covered with a white, waxy coating and suck the sap from the roots of the shrub. This causes the roots to crack and dry out.
3. The pale yellow mosquito lays its eggs in the gooseberry ovary. The larvae eat the pulp and empty sacs are formed instead of the ovary.
4. Spider mite. Noticing a cobweb on top of young shoots, small light leaves, you can be sure that a tick has appeared on the bush.
5. Worms or thyroid aphids. In May, larvae emerge from the egg laying, which feed on the sap of the plant, sticking to the bark. With a large number of pests, shoots and branches dry out.
6. Sawflies: Insects resembling a small bumblebee, have a yellow abdomen and black antennae. Harm is caused by their small, dirty-black larvae, which eat leaves for several generations.
7. Firefly: This small moth with brownish-gray wings lays eggs on young leaves. Yellowish caterpillars with a black head eat away the pulp of berries.
8. Moths: pests appear in autumn and winter in the ground. a white caterpillar with an orange stripe and black spots attacks. She comes to the surface and continues to eat young leaves. May - June she hosts on gooseberries, then pupates.

Pest control measures

Spring processing of gooseberries begins with digging the trunk circle to destroy numerous wintering pests. Dig carefully so as not to damage the roots.

Many of the tools that are used to combat fungal diseases act against pests:

• hot water;
• infusion of ash;
• solution of soda with soap;
• slurry;
• herbal infusion;
• copper sulfate.

At the stage of bud formation, it is effective to use various insecticides - preparations for the destruction of insects based on chemical and biological components. There are many popular insecticides:

• Aktar;
• Actellik;
• Decis;
• Iskra-M;
• Karbofos;
• Fufanon;
• Fitoverm.

Insecticide control is effective, but quite dangerous. Pets, beneficial insects and birds may be affected. The use of these drugs in pest control requires caution and protective measures.

Processing gooseberries from pests in May begins with abundant spraying of bushes with iron sulfate.

Gooseberry bushes are regularly inspected and cut out severely damaged and drying shoots, twisted and discolored leaves, dry ovaries. All this is carried away from the site and burned.

Protecting gooseberries from pests by mechanically picking up insects by hand and destroying them gives good results. The caterpillars are simply shaken off the bush, placing a litter under it.

Processing rules

Protecting plants with slurry, infusion of ash or grass does not pose a danger to plants and humans. Only to protect the plant from wet leaf sunburn is it recommended to spray these preparations in the evening.

The well-known Bordeaux mixture is a dangerous fungicide. When using it, protection of the skin, eyes and respiratory organs is required. Clothing should have long sleeves and trousers, goggles should be put on the eyes, and a gauze bandage should be put on the nose and mouth.

Copper sulfate is not so aggressive. But you can not use it during flowering or heat.

Topaz is a moderately dangerous drug, toxic to bees and birds. Use with a break of 1-2 weeks with the use of gloves.

Conclusion

Processing gooseberries in the spring from diseases and pests should be preventive and systematic. Only constant care, care and prevention will help protect gooseberries from pests and diseases. Choose suitable habitats, feed and water,. And then you will not have to deal with diseases and its pests.