Berry crops are popular among gardeners. At each summer cottage, their presence is necessarily detected. It is understandable that every gardener desires to receive annually plentiful, high-quality harvests of tasty and he althy currants and gooseberries. Like any culture, they have many dangerous pests and diseases that can nullify all efforts. Many of them overwinter on the branches of bushes or in the soil around the plant. In order to cope with colonies of wintering pests and infections, timely preventive measures are needed, which begin to be carried out when there is still snow in the garden.
Before processing currants and gooseberries in early spring, you need to know the characteristic signs of pests and their wintering grounds. These berry crops, similar in biology, are affected by the same diseases and pests.
So most control and protection measures will be the same.
Old provenway
As soon as the snow begins to melt in the garden, it is time for the protective measures of the berry bushes. How to process gooseberries in early spring? This question arose more than once among beginner gardeners. A good and reliable technique that can get rid of many pests is the treatment of currants and gooseberries with hot water. For this, boiling water is poured into a watering can. The resulting solution is poured over the branches of the bush, as well as the soil cover around it. As a result of such "bathing", the pests present will die, and the plant itself will not suffer.
Currant bud moth: description, ways to fight
At what stage of plant development and how to process gooseberries in early spring, is determined by the biology of the pest. Its presence can be identified by the appearance of the plant. Shoots damaged by the pest look like burned or frozen. Currant bud moth is an insect that can completely destroy the crop. Caterpillars damage plant buds. Each can damage from three to seven pieces. At the beginning of flowering, the caterpillars pupate, located in the soil cover under the bush.
By the time the ovary is formed, they are already turning into yellowish-brown butterflies, which continue to damage the bushes. During this period, they lay eggs in the emerging berries. Unripe fruits serve as food for newly emerging pests.
To prevent the reproduction of moths, the fight against it begins in early spring. A set of measures will be effective only up tobud break and plant flowering. Before processing gooseberries, all damaged and dry shoots and stumps are cut out in early spring. Plant residues are removed at the base of the bush, which, together with the cut branches, are burned.
During the flowering period, after the appearance of bud moth butterflies, the second stage of pest control begins. This is spraying with a one percent solution of Aktara. Gardeners, who try not to use chemicals, use plant infusions to combat bud moths: tomato tops, celandine, mustard and tansy.
Gooseberry moth
Voracious yellow caterpillar feeds on foliage. It is able to completely expose gooseberry and currant bushes. The pest hibernates under fallen leaves. To destroy it, you can use the method of irrigating the soil cover with boiling water. Plant residues under the bushes are removed and burned. In addition, it is advisable to use special preparations. How to process currants and gooseberries in early spring? First, spraying is performed before bud break. To do this, use "Karbofos" or infusions of wormwood and tobacco. If these activities are not carried out in early spring, in the summer the caterpillars turn into yellow-white butterflies with black dots on their wings.
They make clutches of eggs on the underside of gooseberry leaves, which later turn into voracious caterpillars. During this period, the second treatment with herbal infusions is performed.
Gooseberry Sawflies
There are different types of pest. These are yellow and pale-footed sawflies. They are distinguished by body shape and color. The yellow sawfly is a reddish-sand-colored insect. Its caterpillar is bluish-green in color. The pale-legged sawfly is a black insect. The caterpillar of this species reaches 10 mm in length and has a green color. These pests destroy the foliage of the shrub. They hibernate in the ground cover, under bushes, at a depth of at least five centimeters. Before treating gooseberries in early spring from pests, it is necessary to dig up the soil in the places of its wintering. For spraying, solutions of special products intended for plant protection are used.
The use of the microbiological preparation "Lepidocid" will be effective. The solution is prepared at the rate of thirty grams per ten liters of water. The bacterial biological preparation "Bitoxibacillin" is also used, which is recommended in any phase of shrub development. The solution is prepared at the rate of one hundred grams per ten liters of water. In the absence of special means, treatment can be carried out with infusions of herbs: wormwood, shag or tobacco, garlic.
Gooseberry moth
It damages ripening berries. The pupae overwinter in the soil cover around currant and gooseberry bushes. In the spring, butterflies appear from them, which make clutches during flowering. The hatched green caterpillars will appear in a week.
A voracious pest can completely ruin an entire crop. To combat it, early spring processing will be useful.bushes with boiling water.
Powdery mildew
Gooseberry diseases cause considerable damage. And bush care, which includes timely preventive measures, can save plants.
One of the main diseases of berry crops is powdery mildew, the causative agent of which is a fungus.
Berries, stalks and leaves are affected, which are covered with white bloom. Ripening gooseberries are especially damaged. How to deal with this disease? How to process gooseberries in early spring?
When protecting, a whole range of measures is needed. First of all, in the autumn and spring, the affected shoots are removed. Plant residues that are collected and burned can also be a source of infection. Spraying with special preparations is mandatory. To do this, use the complex action fungicide "Nitrofen". The solution is prepared at the rate of one hundred grams per ten liters of water. In addition to this drug, you can use iron sulfate. The spray solution is prepared at the rate of fifty grams per ten liters of water. Protective measures are taken before bud break.
Anthracnose
A disease that affects the leaves, branches and berries of currants and gooseberries leads to crop losses not only for the current year, but also for the next. Its causative agent is a fungus. The disease manifests itself in the form of brown spots.
To prevent its spread, complexpreventive and protective measures. They include the removal and burning of plant debris, which will be the source of infection of the berries. Digging the soil cover around the bushes is carried out with the embedding of the upper soil cover to a depth of at least ten centimeters.
In addition to mechanical measures, it is necessary to apply chemicals at different times. How to spray gooseberries in spring? Before the beginning of the vegetative period, solutions of the following drugs are used:
- "Nitrofen" - three hundred grams per ten liters of water;
- copper sulfate - four hundred grams per ten liters of water.
In the summer, Bordeaux liquid treatments are carried out. They spray not only plants, but also the soil around the bush.
