Berry crops are popular among gardeners. At each suburban area, their presence is necessarily detected. It is clear that every gardener wants to get abundant high-quality yields of tasty and healthy berries of currant and gooseberry every year. Like any culture, they have many dangerous pests and diseases that can negate all efforts. Many of them winter 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 treating currants and gooseberries in early spring, you need to know the characteristic signs of pests and their wintering places. These berry crops, similar in biology, are affected by the same diseases and pests.
Therefore, most control and plant protection measures will be the same.
Old proven way
As soon as the snow begins to melt in the garden, the time comes for protective measures of berry bushes. How to handle gooseberries in early spring? This question arose more than once among beginning gardeners. A good and reliable method that can get rid of many pests is the treatment of currants and gooseberries with hot water. To do 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 this “bathing”, the present pests will die, and the plant itself will not be affected.
Currant kidney moth: description, methods of control
At what stage of plant development and how to treat gooseberries in early spring is determined by the characteristics of the biology of the pest. Its presence can be detected by the appearance of the plant. Shoots damaged by the pest look like burned or frozen. Currant kidney moth - an insect that can completely destroy the crop. Caterpillars damage the buds of the plant. Each can damage from three to seven pieces. At the beginning of flowering, caterpillars pupate, located in the soil cover under the bush.
During the formation of the ovary, they already turn into yellowish-brown butterflies, which continue to damage the bushes. During this period, they make egg laying in the forming berries. Unripe fruits serve as food for newly emerging pests.
To prevent the reproduction of moths, the fight against it begins in early spring. The set of measures will be effective only until the buds open and the plant blooms. Before processing gooseberries, in early spring all damaged and dry shoots and hemp are cut. At the base of the bush, plant debris is removed, which, along with cut branches, is burned.
During the flowering period, after the appearance of the kidney moth butterflies, the second stage of the pest control begins. This is spraying with a one percent solution of Aktara. Gardeners who try not to use chemicals, use infusions of plants: tops of tomatoes, celandine, mustard and tansy to combat kidney moth.
Gooseberry moth
A gluttonous yellow caterpillar eats foliage. She is able to completely bare gooseberry and currant bushes. The pest hibernates under fallen leaves. To destroy it, you can use the method of irrigation of the soil cover with boiling water. Plant residues located under the bushes are cleaned and burned. In addition, the use of special drugs is advisable. How to treat currants and gooseberries in early spring? Initially, spraying is performed before the buds open. To do this, use "Karbofos" or infusions of wormwood and tobacco. If these activities are not carried out in early spring, in the summer period the caterpillars turn into yellow-white butterflies with black dots on the wings.
They make egg laying on the underside of gooseberry foliage, subsequently turning into voracious caterpillars. At this time, a second treatment with herbal infusions is performed.
Gooseberry sawflies
Allocate 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 insect. Its caterpillar is bluish-green. The pale-legged sawfly is an insect of black color. The caterpillar of this species reaches 10 mm in length and has a green color. These pests destroy the foliage of the bush. They winter in the soil cover, under the bushes, at a depth of not less than five centimeters. Before treating gooseberries in early spring from pests, it is necessary to dig the soil in places of its wintering. For spraying use solutions of special tools designed to protect plants.
The use of the microbiological preparation "Lepidocide" will be effective. The solution is prepared at the rate of thirty grams per ten liters of water. Also used is the bacterial biological product "Bitoxibacillin", 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, processing can be carried out with infusions of herbs: wormwood, shag or tobacco, garlic.
Gooseberry moth
It damages ripening berries. Pupae winter in the soil cover around the currant and gooseberry bushes. In the spring, butterflies appear from them, which make masonry during flowering. Hatching green caterpillars will appear in a week.
A gluttonous pest can completely destroy the entire crop. To combat it, early spring treatment of bushes with boiling water will be useful.
Powdery mildew
Gooseberry diseases bring considerable damage . And care for the bush, providing for 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 a white coating. The ripening gooseberries are particularly damaged. How to deal with this disease? How to handle gooseberries in early spring?
When protecting you need a whole range of measures. First of all, in the autumn and spring periods, affected shoots are removed. The source of infection can also be plant debris that is collected and burned. Mandatory is the spraying with special drugs. For this, the complex action fungicide Nitrofen is used. 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. A spray solution is prepared at the rate of fifty grams per ten liters of water. Protective measures are performed before the buds open.
Anthracnose
A disease that affects the leaves, branches and berries of currants and gooseberries leads to loss of yield not only this year, but also the next. Its causative agent is a mushroom. The disease manifests itself in the form of brown spots.
To prevent its spread, comprehensive preventive and protective measures should be taken. These include the removal and burning of plant debris, which will be a source of infection of the berry. Digging of the soil cover around the bushes is carried out with the closure of the upper soil cover to a depth of at least ten centimeters.
In addition to mechanical measures, it is necessary to use chemicals at different times. How to spray gooseberries in the spring? Prior to 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, they are treated with Bordeaux liquid. Not only plants are sprayed, but also the soil around the bush.