Which pests eat gooseberry leaves and what to do to save the bushes

Pests are one of the main causes of gooseberry death. Their occurrence is difficult to prevent without the use of chemicals. Plants affected by insects quickly lose leaves and fruits. In addition, ticks, beetles and caterpillars carry diseases, some of which cannot be treated.

If holes appear on the gooseberry leaves or they simply begin to fall off, it means they have been attacked by pests. These can be caterpillars that gnaw through fruits and leaves, or pests that suck the juice out of plants without damaging the plant tissue. In both cases, photosynthesis is disrupted, the bush becomes less hardy, loses yield and dies. Someone eats gooseberry leaves: how to recognize the cause and deal with it - read on.

Who eats gooseberry leaves

Often a gardener one day notices that gooseberries All the leaves have been eaten. However, usually no symptoms precede the problem.

This problem occurs if the garden is attacked pests with gnawing mouthparts. It is not the adult insects who begin to eat the leaves, but their larvae. Usually butterflies lay them in large numbers several times during the season.

Sawfly

The sawfly is one of the most dangerous pests. There are more than 5 thousand of its varieties. Gooseberries are usually attacked by the yellow gooseberry sawfly.

Note! Most gooseberry pests also attack red, black and white currants.

The sawfly is a flying insect with yellow legs, a black head, a striped abdomen and transparent brownish wings. Outwardly it looks like a wasp.

An adult insect does not damage plants. It lays eggs on the underside of leaf blades. After 1-2 weeks, caterpillars hatch from the eggs. They have a light green translucent body with black dots, a black head and legs.

This is interesting! One female sawfly lays from 70 to 150 eggs.

The pest gnaws holes in leaves and buds. If there are a lot of caterpillars on the gooseberries, they are able to eat all the greens in a few days, leaving only the veins.

Well-fed caterpillars pupate and fall under the bush. After two weeks, they hatch into adults. The cycle repeats. During a season, gooseberries can attack more than three generations of sawfly caterpillars.

Did someone eat all the leaves? To understand who it is, they carefully examine the gooseberry foliage, paying special attention to the inside of the plates. Green caterpillars with small black dots are sawflies. In the later stages of pest damage, the pest is identified by the leaves, of which only veins remain.

Moth

The gooseberry moth is a butterfly with yellow wings with orange stripes and black spots, and a yellow abdomen with black stripes. The caterpillars of the pest are light green in color with black hairs and dots on the back. They differ from the sawfly precisely in the presence of hairs on the body.

The pest overwinters in fallen leaves. In April, they emerge from their cocoons and lay eggs on the underside of the leaf blades. Caterpillars hatch from them and eat young leaves and buds.

Towards the end of flowering, the caterpillars attach themselves to the leaves with a web and pupate.After a month, butterflies emerge from the pupae, and the cycle repeats. This time the caterpillars eat the soft part of the leaves, leaving only the rough veins.

Thus, 2-3 generations of caterpillars are replaced per year. You can determine what exactly the moth has infected the gooseberry by carefully examining the leaves and finding the characteristic larvae or caterpillars in the web.

Elm leaf-eater

The elm leaf beetle is a shiny green-golden beetle. Its back shimmers with different colors in the sun. Has yellow legs and long antennae.

It is the adult insect that does the damage. It will chew holes in the leaf blades. The invasion of a large number of leaf beetles leads to drying out of the leaves.

Bud roller

This is a butterfly whose front wings are gray with dark spots and a stripe in the center, and the hind wings are brown.. The caterpillars are light brown with a black head and chest shield.

Note! The pest overwinters in cocoons in cracks in the bark and near the buds.

In the spring, the caterpillars feed on the buds, then move on to the buds and leaves. In this case, the pest pulls the affected part of the plant together with a cobweb into a dense lump.

Well-fed caterpillars pupate, and at the end of flowering, butterflies fly out of them. Massive damage to fruit and berry trees and shrubs is observed in the second half of June.

Butterflies lay one egg on the outer side of the leaf blades. The second generation caterpillars hatched from them have a yellow-green body, a black head and scutellum.

The larvae use a web to fasten two leaves or a leaf with an ovary together. The pest lives between the glued parts of the plant, feeding on both leaves and fruits.

The pest is recognized by twisted leaf plates entangled in cobwebs.

Gallica

Currant gall midges are small mosquitoes only 3 mm long. The leaves are eaten by a leafy type of insect. There is a shoot gall midge, the larvae of which gnaw tunnels in young branches.

At the beginning of gooseberry flowering, the pest lays eggs on young leaves that are located at the tops of the shoots. Their eggs hatch into small white larvae. They feed on the sap of leaf blades. Damaged leaves become deformed, shrink, dry out, and then fall off.

Detecting the pest is easy. It is enough to look at the reverse side of the sheet plate. There will be a large number of white larvae on it.

Zlatka

Currant borer is small oblong bugs of greenish-golden color. Their back shines in the sun and shimmers in different colors.

The pest lays eggs on young shoots and leaf petioles. The beetles cover the larvae with secretions that harden when frozen. The larvae hatch after two weeks. They feed on plant tissue, causing branches and leaves to fall off.

The pest is detected by characteristic frozen scutes on the bark and leaves. The presence of passages in the bark and petioles of leaves also indicates larvae.

Aphid

Aphids are small insects that settle in entire colonies on the leaves and young shoots of gooseberries. Depending on the species, the pest is green, black, brown or yellow.

Aphids also feed on gooseberry leaves, but not on hard tissues, but on their juice. The pest causes no less harm than a voracious caterpillar, because the insect multiplies quickly and covers the entire plant. Dehydrated leaf blades wither, dry out and fall off.

Female aphids lay large numbers of eggs several times during the summer. With the help of its wings, the pest spreads throughout the garden.At the same time, eggs, larvae and adults are found on the plant.

Note! There are viviparous species of aphids.

The first symptom of aphids is curled, limp leaves and drying shoot tips. To ensure the presence of the pest, check the underside of the leaves and inspect the shoots. Aphid colonies are visible to the naked eye.

Spider mite

Spider mites are another pest that feeds not on the solid component of the leaf, but on its sap. Dehydrated leaf blades curl, dry out and fall off.

Spider mites are small insects that are yellow, black, brown or red. The main feature of the pest is that it entangles the affected parts of the plant (usually the lower part of the leaf blade) with a web. It is by the web and small insects that the pest is identified.

What to do and how to fight

It is important to deal with caterpillars and other pests in a timely manner. Otherwise, photosynthesis will be disrupted due to serious damage to the gooseberry leaves. This will lead to a decrease in frost resistance and immunity of the plant. In this case, the bush will not survive the winter.

Leaves eaten - what to do? It is difficult to give a definite answer to this question. Pest control is possible using different methods. They are often used in combination.

Mechanical removal

Mechanical removal of insects by itself is ineffective. This method allows you to temporarily stop the destruction of gooseberry greens and reduce the number of pests. It is recommended to use it before treating plants.

There are several ways to manually remove pests:

1. Lay a white cloth or film under the bush. The gooseberries are shaken, throwing off caterpillars and beetles. Pests that fall on the litter are collected and destroyed.
2. Caterpillars are collected by hand from the leaves of the bush, paying special attention to the underside of the plates. Aphids, gall midges and spider mites are wiped off with a damp cloth.
3. Pests are washed off the gooseberries with water from a hose. The soil around the plant is dug up.

Folk remedies

If not all the leaves have disappeared yet, it makes sense to turn to folk remedies. This method of fighting insects is effective and at the same time harmless, because the compositions are easily washed off with water and are safe for people, animals and the environment. They are used even during flowering and fruiting of gooseberries.

How to treat gooseberries if caterpillars eat leaves:

1. Ash-soap solution. 3 kg of ash is dissolved in 10 liters of water. The composition is infused for three days, stirring regularly. The product is filtered and a piece of grated laundry soap is dissolved in it.
2. Solanaceae tops. A kilogram of potato, tomato or pepper tops is boiled in 3 liters of water over low heat for an hour. The broth is allowed to brew for 6 hours, then filtered and diluted with 7 liters of water.
3. A decoction of bitter herbs. Fill a third of the pan with wormwood, yarrow or dandelion. The rest of the volume is filled with water. The herb is boiled for an hour. Then let it brew for 4 hours and dilute with an equal part of water.
4. Mustard-soap infusion. 1 kg of mustard is poured into a bucket of water. The mixture is infused for two days. Then a piece of grated laundry soap is dissolved in it.
5. Ash powder. Gooseberry leaves are sprayed with a solution prepared from 10 liters of water and 50 g of liquid soap. Then dust with ash.
6. Infusion of tobacco. Take 1 kg of tobacco dust per bucket of water. The product is infused for a week, stirring regularly.

The described preparations are used for spraying gooseberries.They process not only the upper part of the bush, but also the space under it.

Folk remedies are used until the problem disappears, but at least three times. The intervals between treatments are 5-7 days.

Attention! Homemade preparations are washed off with water, so after precipitation the treatment is repeated.

Chemicals

Chemical treatments make insect control quick and effective. Preparations for eliminating insects are called insecticides. They are poisonous not only to insects, but also to humans and the atmosphere, so it is recommended to use them as a last resort, before or after flowering.

Insecticides have different principles of action. There are drugs that:

• penetrate into the cells of the leaf, making it poisonous to insects;
• fall directly on insects, corroding their body or leading to paralysis.

It is not recommended to use insecticides when there are berries on the bushes. Otherwise, the crop will become poisonous.

There are a large number of pest control products on the market, for example:

• "Decis";
• "Spark";
• "Kinmiks";
• "Fufanon";
• "Aktellik".

Chemical treatment is carried out 2-3 times with an interval of 2-3 weeks. It is safest to do this before the plant blooms or after harvesting.

Important! The products are not washed off with water. Therefore, it is not necessary to use them every time after precipitation. The main thing is to process the gooseberries no later than a day before the expected rain.

Prevention

Pest attacks do not go unnoticed for gooseberries. Even with timely treatment, the yield, endurance and frost resistance of the plant are reduced. Therefore, it is important to prevent damage to plantings in advance.

What to do to avoid gooseberry infestation by pests:

1. In autumn, be sure to remove fallen leaves, old branches and other plant debris from the site. After this, the soil around the plant is loosened and mulched.
2. Sanitary pruning is no less important. Every year, all damaged, dry and diseased branches are removed. After all, it is in the damaged bark that many pests overwinter.
3. In the spring, after the soil has thawed, the soil is loosened and mulched.
4. In early spring, a gooseberry bush with buds that have not yet opened is watered with boiling water. This will help destroy all pests.
5. Before flowering, it is recommended to treat gooseberries with insecticides. It is advisable to do this with all fruit and berry plants in the garden.
6. During an epidemic of pest invasion (most insects are especially active in May, the second half of June and July), they are treated with folk remedies, for example, spraying the leaves with a decoction of bitter herbs.

This is interesting:

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Pests and diseases of lemon: treatment and prevention at home

Diseases and pests of currants, methods of combating them, preventive measures

Conclusion

There are many varieties of pests that feed on gooseberry greens. Some of them chew holes in the leaves, while others drink the juice. Both options threaten shrubs with impaired photosynthesis, decreased immunity and winter hardiness, and loss of yield.

To save gooseberries, it is important to promptly notice traces of pests. To do this, gardeners inspect the garden every week. When the first traces are detected, the bushes are sprayed with folk remedies or chemicals.