Why do gooseberries turn yellow and dry in summer and what to do about it?

Gooseberries are one of the most unpretentious berry bushes in our garden plots. It easily takes root anywhere in the garden, rarely gets sick and bears fruit abundantly for years. But, despite its self-sufficiency, the plant sometimes gets sick and suffers from insect pests. What to do if the gooseberries begin to turn yellow and fade, we will tell you in this article.

Why do gooseberries turn yellow and dry in summer?

If, at the height of summer, the leaves on the gooseberry and its close relative, the currant, turn yellow for no apparent reason, begin to curl, dry out and fall off, it’s time to take immediate action.

Leaves turn yellow and fall off

If gooseberry leaves turn yellow in June, it may not have enough water. Abundant (at least 20 liters) watering of the bush at the root will help solve the problem.

When the gooseberry lags behind in growth, the upper leaves fade and become smaller, and the lower ones turn yellow, curl and fall off, the bush blooms prematurely and gives a poor harvest, possibly the bush grows on acidified soil and is clogged with weeds. In this case, the plant needs weeding and spring feeding with nitrogen-containing fertilizers: ammonium nitrate, urea and urea, ammonium sulfate, ammonium sulfate.

Gooseberries, like any plant, can get sick:

1. If a white cobweb appears on young foliage and the tops of shoots, which gradually grows, thickens and becomes like felt, this is mycelium with powdery mildew spores, or gooseberry spheroteca. The disease progresses with high soil moisture and hot weather (18 to 30°C).
2. If at the beginning of summer they were noticed on leaves and berries gray-brown or red spots with a yellow rim, by August the leaves have fallen, and the growth of shoots has noticeably decreased, which means the plant is infected white spot or gooseberry septoria.
3. Another fungal disease - anthracnose – identified by rounded brown spots on both sides of the leaf. The disease progresses during the rainy period in mid-summer.
4. Gooseberry rust - This is a fungal disease. If the bush is located in sedge thickets, orange seals may appear on the leaves, flowers and ovaries - goblet rust. If small yellowish spots are visible on the upper side of the leaf, yellow-orange growths are visible on the lower side, and conifers (for example, cedar or pine) grow somewhere nearby, then symptoms of columnar rust are observed.

Gooseberries and pests affect:

1. Gooseberry shoot aphid green in color, very small, so it is not easy to detect. The insect infects the leaves and young shoots of the bush, feeding on its sap. As a result, the leaves curl, the shoots slow down, and sometimes die.
   

   Gooseberry shoot aphid
2. Early spring on the budding leaves caterpillars attack. Eggs along the veins of the underside of the leaf can be laid by butterflies of the yellow or pale-legged gooseberry sawfly or gooseberry moth. One butterfly lays up to 150 eggs at a time, and several generations of pests grow over the summer.
3. Butterfly currant glass lays eggs in cracks in the plant bark. Its caterpillars feed on the core of the shoots, gnawing tunnels from the top to the base. As a result, damaged branches dry out and die.
   

   Butterfly currant glass
4. Currant gall midges The larvae lay in shoots, flowers and leaves of gooseberries, which feed on them and destroy them. Insects infect bushes in plantings that are too dense.
5. Currant bud mite penetrates the gooseberry buds and feeds on the juice of young leaves. This makes the kidneys look too large and ugly compared to healthy ones.
   

   Currant bud mite

Berries are falling off

The reason for the falling of fruits, as well as leaves, may be drought, deficiency of useful microelements, or lack of sunlight.

Gooseberry diseases cause a lot of trouble for gardeners. Powdery mildew first affects leaves and young shoots, and then spreads to ovaries and berries. If the disease is advanced, the fruits develop poorly, darken and fall off. At the same time, the appearance of the bush also suffers: the shoots become bent, the gooseberry foliage turns yellow and becomes wrinkled.

Insect pests do not ignore the juicy gooseberry fruits. Light green gooseberry moth caterpillars that have grown up in gooseberry flowers eat away the fruit ovary, enveloping it in a web. The insect causes damage throughout the season, but the greatest damage is caused by the second generation of caterpillars during the ripening period of the berries.

Sawfly caterpillars do not feed on fruits. However, in the summer they eat almost all the leaves from the bush, as a result of which the process of photosynthesis is disrupted and the plant “gets rid” of berries.

Young seedlings turn yellow

Often slow development gooseberry seedlings associated with errors when choosing a landing site.

In overly wet areas, where groundwater comes close to the surface, plants do not take root well and often get sick. The same can be said about a place in the shade: the leaves on such bushes are pale, the berries are few and small.

Another reason for the weakness of young shoots may be insufficient deepening of the root collar during planting. The recommended depth should be at least 6-7 cm. If you break this rule, the shoots will be thin and weak. They will not be able to form the basis of the future bush and give it the opportunity to fully develop.

Rules for caring for gooseberries

In order for the berry garden to delight you with juicy greens and a bountiful harvest for years, you need to properly care for it. The gardener does not require any special knowledge, skills or unique processing tools and plant nutrition.

A few simple tips gooseberry care in spring and summer:

1. Every year in the spring, 3-5 strong, young shoots are left, the rest are cut off at the root. Frozen, damaged and old, dried branches are also removed.
2. From early spring, once every 2-3 weeks, the soil is loosened shallowly (up to 10-12 cm) to break up the formed crust and remove weeds. The soil around the bush is mulched to retain moisture - one bucket of peat (or other organic matter) per bush.
3. Gooseberries are watered generously three times a season. The first time is at the end of May - beginning of June, when the ovary appears. The second - in the second half of June, during the formation and ripening of berries. At the end of September, moisture-recharging watering is necessary, which will help the plant roots strengthen and prepare for winter.
4. In the first 2 years, the young bush does not need fertilizer. From the third year it is watered with mullein diluted with water in a ratio of 1:4. One bucket of mixture is enough per bush. This fertilizing, applied in the first half of June, will strengthen the plant during the ripening period of the berries.In the spring, before the buds open, it is useful to feed the bushes with nitrogen fertilizers: 25 g of ammonium nitrate or 30 g of urea per 1 square meter. m. Potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are applied only in the fall.

It is pointless to water gooseberries with a watering can and harmful with a hose: the soil is washed away from the base of the bush, and the root collar becomes damp. According to the rules, you need to dig a hollow in a circle where the crown of the bush ends, and pour water into it.

Treatment of diseases

Having recognized the disease, you need to choose the right method of treatment:

1. If signs of powdery mildew are noticed before the buds open, it is recommended to spray the bush with fungicides. If symptoms of the disease appear during flowering or fruiting, the bush is irrigated twice at weekly intervals with a solution: 5 g of soda and 50 g of grated soap per 10 liters of water. Fundazol, Chorus and Topaz have proven themselves well in the fight against disease.
2. To combat gooseberry septoria, affected shoots trimmed to healthy tissue, and the bush is treated with fungicides.
3. In order to prevent and treat anthracnose, it is recommended to spray the bush and the soil around it with “Nitrophen” or a 1% solution of copper sulfate (40 g per 10 liters of water). If the disease is advanced, the plant is treated with Bordeaux mixture (100 g per 10 liters of water) at least 4 times per season: before flowering, immediately after it, a couple of weeks after the second spraying and after harvesting. Homitsin, Cuprozan, and colloidal sulfur are also used to combat anthracnose and septoria.
4. To destroy rust, gooseberries are treated with a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture or any other fungicide during the period when the leaves bloom, when buds appear and after flowering.To consolidate the result, another irrigation is allowed no earlier than 10 days after processing the flowers.

To prevent the spread of diseases, affected leaves and berries are carefully collected, shoots are cut out and burned.

Pest Control

Experienced gardeners begin fighting insects in the fall: they collect fallen leaves, cut off damaged shoots and burn them.

The soil is loosened and mulched. The bushes are treated with insecticides or folk remedies: infusion of onion, garlic, mustard or tobacco.

In the spring, when buds appear, the bush is treated against gall midges, aphids, currant glasswort and sawfly with an aqueous solution of Karbofos (75 g per 10 l of water) or Rovikurt (10 g per 10 l of water). Kidney mites are fought with a solution of colloidal sulfur at the rate of 30-40 g of the drug per 10 liters of water.

After flowering, gooseberries are sprayed with Karbofos or Actellik.

Note! If there is an anthill on the site, aphids will appear on the gooseberries constantly. First of all, it is necessary to destroy not aphids, but ants.

Conclusion

Growing gooseberries in your garden is not difficult. Choose a bright, not too damp place and fertilize the soil before planting. For the first couple of years, do not disturb the plant, let it take root and get stronger. Don’t forget about prevention: carefully examine the leaves and stems, loosen the soil, treat and feed the bush with at least simple folk remedies.

Rest assured, the gooseberry will thank you for your care and will delight you with a generous harvest for many years.