Pests of currants and gooseberries
Currant kidney mite is a scourge of black currant. Red and white currants suffer from it rarely. The presence of the tick is indicated by large swollen buds, similar to small light cabbage heads, which can be found in the fall, after the fall leaf, or early in the spring. The tick is very small( 0.2-0.3 mm), similar to a light crustacean with two pairs of legs. In the spring, as soon as the air warms up to 5 ° C, the females begin to lay eggs in the same kidneys. By the time of the formation of flower brushes in the currant, the number of individuals in one kidney can reach 3-8 thousand. Then most of the mites come out, climb the shoots and colonize the new kidneys that die like the first. In addition, the mite spreads a dangerous viral disease - swallowing, causing infertility of the currant bush.
Control measures. Use only healthy planting material. If this is not firmly established, cuttings are disinfected before planting, immersed in hot water with a temperature of 45-46 ° C for 13-15 minutes or 3 and kept in infusion of Georgian tea( 50 grams per 10 liters of water).
Proper care of plantings will increase the resistance of plants. To scare off mites, it is common practice to plant onions or groups among currant bushes of onion or garlic. With a slight infection of the bushes, a certain effect is obtained by spraying during the extension of the inflorescences with a freshly prepared suspension of garlic( 50-100 g of crushed denticles per 10 liters of water).With a higher degree of colonization( 5-10% of the kidneys), sulfur preparations are used by spraying( colloidal sulfur - at a rate of 40-100 g per 10 liters of water), but it is not allowed to get drugs on gooseberry bushes to avoid falling leaves.
In autumn, after leaf fall or early in the spring( before swelling of the kidneys), it is necessary to pluck out swollen, mite-damaged kidneys or to remove the entire shoot by cutting it at the soil level.
Currant kidney mole, damaging the kidneys and berries of all currant species, prefers red and white. Winter caterpillars( 2 mm) hibernate in the cocoons at the base of the bush under the straggly bark or on the stumps left after improper cutting of the branches. In spring, they climb the shoots, bite into the kidneys, destroying them. Before flowering, the currents of the caterpillar go to the top layer of the soil for pupation. By the time of the formation of the ovary, butterflies appear, which lay eggs in the flesh of green berries. The newly born caterpillars eat seeds.
Control measures. In autumn, cut dry shoots and hemp under the root, destroy all plant remains. If in the previous year the mole destroyed up to 3% of the kidneys, in spring, at the time of swelling of the kidneys( at a temperature of 13-15 ° C), treat the bushes with a broth of makhorka with onion or infusion of mustard( 100 g per 10 liters of water) or soapy ash solution. With a higher degree of infection, use the 5 ^ -th emulsion of kynmix( 2.5 ml per 10 liters of water).Late with processing is unacceptable, is so as in this case it is, firstly, inefficient and, secondly, will lead to the death of riders - moth parasites.
Currant glaze is withering and drying of individual branches in a well-developed currant bush. If you cut this branch, you can see that the core is eaten out and looks like a wormhole with smooth black walls. Here you can find a white or pinkish caterpillar with a dark head. Adult caterpillars reach a length of 2-2.5 cm. They live 2 years. In the second year at the end of spring they gnaw out the hole and turn into pupae, and then into butterflies, which lay eggs on the bark of branches, more often near cracks. Withering and withering of the branches is usually observed at the end of flowering or a little later - at the beginning of ripening of berries of gooseberry and currant.
Control measures. With proper care, there is less risk of damaging the bushes with a glass container. Especially important early spring pruning with the simultaneous removal and immediate burning of cut branches, in which caterpillars can be found. Large sections should be covered with garden sauce.
Try not to damage the bark, so as not to create conditions for laying butterflies eggs.
leaf gall midge is a frequent lodger of red and white currants. In spring, on young leaflets noticeable prominence of bloating red - this is Gauls. On the underside of the leaf in these galls one can also find their culprits - small yellowish-green aphid larvae. Damaged leaves wither and fall off. Of natural enemies of gallic aphids, eating predators are widespread: the ladybug, the larvae of the fly-eyed elk, the syrphids, and also the bug-antokoris.
Control measures. The first leaves with signs of redness are better to cut and destroy. The spraying of bushes with tobacco dust, makhorka, celandine, dandelion, chamomile, horse sorrel, tansy, yarrow and addition of laundry soap will help to keep the pest multiplying. When applying herbal tinctures, you should carefully moisten the underside of the leaf. Before flowering, plants are treated with a spark-M preparation from caterpillars( 5 ml per 5 liters of water).When planting currants of garlic and onion near the currant, the population of bushes of aphids decreases.
The large currant filth of mainly damages the black currant, but also occurs on other currant species, as well as on gooseberry. Leaves, which feed on aphids, pale, twist, are collected by a lump, the tips of the shoots are bent and do not grow. Control measures. See Gallop aphid.
Gooseberry sawflies ( yellow and pale-legged) damage leaves of gooseberries, red and white currants. They differ mainly in size and color of the body. In the yellow sawfly, adult insects are reddish-yellow, and in pale-naked - black with light spots. Their larvae are like caterpillars, but they have 10 pairs of legs. And the lop-larvae of the first have a length of up to 18 mm, they are bluish-green with black beards, the second ones are smaller, up to 10 mm, single-colored, green. Eat leaves, leaving one vein. The larvae hibernate in dense cocoons under bushes at a depth of 5-10 cm. Control measures. Shallow digging of soil in autumn and spring. In the spring-summer period it is recommended to shake the larvae from the bushes to the litter. If this is not enough, spray with a spark( 1 tablet per 10 liters of water), bitoxybacillin( 80-100 g per 10 liters of water), lepididicide( 20-30 g per 10 liters of water).In their absence, infusions of wormwood, tobacco, makhorka, garlic are used. More effective than phosphocide( 5 ml per 5 liters of water).
The gooseberry moth has an enchanting distribution. Caterpillars with five pairs of legs, fairly large( up to 30-40 mm), light with characteristic black quadrangular patches on the back. Control measures. See Planed sawfly.
Gooseberries in the form of pupae hibernates in spiderwebs, in the upper layers of the soil under the bush. In the spring the pupae turn into butterflies, which after a while lay eggs in the flowers of gooseberries and currants. The newly born caterpillars are introduced into the ovaries and eat them. Passing from the berry to the berry, the caterpillars braid them with a cobweb. Control measures. In autumn, digging the soil and hilling the bushes to a height of 10 cm. During the formation of the ovaries, plants are sprayed with tobacco infusion or decoction of wormwood 2-3 times every 5-8 days. Damaged berries are collected and destroyed.