Caterpillars on gooseberries have eaten leaves: how to fight with folk remedies and medications

Caterpillars on gooseberries: briefly about the beginning of activity

Caterpillars on gooseberries: photo

In spring, not only trees, herbs and shrubs bloom and grow, but also harmful insects awaken from sleep, which can greatly damage your plants or even destroy them. Insects love to eat gooseberry leaves, most often caterpillar larvae do this. It is very important to carry out prevention against various pests.

Chapter 5. Prevention

In autumn, all fallen leaves and plant debris should be raked from under the gooseberries and destroyed. The earth needs to be loosened. In some cases, if pest damage has been widespread, the top layer of soil should be replaced to a depth of 10 cm.

The tree trunk circle can be covered in autumn with dense black agrofibre. Pests left to overwinter in the soil will not be able to get out in the spring.

In early spring, the ground under the bush is spilled with very hot water. Larvae overwintering in the ground die.

Dry, diseased and old branches must be removed in a timely manner. It is recommended to loosen the soil near the gooseberries after watering and remove weeds. The tree trunk circle can be mulched.

It has been noticed that in a well-kept garden, gooseberries suffer less from pests and diseases.

Who eats gooseberries?

Caterpillars on gooseberries: photo

Most often, your plantings are spoiled by caterpillars; they love to devour plant leaves. There is more than one type of caterpillar larvae. Because there are different species, there are different ways to combat them.

• The gooseberry moth is a green larva that spoils the harvest, about a couple of centimeters long - the gooseberry moth.
• Gooseberry sawfly . Another leaf eater is the gooseberry sawfly, usually with blue and green tints and dark spots.
• Gooseberry aphids are small green larvae, the larvae slow down the growth of plants, the leaves begin to change shape and curl.
• Spider mite. A very small insect, both in adult and small form, the spider mite, can only be seen with special devices and causes the death of leaves.

Who can harm gooseberries?

Most often, gooseberries are attacked by the following pests:

• the gooseberry moth eats leaves and buds;
• the gooseberry sawfly feasts on leaves and buds;
• currant glass damages the buds, which is why the leaves and subsequently the berries do not ripen to the end;
• gooseberry moth spoils the berries;
• Willow scale sucks sap from the stems.

You need to understand in a timely manner which of them is causing you problems, and immediately take measures to preserve the harvest.

Caterpillars on gooseberries: sawflies on gooseberry shoots

Caterpillar on gooseberries: photo

Usually the most difficult insect to breed is the sawfly caterpillar. Often gardeners encounter complete destruction of leaves by this species. Also, this type of pest often likes to destroy various types of currants.

Yellow and pale-legged caterpillars are the most common sawfly caterpillar species.

Both varieties eat leaves often to a minimum; even the pathetic ones can often be eaten. Similar to ordinary caterpillars. Color varies from green to slightly blue. They have twenty legs. The caterpillars have dark spots over the entire surface area.

They survive the winter as insects and larvae near the main stem of plants in the ground. Fourteen centimeters underground, caterpillars overwinter in thick cocoons. With the onset of the first warming, the larvae acquire cocoons; during the beginning of the flowering periods of the plant to attack, the cocoons turn into adult insects.

When fresh leaves begin to form, females begin laying eggs on their undersides. After a fairly short time, the pests hatch and begin to grow very rapidly. First, small holes appear on the leaves, which over time completely absorb the entire leaf. On average, caterpillars live twenty-five to thirty days, from the cocoon stage to the adult stage. Then the insect descends to the ground, enters the cocoon stage, and everything repeats all over again.

Due to the fact that the larvae are microscopic in size, it is impossible to see them without special instruments. Of course, when they start to grow, minimal holes appear on the leaves, but these are usually overlooked.

Attention! If you understand that the number of individuals of this species is very large, then it may not be possible to save the plant and in the second week your plant, unfortunately, will die under their onslaught.

There are several serious negative consequences of an attack by these pests.

• The harvest becomes smaller and its quantity decreases. The berries fall off fairly quickly.
• Shoots are greatly slowed in growth. In winter, the bushes become less stable.

Description and life cycle of the gooseberry sawfly

To date, scientists have described more than 5,000 species of sawflies. Their habitats are mainly located in the northern hemisphere, in zones with climatic conditions ranging from continental to sharply continental. Thus, on the territory of Russia there are up to 2000 species. Each sawfly species prefers its own diet. Today we will talk about two species that most often annoy gardeners in the middle zone.

Where do sawfly caterpillars appear on gooseberries?

The pale-legged gooseberry sawfly and the yellow gooseberry sawfly are a threat to berry bushes.

If you carefully examine the photos of these species of gooseberry sawfly, it will become clear that adult individuals differ in size, color and behavior. Both pests are sessile-bellied, have three pairs of legs, and two pairs of non-folding wings. The latter are transparent, membranous with a slight yellowish tint. The head seems to be separated from the body and is mobile. The gooseberry sawfly has a pair of large eyes and three unpaired simple ones. But the main problem is the presence of powerful jaws and a very sharp ovipositor, with which the female cuts through leaves like a saw to lay eggs.

The body length of the pale-legged gooseberry sawfly is 6 mm. He himself is predominantly black, sometimes with rare light spots. The legs are yellow or whitish in color.

The yellow sawfly is larger. Reaches a length of 8-10 mm. The colors are dominated by bright yellow and red shades.

Insects overwinter in cocoons and in the root circles of berry bushes. For wintering, gooseberries or currants are preferred. The cocoons are located at a depth of 15-20 cm, otherwise the larvae may die in low temperatures.

In early spring, gooseberry sawflies emerge from cocoons. The sawflies themselves do not cause much harm to young leaves. But they lay eggs, which pose the main threat to garden crops. The female sawfly makes punctures along the edges of the leaves and lays eggs in them. The yellow sawfly lays eggs along the veins of gooseberry leaf blades.

After 1-2 weeks, gooseberry sawfly larvae appear, which are most often called false caterpillars. The fact is that they have a large head and ten pairs of legs. The larva itself is dirty green or gray-green in color, up to 6 mm long.

The life cycle of sawfly larvae is about 4 weeks. Then they go into the soil of the gooseberry root circle, pupate and everything repeats. Over the summer, up to 3 generations of pests are hatched. The most dangerous and numerous is the second outbreak of insects. Nature itself regulates the population of these pests. At this time there is enough food, and the gooseberries already have not only young leaves, but also berries.

The first signs of damage to shrubs by these insects:

• egg laying on the back of gooseberry leaves;
• growths or swellings on leaf blades;
• damaged edges of gooseberry leaves or holes gnawed in the center of the plates.

All these signs give reason to carefully examine the gooseberry bushes for small green caterpillars. The sooner the problem is identified, the greater the likelihood of saving the berry harvest.

Damage caused by the sawfly to gooseberry bushes

If the sawfly on gooseberries is not dealt with in a timely manner, it is easy to lose berries not only in the current season, but also in the next, or even lose the bushes altogether. The sawfly population can destroy all the foliage on a plant and damage the berries in a few days. Leaves are one of the plant's food sources. When leaf blades are lost or damaged, the process of photosynthesis is disrupted and the formation of new cells and the development of old cells slows down or stops. As a result, gardeners face problems such as:

• Loss of a significant part of the harvest. The berries become smaller, lose their presentation and taste characteristics. Gooseberry fruits quickly fall off.
• Gooseberries will not be able to set fruit buds for the next season.
• The formation of new shoots is reduced, which means the yield of bushes is reduced for several seasons.
• A weakened gooseberry will not be able to withstand diseases and winter cold. The risk of losing bushes increases significantly.

Attention!

Don't forget about the threat to the entire garden. Having finished with the gooseberries, the sawfly will go to the currant bushes in search of food.

Therefore, pest control should not be postponed until later.

Caterpillars on gooseberries: moths - green caterpillars

When you notice green caterpillars on a gooseberry, there is almost a 100% chance that these are moths. Moths are very harmful to gooseberries.

The average size is within one and a half centimeters. There are black stripes, the main color is green, quite rich. The head is black.

The pupae survive the winter in the upper layers of the soil. The pupae open and butterflies appear during the flowering period of the plants. Butterflies lay eggs in flowers at the end of flowering. There is an average of two hundred eggs, this is how many eggs one female lays on a plant. In just over a week, small individuals emerge from the eggs. Little caterpillars eat literally everything they can. The caterpillars live on the leaves for about a month; as a rule, the condition of the plant deteriorates greatly during this short period. Most often, nutrition comes from the fruits themselves and the seeds they contain. As the caterpillars consume each berry, they weave a web around it.

Pupation or transformation into a pupa occurs after a month of the caterpillar's life on the plant; pupae are often formed during berry picking.

There are several characteristic signs of an attack by moth caterpillars.

• The berries are “perforated” and there is a barely noticeable web stretched between the berries.
• When a cobweb coma is detected, you can see about six berries; there are both intact fruits and rotten fruits that are impossible to eat.
• When such lumps are opened, you can see the caterpillars themselves.

Ways to control various insects

To detect pests on bushes, it is necessary to monitor the plant from early spring. Green caterpillars on gooseberries begin to appear at a temperature of 16-18 degrees. How to get rid of them and what methods will be the most effective.

Sawfly

A common pest is the sawfly, which has a black head and yellow legs, making it attractive. The insect is most dangerous for gooseberries and currants. It destroys the plant in 2 weeks. The pest control method has several stages.

• In autumn, all fallen leaves are destroyed.
• Old dried branches are cut off.
• The soil is dug up to destroy the larvae that have lain down for the winter.
• The space under the bushes must be mulched.
• Before the buds appear, the soil is sprinkled with a mixture of two glasses of ash, one spoon of mustard powder and one spoon of ground black pepper. The soil is covered with film.
• You can also pour boiling water on the ground to destroy the pupae.

If the caterpillars have hatched from cocoons and come to the surface, they must be collected manually.

Spoiled bushes do not bear fruit for 2 years, since the growth buds do not develop. To avoid the appearance of sawflies, you need to plant tansy or elderberry next to the gooseberry bush. Insects also do not like the smell of turpentine, kerosene and gasoline.

Ognevka

The small butterfly has gray upper wings and appears harmless. She lays eggs in the buds or buds of the plant. Caterpillars eat flowers and prevent the ovaries from appearing. As a result of their activity, cobwebs appear on the shoots, the berries are eaten away from the inside, and the plant dies. To remove pests, you can use folk remedies.

• It is recommended to regularly dig up the ground under the bushes to destroy the larvae.
• Plant tomatoes and mint in close proximity to the plants.
• If you place a piece of roofing felt or roofing felt under a bush, ground beetles will appear in the area, eating moths and sawflies.

To save plants from pests, you need to leave enough space when planting. Good air exchange contributes to the health of the bushes, and the distance between them prevents insects from spreading quickly.

Moth

The bright orange caterpillar with black dots and head attracts attention. Pests completely destroy leaves

After hatching, they begin to lay eggs three weeks later. The emerging larvae eat the remaining leaves. The moth overwinters in dry fallen leaves and emerges in early spring. To combat it, you can use chemical or traditional methods.

• Be sure to get rid of fallen leaves in the fall and dig up the ground under the bushes.
• Plants should be treated with self-prepared decoctions of chamomile and shag.
• The bushes need to be sprayed with karbofos. The first time the treatment is carried out with the appearance of the caterpillars, the second time - 20 days before picking the berries.

Pests eat gooseberries, destroying not only the leaves, but also the fruits. The first sign of the appearance of a moth is holes in the green mass of the bush.

Currant glassberry

Small pests remain inside the branches even in winter. If signs of this pest appear, you need to start treating the bush. Control measures are as follows:

• To get rid of glass, carry out sanitary pruning in spring and autumn. Do not leave stumps, burn cut branches.
• In May-June, loosen the soil and further process it with the following mixture: 300 g of ash, 200 g of tobacco dust, a tablespoon of pepper and mustard. Scatter three tablespoons under each bush.
• When the butterflies begin to emerge, spray the bushes with a decoction of tansy, infusion of celandine or dry mustard. Treat the bushes with a chemical preparation only after harvesting.

Whatever methods of struggle are chosen, the main thing is to achieve the desired result. If spraying does not help the first time, then the procedure must be repeated.

Caterpillars on gooseberries: glass

Most often this species appears on currants, but it is also very dangerous for gooseberries.

At the very beginning of the development and formation of these individuals, they are almost impossible to see. Because of this, the vast majority of gardeners begin to remove insects when the plants can no longer be saved. Currant glass beetles can eat all plants if they are not detected in time.

Adult females lay about six dozen eggs on the branches of the bush.

The larvae are white. The heads are black. They eat everything and very quickly. Harmful larvae hatch from eggs almost two weeks after they are laid. At this time, individuals are very vulnerable. The caterpillars are easy to kill as they feed on the leaves, then they move directly into the bushes and simply gnaw right through them. It turns out that the bushes are deprived of vitality from the inside. Insects also spend the winter inside plants and, as the weather gets warmer, emerge from their shelters to lay the next batch of eggs.

Signs of gooseberry attack by glassware

• If these caterpillars live on a branch, then as a rule there are fewer shoots on it than on a healthy one.
• In very hot weather, the leaves quickly wither and fall off.
• The plant dies when the glass cells have been living in it for the second year.
• If you cut off an attacked shoot, you can see a hole in its middle with the remains of insects.

Most often, it happens that the owner of the garden or the person who looks after it is to blame for caterpillar attacks.

What preventative measures will protect currants and gooseberries

In order to prevent the mass spread of caterpillars and other insects on shrubs, it is necessary to carry out periodic inspections of the plant. If signs of infection are detected and damaged leaves, ovaries or even entire branches are cut off and completely destroyed. Mandatory cleaning of the garden from cut or fallen parts of the plant is an important stage of preventive work.

In the fall, before preparing for wintering, as well as in early spring, the bushes and soil are treated with special solutions against pests (organic agents or chemical insecticides). Since most insects pupate in the ground, it is necessary to periodically loosen and mulch the circle around the trunk (in autumn, early spring, early summer). Additionally, wood ash, tobacco dust, mixtures of pepper, garlic, and mustard are added.

Another precaution is to plant plants around the bushes whose smell pests are afraid of. These include:

• pharmaceutical camomile;
• garlic;
• sagebrush;
• marigold;
• yarrow.

If you find adult individuals circling around currants and gooseberries, you must urgently destroy them before laying eggs.

How to treat gooseberries against caterpillars? Folk remedies

• Next to the gooseberries you can plant an odorous plant - red elderberry, it can repel caterpillars.
• It is possible to pollinate plants with an elderberry solution: two hundred grams of ground flowers and shoots are diluted in ten liters of hot water. The mixture needs to sit for about two hours and can be used. The solution can be sprayed on the plant during flowering and after it to destroy the caterpillars.
• Fumigation can be done using tobacco dust. On the leeward side, collect a “mountain” of dry garbage, and place a couple of kilograms of tobacco dust on the top. Fumigation should last approximately half an hour.
• You can sprinkle the ground near the bushes with a mixture: one tablespoon of ground mustard, a cut glass of tobacco dust and three hundred grams of wood ash.
• You can spray the plants with a solution of one hundred grams of young spruce cones filled with heated liquid. The solution is infused for five hours and the plants can be sprayed. Treatment will be needed once a week during the entire flowering period.
• All home remedies work well if they are repeated regularly, loosened the soil near the plants, carry out sanitary pruning and collect spoiled fruits.

Gooseberry shoot aphid

The gooseberry shoot aphid is also a common pest, the eggs of which remain overwintering on the shoots.

In the spring, these eggs hatch into larvae. They settle on the petioles of young leaves and consume their juice.

Then some of the larvae turn into winged female dispersers and occupy more and more new tops of young shoots.

The growth of shoots slows down, the leaves begin to deform and a dense lump of leaves forms at the top of the shoot. It is inside this lump that large numbers of aphids live and feed.

The following year, plants infected with gooseberry shoot aphids develop very slowly, and buds also bloom later.

Measures to combat aphids are as follows: firstly, I recommend watering the bushes with hot water (in early spring); secondly, during the period when the larvae begin to appear, spray the plant with fufanon, Iskra or another preparation.

After this, we spray the gooseberry bushes only with folk remedies, the same as when fighting spider mites. For example:

• in 10 liters of water, stir well 200-300 g of chopped garlic, then filter the resulting solution and treat the plant;
• infuse 150-200 g of onion peel in 10 liters of water, after 4-5 days, filter the infusion and start spraying;
• pour 1.2 kg of green potato tops with ten liters of water, leave for 3-4 hours, filter and spray. If we have dry tops, then we take 600-800 g.
• infuse 4 kg of crushed burdock leaves in 10 liters of water for 2-3 days, then filter the infusion and process the plant.

How to treat gooseberries against caterpillars? Chemicals

Not only homemade recipes, but also industrial chemicals will help in the fight against attacking caterpillars. The most frequently used and effective drugs are considered to be several copies.

Chlorophos

The product produced in various forms, powders/pastes – chlorophos. It is possible to purchase the drug in different concentrations. Effectively destroys sawfly and moth attacks on gooseberry shoots

Entobacterin - 3

The drug against sawflies is entobacterin 3. The air temperature when using it should be above twenty degrees. The product is recommended by many and is very popular due to the fact that it does not in any way affect the life of other plants and humans. To make the effect even more beneficial, it can be mixed with chlorophos.

Sevin

A drug that kills larvae and eggs is Sevin. It is used not only against larvae, but also against glass beetle and fireworm. The drug is sprayed onto the shoots of the plant, but strictly before the flowering period begins.

Pyrethrum

Perhaps the most harmful remedy is pyrethrum, it is very toxic. Use as a powder and dilute with water. Gooseberry shoots undergo pollination.

Important! All of the above actions must be carried out in dry weather and always with the presence of a protective suit on the person who will be processing.

Types of pests

Black and red currants are very loved by hordes of pests that destroy the green mass, damage the berries and dry out the shoots. Each insect requires its own approach. Many appear in early spring, others eat leaves throughout the season. beautiful bright butterflies leave clutches on the bushes. The eggs develop into larvae, which require a lot of food to grow and develop.

Caterpillars can completely destroy a bush in 2 weeks

What pests are most dangerous to plants:

• The bud moth has gray wings with fringed edges. This is a small butterfly, reaching a length of 17 millimeters. Individuals lay eggs in swelling buds, which begin to change appearance. Moth larvae overwinter under the bark of shoots, and with the onset of warm weather they rise upward. From the beginning of development until pupation, the caterpillar changes color from red to green.
• The gray, inconspicuous butterfly is called the gooseberry moth. She leaves larvae in flowers. Small caterpillars feed on fruits. They also produce a web that hides the berries. The larvae spend the winter in the soil, so they are easier to fight than bud moths.
• Gall midges are mosquito-like insects. They damage not only the leaves, but also the trunks of the plant, forming swellings on them. The insect prefers black currants. White caterpillars change color to bright scarlet as they grow. The larvae spend the winter in the soil under fruit bushes.
• Green caterpillars of the gooseberry sawfly eat the leaves, leaving only the veins. Three generations of the pest can hatch in a season. In large numbers, caterpillars can completely destroy bushes. The sawfly eats mainly red currants. In winter, it leaves larvae in the soil.
• The leaf roller damages the leaves because it lays eggs on them. The caterpillars completely eat the shoots, use a web to create a cocoon of leaves and continue to develop inside, drinking the juice. We get rid of this pest by spraying with special preparations or tearing off the affected tubes.
• The gooseberry moth is a very attractive yellow butterfly. It is dangerous for all fruit plants. Eggs are laid on leaves. Most often, the moth settles on red currants. Having eaten the young leaves, the caterpillars pupate and again leave behind larvae.
• The most dangerous pest is currant glass. Its larvae develop inside the shoots and eat them from the inside. Masonry is made in cracks in the bark. The caterpillars reach the root system and destroy the bush.

The glass can be destroyed only during the period of pupation, which occurs in the soil. You need to loosen the soil around the bush, add ash to it, and sprinkle with tobacco dust. You can also trim and burn damaged shoots.

Also dangerous for currants are aphids, which damage the tops of the shoots. The leaves curl and the fruits do not have time to develop.

Mechanical ways to control pests

Perhaps, reasonably, these are the simplest, cost-effective and open to all methods of pest control. Mechanical treatment will need to be carried out regularly, monitoring the action according to the schedule. This is the dropping of larvae from leaves and branches, the collection of adults from the shoots of bushes. You can place adhesive belts on the surface of the branches, they are watered with a special sticky solution and everything sticks to it. The solution can be made from burdock oil and boiling tar; you need to mix the components in a ratio of one to two.

Decoctions and infusions

Broad-spectrum drugs are suitable for combating

Weakened bushes can be treated with nutritional supplements made from organic fertilizers. When gooseberries and currants fade, treatment with infusions of mustard, yarrow, wood ash, tobacco leaves or shag will be beneficial. For 10 liters of infused concentrate, add 40 g of liquid soap for better fixation of the composition on the crown. If the treatment is repeated 3 times every 6 days, the pest can be defeated.

• Leave dry mustard (100 g of dry powder) in water (10 l) for two days. Dilute with cold water. It is added twice as much as the volume of infusion. The solution also includes liquid soap (40 g).
• You can use tobacco dust. 1 kg is filled with a bucket of water. The infusion is ready for use after 24 hours.
• Dry wood ash is sprayed in the morning on leaves damp from dew (0.5 kg per bush) in late spring or early June.
• If the ovary is small, treatment with entobacterin (50 g of composition per bucket of water) is recommended. Or dilute 4 tbsp in a bucket of water. spoons of pine needle extract.
• The fight against larvae can be carried out with an infusion of fresh tomato tops. Method of preparation: 0.5 fresh shoots (40 g dry), 40 g of laundry soap, infused in 10 liters of water for 24 hours. Before spraying, the solution is filtered and diluted with water 1:4.
• Ash lye and a decoction of capsicum (red) are also used as measures to combat the sawfly.
• If elderberry does not grow in the garden, prepare a decoction from it and sprinkle the gooseberries.
• Before the buds open, the bushes are treated with tar: 30 g per 10 liters of water and a little soap.

If you carry out prevention in time, do not lose vigilance, take time to prepare infusions and solutions, then you can do without drastic measures.

Check out articles on similar topics

This article took a long time to write, and I haven’t returned to it even once. Gooseberry pests in the garden - what are they? You can list and list - there are probably a lot of them... But when I started writing this article, I didn’t know what pest was on my friend’s property. I was not ready for such a turn... Garden practice did not throw such problems at me. But the readers of our group on the social network Odnoklassniki helped me. I hope these tips will help anyone who encounters sawfly caterpillars on their plants in the garden.

Only veins remained from the leaves on the gooseberry... So, one fine day I came to my friend and gasped! I visited her five days ago - I admired the gooseberry bushes: the berries are large, clean, and the bushes are beautiful, well-ordered. We agreed that in the fall she would give me several shoots. And yesterday I received a slight shock: all the gooseberry bushes stand without leaves, only some berries on the branches.

A friend says it happened literally in one night or one day. I visited her on Monday evening, and on Wednesday morning she went to the gooseberry tree to pick berries for compote... and also received a slight shock from what she saw. Moreover, all the leaves of only the gooseberries were eaten.

She has three bushes: two grow nearby (they are in the picture above), and one in another corner of the plot. All three gooseberry bushes, regardless of their location, stand without leaves, but with berries. Black currants and grapes grow nearby - all the leaves are whole. We walked around the entire area with her - we did not find any traces of such an impudent, voracious pest on any plant. Only gooseberries without leaves - only veins remained from the leaves.

This can be seen especially clearly in the lower right part of the photo. The photo, of course, is not of very good quality, sorry, I took it on my phone and didn’t take a camera with me.

Purely theoretically, I can assume that these are caterpillars. Only they can cope with a large number of leaves in a short period. But where did the caterpillars go? And what are their names? Upon closer inspection, we did not find anyone on the gooseberry bushes or under them...

Maybe someone has encountered this?

Do you know a pest that loves gooseberry leaves?

— … —

I am finishing the article a month after the problem was discovered. I asked similar questions to colleagues from our groups on Odnoklassniki and VKontakte. The answer has been received.

↑ Gooseberry pest - yellow gooseberry sawfly - caterpillar

There are many varieties of sawfly, or more precisely, more than 5.5 thousand species. The yellow gooseberry sawfly harms not only gooseberries, but also red and white currants.

The sawfly is a flying insect. If you look closely, it’s even beautiful - the head is black, the legs are yellow. The sawfly overwinters in the pupal state. In early spring, it flies out of the pupae at the time when gooseberries and currants bloom. Adult flying insects are practically harmless to our garden, they even decorate it. Their main life task is to lay eggs on the underside of plant leaves. After this they die.

After 7-12 days, young sawflies—caterpillars—emerge from the testicles. So they harm the garden, gnawing into the buds, leaving holes in the leaves. Growing up, caterpillar sawflies can eat all the leaves on the plant - all that remains are hard veins. If there are a lot of pests, then due to their gluttony the bush can become completely bare in 1-2 days. This, by the way, happened to my friend’s gooseberries.

After such a sumptuous dinner, the sawfly caterpillars crawl into the soil and pupate there. After two weeks, adults emerge from the pupae and lay eggs. After another two weeks, the eggs hatch into caterpillars. And everything repeats itself.

Under the conditions of the long Kuban summer, at least three generations of caterpillar sawflies can develop.

Gooseberry or currant bushes, left without a single leaf, can dry out and die, as the process of photosynthesis is disrupted.

↑ Measures to combat sawfly

There are mechanical, biological and chemical measures to combat sawfly on gooseberries or currants.

The mechanical method of control is simple and quite effective if carried out on time. Spread a piece of cloth under the bush and shake the bush thoroughly several times. This is enough for all the tracks to fall down. Carefully roll up the fabric and burn it along with the caterpillars.

There are many biological methods. One of the most harmless, but effective, is this. Spray the gooseberry and currant bush with water, and then dust it with finely sifted wood ash. Having settled on the leaves, the ash will make them inedible - the pest will die.

Sawfly caterpillars will also not eat leaves sprayed with bitter infusions. Infusions of mustard, wormwood, tansy, and yarrow will make them this way. After each rain, spraying must be renewed.

There is another interesting way to fight the sawfly. But it is more suitable for controlling pests in the pupal stage; it would be better to use it in early spring. Regular sludge will help. As soon as the snow melts, dilute river or pond silt to a creamy mass and pour it into the center of the bush. The silt will spread under the bush, dry out and form a dense crust from under which insects will not escape from the pupae.

Among the biological preparations for protecting gooseberries or currants, experts recommend using lepodocide and bitoxybacillin against young sawfly caterpillars. When preparing solutions, follow the instructions in the instructions. I want to focus only on the following point: it is better to spray plants with these solutions in cloudy weather or after sunset, since ultraviolet rays have a destructive effect on the biological components of these preparations. By the way, don't expect the caterpillar sawyers to be gone that same day or the next. There will, of course, be fewer of them, but mass death of insects usually occurs within 2-3 days.

Chemicals should be used only if absolutely necessary, if other means have not helped. There are many such drugs. Those intended for leaf-eating insects - Iskra, INTA-VIR, Decis and many others - act against the caterpillar sawfly.

Prevention from eaters

As you can see, fighting insects is very difficult and time-consuming; to avoid this, it will be enough to follow a number of simple rules. Prevention should be carried out four times a year: in autumn, spring, before and immediately after the gooseberry flowering period.

There are four main types of preventive measures

• Ash, grated chalk and copper sulfate is a solution that should be used to treat the leaves and soil around the gooseberry with the onset of the first spring warmth.
• The larvae overwinter in the ground, in order to lime them you need to water the ground near the roots with boiling water, maybe a little less than one hundred degrees.
• When the leaves begin to fall in the fall, they should be collected and burned.
• There are non-harmful chemicals that will need to be used to treat the foliage of the bushes in March-April.

How to fight gooseberry moth?

Knowing the life characteristics of the moth, you can fight it at different stages.

• - When the moth is on currants and gooseberries, the only sure way is to go around all the bushes, collect the wormy berries and the caterpillars themselves and destroy them. Don’t be shy to stop by your gardening neighbors and encourage them to do the same.

• — In the autumn, after the leaves fall, supporters of traditional farming recommend digging up the soil with a layer of soil and hilling the bushes to a height of 10-12 cm with soil from the rows, with a radius of up to 70 cm (the same as the radius of the branches). Or you can mulch the currants to the same height and radius, for example, with compost. Thus, the gooseberry moth pupae will find themselves at a depth that is destructive for them and will die from the cold. It will be extremely difficult for surviving individuals to overcome the 10-centimeter depth in the spring and get to the surface, and then turn into gray butterflies. This is an effective method of combating moth . The bushes should be kept hilled until spring; 2 weeks after the currants and gooseberries bloom, the soil from the bushes is raked.

• — If you prefer and are not afraid of spraying with pesticides, you can try spraying before and after flowering with karbofos (5 g per 10 liters of water). For reference: karbofos (another name for the active substance is malathion) is an insecticidal preparation from the class of organophosphorus compounds of hazard class 3 for humans (moderately dangerous), and for bees it belongs to hazard class 1 (extremely dangerous). Due to the high toxicity of large doses of malathion for animals and humans, flavorings with an unpleasant odor are always added to products based on it so that there is no temptation to drink it. Fortunately, malathion is destroyed by heat treatment.

• — It is important not to thicken the plantings.

• — The fight against moth is often combined with spraying against currant anthracnose and other diseases.

We wish you a currant mood! :))

Go to the section “ Currant diseases ”

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