Gooseberry is a perennial garden shrub belonging to the family of stone-digger plants. In height, this culture reaches 1.5 meters and has branches with prickly spikes in the form of needles at the base of small green leaves.
Gooseberry fruiting begins in the third year, and therefore it is more advisable to buy two-year-old seedlings for planting this shrub.
Features of growing gooseberries
• Gooseberries are planted in the autumn, and since the root system of young plants is still tender, not strong and can freeze, it is covered with a layer of sawdust or peat for the winter. Before planting, humus and superphosphate are added to the pits.
• A place for planting shrubs should be selected bright and well warmed up by the sun.
• The first (nitrogen) top dressing is carried out in spring, the second when the first leaves appear, the third - before flowering the plant (on a bucket of water, a spoonful of potassium sulfate), and the fourth before the ovary of berries.
• It is recommended to water gooseberries under the root, and not on top, and only with warm water warmed up by the sun in order to avoid shrub disease.
Gooseberry diseases and how to prevent them
It is necessary not only to properly care for gooseberries, but also to look after his "health". Since many diseases of this shrub can significantly affect the yield of gooseberry fruits and even destroy this amazing plant.
Gooseberry diseases are in many ways similar to ailments of currant. Only in this shrub, diseases develop and proceed much faster and more complicated.
Therefore, at the first signs of gooseberry disease, emergency measures must be taken immediately. Moreover, at first it is easier to cope with the disease using alternative methods without the use of any chemical preparations.
Gooseberry Disease Prevention and Control
It is more expedient to prevent possible ailments of gooseberry by carrying out preventive measures aimed at combating gooseberry diseases.
Preventive measures may include the following:
• Compliance with all agrotechnical rules for growing shrubs.
• Prevention of the process of thickening of bushes and timely destruction of excess - damaged and dry branches.
• Collection of fallen leaves with their further burning.
• Regular digging of the soil under the plant.
• Planting of certain plants that repel harmful insects near gooseberry bushes.
• In the spring, gooseberries must be doused with boiling water, thus eliminating the spores of possible fungi.
• Conducting a constant diet to strengthen the immunity of the bush.
• The need to spray gooseberries with a mixture of zircon.
Symptoms, types and control of gooseberry diseases
Powdery mildew - fungal disease and its symptoms
This disease is really a real plague not only for gooseberries, but also for many other crops, which include currants. The symptomatology of this disease manifests itself starting in the spring, after the flowering of the bush. Young twigs and leaves are tightened with a whitish, slightly fluffy coating, which at first is easily erased.
After the plaque begins to cover the ovaries, the berries spread more and more. Gradually, the plaque becomes so dense that it looks like a felt of a darkish color.
As a result of the disease, the gooseberry twigs become crooked, stop their development and soon dry out. The leaves curl, break, and the berries under the plaque cease their growth, crack and sprinkle.
And if such a diseased shrub is not treated, then after a few years it will disappear.
In addition, the spores of the fungus can be blown to other plants by the wind and thus infect them. Even severe frost will not be able to eradicate this harmful fungus, since it feels great in the winter, being on fallen leaves and twigs under an infected gooseberry.
Therefore, the fight against gooseberry diseases, especially powdery mildew, must be carried out all season from the spring to the fall.
Methods of struggle
• Gooseberry bush can be sprinkled with boiling water from time to time, thus destroying a certain amount of fungal spores.
• It is also possible to treat gooseberries and the earth around it with a solution consisting of soda and laundry soap (1/4 soda per 10 liters of water). It is more advisable to spray the plant before flowering.
• Spraying can be carried out with diluted ash. Or simply introduce ash into the soil where gooseberries grow.
• You can insist the tops of a tomato by adding, then a quarter of a piece of grated laundry soap into the infusion. Spraying with such a solution must be carried out once a week, until the disease is completely eradicated.
• You can also spray the shrub with a solution consisting of serum and iodine (a liter of serum and 20-25 drops of iodine are taken in a bucket of water).
• In the fall, the bush should be pruned without sparing to remove all affected branches, and then burn along with the fallen leaves.
• You can also use special chemicals, but this is in advanced cases. You can use drugs such as - “Topaz”, “Oksikhom”, “Fitosporin”.
Gooseberry anthracnose - fungal disease and its symptoms
Anthracnose is a fungal infection of gooseberries, or rather, its leaves. Anthracnose appears, in the form of brown spots covering the leaves like burns. At first, small spots are formed, a little vague, they merge with each other during the course of the disease, thus drying out the leaves. And soon on the branches there are only a few leaves.
Because of this disease, young shoots grow poorly and develop, the content of gooseberries in sugar decreases, and therefore you can’t count on a good harvest.
Methods of struggle
It is imperative to collect all the leaves that fell from the plant and burn them. Since it is on their surface that spores of the fungus can remain.
If the disease has just begun, it is recommended that the diseased leaves be cut off in order to avoid further infection of the plant. You can also spray gooseberries with vitriol (40 gr. Per bucket of water).
If the disease is neglected, it is more advisable to treat the bush with a prepared solution of soda and laundry soap, at least four times - before the gooseberry blooms, after this process, two weeks after the last treatment, and subsequently picking the fruit.
Gooseberry Septoria - a disease and its symptoms
This disease manifests itself as round spots on grayish leaflets with a dark rim on the edges. After that, brown spots are formed on these spots, which are the causative agents of septoria.
The leaves begin to twist into tubes, dry and fall from the plant ahead of time. Thus, after a while, the plant remains completely naked without leaflets.
Methods of struggle
Primarily, as in the process of combating anthracnose, it is necessary to collect all the fallen leaves near the plant and then burn it.
And resistance to this disease will be grafted by the following agents introduced into the soil near the plant - boron, copper, manganese, zinc.
Ball rust - fungal disease and its symptoms
Such a fungus parasitizes gooseberry leaves, appearing on them in the form of orange spots, which subsequently take the form of goblets. Throughout the summer period, the fungus remains on the leaves of the bush. Then, using the wind, the fungus is transferred to nearby plants, where it remains for wintering until spring.
After the disease, the gooseberry leaves bend and fall, and the berries stop developing and dry.
Methods of struggle
Since most often the spores of this fungus huddle on a sedge. That should exclude the landing of gooseberries next to the swampy lowlands. For gooseberries, it is more advisable to select well-lit and warm places.
Already infected plants are recommended to be treated with a percentage solution of Bordeaux mixture, for three times - before the emergence of leaves later flowering and a week after the last treatment.
Gooseberry mosaic and symptoms of this viral disease
Gooseberry mosaic is a viral disease that develops in living organisms of various sucking insects, such as aphids, ticks. In addition, infection can occur due to the use of an unclean working tool after cutting a diseased plant.
This disease manifests itself on the leaves of the bush in the form of a yellow net, in connection with which the shoots cease to grow, the leaves shrink and grow smaller, and the gooseberry bushes give a poor harvest.
Methods of struggle
The fight against gooseberry diseases, namely with viral mosaic is carried out by the complete destruction of the plant bush.
To combat this ailment, only preventive measures can be used - by treating bushes against harmful insects and planting new and healthy gooseberry seedlings that are resistant to various types of diseases.
