If you find a gray-white coating on the gooseberry fruits, this indicates that your plant has been infected with a dangerous disease - powdery mildew. This disease came from America. It spreads throughout the plant quite quickly.
Over time, the whitish coating turns into a gray or even brown tint. It is necessary to combat this disease immediately after the first signs of powdery mildew are detected.
Description of the disease
You can understand the presence of powdery mildew on gooseberries if a cobwebby, loose white coating has formed there. Over time it will turn into brown spots. If treatment is not started, then in addition to the fruits, the disease will begin to affect shoots and leaves, which over time turn yellow and curl.
Cracks form on the fruits and they begin to crumble, even though they are not yet ripe. In this case, it is necessary to carry out treatment measures as quickly as possible. Otherwise, powdery mildew will spoil the bush, and it will no longer bear fruit, and then it will disappear altogether.
Video shows powdery mildew on gooseberries:
Prevention
Old branches and those that produce little fruit need to be cut off. Place tops of tomatoes and potatoes under the bush, and also water them with a solution of EM preparations. The tops will slowly decompose under the influence of bacteria, which will ingest fungal spores. But when the leaves all fall off, remove the rotted tops from the area and burn them. In autumn and spring, be sure to dig up the area.
Another excellent prevention would be to plant gooseberry varieties that can resist powdery mildew. This should include:
But which variety of cauliflower is best to plant will help you understand this
To plant gooseberries, you need to choose only healthy and strong plants that are already adapted to the growing conditions in a certain region.
Fitosporin-M is considered an excellent prophylactic agent. It is based on a concentrate of Bacillus subtilis bacteria. And although the product is considered very effective. It can only be used for prevention, since it cannot treat powdery mildew. But how to treat powdery mildew on currants and gooseberries is indicated
Fitosporin-M
How to treat with drugs
Today in specialized stores you can see different kinds drugs. But they are all divided into two large groups– chemical and biological. Modern fungicidal preparations allow you to quickly deal with powdery mildew. Their active components penetrate the plant cells, treat it and create reliable protection from the development of fungus.
Taking into account what product will be used to combat the disease, the bushes should be treated 1-4 times with an interval of 7-10 days.
Today the following drugs remain the most popular:
In addition, gardeners can use the following chemicals:
Home control methods
To combat the disease, you can use proven folk remedies. The following recipes can be considered the most effective:
Powdery mildew is a common disease that affects various crops, including gooseberries. You can fight it with both ready-made drugs and folk remedies. Of course, it is better to carry out prevention in a timely manner so as not to give fungi a chance to develop. And if you don’t fight the disease, then be prepared for the fact that you will have to say goodbye not only to the harvest, but to the crop itself.
The taste of gooseberries has been familiar to many since childhood. It's sweet and sour, very delicious berry loved by both children and adults. Many gardeners also respect her. Is it possible to do without at least one bush of this wonderful berry on your personal plot, realizing that this is both the most complete source of vitamin C, and a future delicacy, and one of the most delicious jams for the winter?
However, when growing this berry on their plot, not every gardener manages to reap a large harvest with large and beautiful fruits. The reason for this is the lack of knowledge among gardeners about how to protect the bushes of this plant from different types diseases and pests. The occurrence of powdery mildew on the bushes of this berry brings especially many problems and difficulties for beginning gardeners.
Powdery mildew disease
This disease is one of worst enemies for gooseberries, which contributes to the destruction of not only the fruits alone, but also, if measures are not taken in time, the death of the entire bush, since it even affects the roots of the plant.
Powdery mildew can affect not only gooseberry bushes, but also other crops, such as raspberries, currants, and yoshta. It is almost impossible not to notice the onset of the disease in the affected areas. The mycelium of these microscopic fungi creates a specific white coating on gooseberry leaves, which looks like flour sprinkled on them. This similarity gave the disease its name.
Powdery mildew disease can affect not only the leaves and trunks of the bush, but also, as mentioned, the roots and even young shoots of the plant. If appropriate measures are not taken in time to eliminate this disaster, then, in the end, the entire crop will perish, and quite quickly. The development of this disease can be tracked by knowing what time of year it begins to appear. As a rule, it can show its first signs at the end of May. At this time, the gooseberry bush begins to form new shoots. Light appears, which will further promote formation of berry ovary.
The disaster will spread much faster if favorable climatic conditions contribute to it. Spores especially love warm weather and humid air. The disease begins to develop from the lower branches of the gooseberry. If the soil is already infected, then spores can appear without special carriers. In this regard, the disease spreads through the soil lower bushes plant branches.
Beginning gardeners and summer residents who do not take into account or do not know the specifics of working with plants can, out of ignorance, very easily miss the onset of this disease, simply not knowing that it can exist and that one needs to monitor its possible appearance. Accordingly, when the entire bush is suddenly covered with a white coating, such a picture can cause considerable surprise on the part of the garden owners.
This disease will remain white for several weeks, after which it changes color and turns brown. If such a picture occurs with fruits and appears on berries brown coating, then the berries become unsuitable for food. The crust is practically not peeled off of them. Moreover, at the time when it appears, the berries are undergoing a ripening process. The disease firmly eats into the body and structure of the fruit.
If the leaves are also infected with the disease, then over time they curl into a tube, stop growing, and the young shoots change their normal shape and eventually dry out. If the infection gets on the ovaries, then most of them fall off very quickly, which ultimately leads to almost complete loss of the harvest. If measures are not taken, the plant will soon die completely.
Powdery mildew on gooseberries: control measures
Fighting powdery mildew on gooseberries - it's quite a troublesome matter. But even such a complex disease fruit bushes With some effort, you can not only win, but also prevent it. To successfully complete the case, you can use the following methods.
Method 1: choosing a gooseberry variety that is resistant to the disease
The first method is to initially select a special gooseberry variety that is resistant to powdery mildew. When choosing a method with the desired variety, you will only need to trim the infected branches in a timely manner either in the fall, or in early spring.
Although variety is resistant to disease, initial manifestations can affect this type of gooseberry both in spring and closer to autumn. As a result, without critically harming the plant or destroying the crop, powdery mildew can spread to neighboring fruit bushes, varieties of which may not be resistant to this disease.
If you wish to refer specifically to the choice of varieties as effective method preventing powdery mildew, it would make sense to turn your attention to the following varieties of gooseberries, who are resistant to this disease:
- Kolobok,
- Harlequin,
- Ural grapes,
- Grushenka,
- Kuibyshevsky,
- Mashenka,
- Senator,
- African,
- Jubilee Finnish
- Houghton.
These varieties have proven their effectiveness and are very popular among experienced gardeners.
Cut infected branches will need to be burned or taken away from the plants and buried in the soil. The best option there will still be ignition.
Method 2: remove last year's foliage
Also, one of the methods to combat the proliferation of spores is the following. As soon as the first spring warmth arrives, it will be necessary to carefully remove last year’s foliage from under fruit bushes, including gooseberries, and burn them. Detected damaged leaves, shoots and branches must be removed immediately, as soon as the disease is detected on them.
Method 3: spraying
Before the buds begin to swell, gooseberry branches must be treated with potassium permanganate heated to 90 degrees. It is a disinfectant and, most importantly, a hot shower that allows you to effectively disinfect not only all the branches, trunk and shoots of the plant, but also the soil under the bush itself. Then the medicine will flow down to the roots and will have its beneficial effect in the event of the disease spreading through the soil. The solution of potassium permanganate must be made in the proportion of 2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water.
Method 4: feeding
To strengthen the bushes' immunity gooseberries are also used for fertilizing with potassium and phosphorus fertilizers. It is these elements that are actively involved in the formation of full-fledged shoots that are capable of providing adequate resistance to powdery mildew. If you use nitrogen fertilizers, as some gardeners like to do, then in this case this method will be ineffective. On the contrary, nitrogen will slow down the development of the gooseberry itself. Because of this, the shoots will lose their natural immunity and will be more susceptible to powdery mildew than if they were not touched at all.
Method 5: chemical method
Another method of combating powdery mildew is the chemical method. It makes sense to use it when the situation has already become critical. Chemical method consists of spraying gooseberries strong chemicals.
It is advisable to spray before flowering begins. Or, alternatively, this procedure can be carried out after flowering has already ended. Then the result will be more obvious.
Traditional methods of combating powdery mildew on gooseberries
Fighting powdery mildew with folk remedies is no less effective than protecting plants using the above methods. There are also many effective folk ways, which will protect gooseberries from powdery mildew and will even help you get rid of it completely.
Conclusion
Powdery mildew, however, like others fungal diseases, especially respects humidity, unkempt plantings and soil, especially poor in organic matter.
Knowing this, the following measures should be taken:
Taking advantage of these useful tips, you will contribute to a favorable environment for beneficial microorganisms. They will quickly get down to business and begin to participate with you in the fight against powdery mildew, effectively consuming all organic matter, and along with them, pathogenic spores. And the question is “how to get rid of powdery mildew”, it won't be so scary anymore.
Spheroteca, or simply powdery mildew, appears in all its glory on gooseberry bushes in June. White plaque, similar to moss, covers berries, leaves, shoots, mostly young ones. The disease can not only deprive a summer resident of his harvest, but also completely destroy the bushes. How to treat gooseberries against powdery mildew in the spring, what products give the greatest effect - these questions concern gardeners, experienced and beginners.
What kind of “chemistry” should I spray gooseberries with?
A fungus that overwinters well in the root zone, the causative agent of powdery mildew, awakens in the spring and quickly sheds spores, infecting neighboring plants and soil. Although the disease comes into full bloom at the beginning of summer, all preventive measures are carried out in the spring, as soon as the snow melts.
If powdery mildew was noticed on the site last season, in the first days of spring they must take measures to curb the spread of spheroteca and carry out preventive treatment of gooseberries. Experienced gardeners may notice signs of damage even before the buds open.
The following drugs are popular among summer residents in the fight against fungus.
- "Nitrophen". Spraying is carried out strictly until the buds open. For treatment, 200 g of the drug is diluted in 10 liters of water.
- “Topaz” - a solution for spraying is prepared by diluting the contents of 1 ampoule of the product with 10 liters of water. Plants are treated 2-3 times before flowering with an interval of 2 weeks. The drug is moderately toxic to people and pets. It is not used near bodies of water.
- "Tilt CE" - suitable for the prevention and treatment of already diseased bushes. It has the ability to penetrate the cells of the surface tissues of plants, which increases its duration of action. The emulsion for spraying is prepared at the rate of 0.4 ml of product per liter of water. The result is obvious within a couple of hours after use. The drug is not used if there is an apiary or fish ponds nearby.
Also used for treatment and prevention are “Emistar Extra”, “Vitaros”, “Skor”.
You can treat gooseberries before the buds open using proven means:
- copper sulfate – 80 g/10 l of water;
- iron sulfate – 30 g/10 l of water;
- ammonium nitrate – 50 g/10 l;
- potassium permanganate – 1.5 g/10 l of water.
Simultaneously with the treatment of the shrubs, the products are sprayed onto the ground.
At the stage of bud formation, it is effective to use copper oxychloride, dissolving 30 g of the drug in 10 liters of water.
To prevent or treat powdery mildew on gooseberry bushes, do not use colloidal sulfur, since it causes loss of leaves in the plant.
Chemical preparations of the same name are not used for more than 2 years in a row, since the mycelium can adapt to unfavorable conditions.
Biofungicides
Gooseberry bushes are sprayed with biofungicides when daytime temperatures rise above 15°C. They can be used at all stages of the growing season. Planriz, Fitosporin-M, Pseudobacterin-2, and Trichodermin work effectively against powdery mildew.
Excess nitrogen in fertilizing increases the sensitivity of gooseberries to the pathogen.
Folk remedies for fighting spheroteca
The use of folk remedies in the prevention of disease is no less effective than the use of chemical or biological drugs. But the old recipes that came from the people are completely safe for people, birds, pollinating insects and other inhabitants of the garden plot.
The peculiarity of using folk remedies on gooseberries is that the bushes are not sprayed, but each shoot is generously moistened.
- Watering with boiling water
The procedure is carried out as soon as the snow melts. All debris is first removed from under the bushes. Exposure to temperatures above 60°C is detrimental to spheroteca spores; very often such a simple procedure is enough to completely get rid of the causative agent of the disease.
- Wood ash
Ash – good remedy against a number of gooseberry pests (moths, aphids, sawflies, snails, slugs). At the same time, it serves as a supplier of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and reduces soil acidity.
For spring processing, take dry ash and sift it. Dusting of bushes is carried out at the rate of 15-20 g per bush. At the same time, the ash is poured into the soil under the root (300 g/m2) when digging, spilled with water, and dry soil is sprinkled on top.
During the spring, four or five more treatments of gooseberries with ash are carried out, but in liquid form. The infusion, prepared at the rate of 300 g of ash per liter of water, is kept for 5 days, then the bush is generously sprayed.
- Soda Ash
Before flowering begins and immediately after its completion, gooseberry bushes are treated with a soda solution. First, dilute 50 g of the product in boiling water, then add water to a volume of 10 liters, add 1 tbsp. l. liquid detergent.
- Soda with aspirin
Prepare a solution for spraying from 1 tbsp. l. soda, 1 aspirin tablet, 1 tsp. liquid soap, 1 tbsp. l. any vegetable oil, 4.5 l warm water. Treatment of gooseberries begins from the moment the buds open and is repeated every 2 weeks.
Brilliant, common in a home medicine cabinet, also helps get rid of fungus. Add 2 drops of antiseptic to a bucket of water and spray the gooseberries.
- Mullein
The solution for treatment is prepared as follows: 1 part of rotted manure is diluted with 3 parts of water, left for 3 days, filtered, and 3 parts of water are added to 1 part of the infusion. The product is suitable for treating plants before and immediately after flowering. Rotted hay or straw is used in the same way.
- Whey, kefir or sour milk
A liter of dairy product is diluted with 9 liters of water. Spray on young leaves three times a week. To increase the effectiveness of the solution, add 10-15 drops of iodine to it.
- Onion peel
200 g of raw materials are boiled for 10 minutes in 10 liters of water, allowed to brew for 2 days, filtered, and the husks are squeezed into an infusion. Treatment is carried out before flowering begins and after it ends.
- Tansy
Dry leaves and flowers (300 g) pour cold water(10 l), leave for 2 days. Simmer over low heat for 3 hours, filter. The resulting solution is sprinkled on the ground under the bushes after spring digging.
- Horsetail
100 g of dry herb is soaked in 10 liters of water, after a day of infusion, it is boiled over low heat for an hour. The cooled broth is diluted with water 1:5. Horsetail is used to treat gooseberries from early spring until the end of leaf fall.
Spraying gooseberries with fertilizers immediately after the end of flowering performs two functions simultaneously: it feeds the bush leaf by leaf and prevents infection with powdery mildew. A solution is prepared from 20 g of superphosphate, 50 g of potassium chloride, 30 g of urea, 5 g of potassium permanganate, 10 l of water.
How to properly treat gooseberries against powdery mildew?
The first treatment of gooseberry bushes is carried out strictly until the buds open. To do this, select a chemical fungicide or folk remedy, including watering hot water. The period of the second treatment is the beginning of flowering, it is optimal to use biological products or products prepared according to folk recipes. The third spraying is after flowering is completed. Use biofungicides or traditional methods.
Shrubs are processed in the following order:
- To carry out the procedure, choose a dry, cloudy, windless day or the early evening hours of a sunny day.
- Carefully spray the crown, making sure that the product is sprayed on both sides of each leaf - top and bottom.
- The side parts and base of the bush are treated in the same way.
- Water the soil under and around the gooseberries with the medicinal solution.
It is advisable to simultaneously treat plants and soil in nearby beds.
Agrotechnical techniques
It is difficult to achieve a sustainable positive result by treating shrubs alone. It is also important to follow the simplest agrotechnical rules:
- thinning the bush, timely cutting out old branches that produce few berries;
- maintaining cleanliness under the bushes, regularly removing debris;
- refusal of nitrogen fertilizers.
Some gardeners successfully use dry remains of garden and vegetable plants to combat the pathogen of powdery mildew. The trunk circle is covered with tops and watered with a solution of the EM preparation. Beneficial microorganisms happily feed on the spores and mycelium of the spheroteca.
A positive result in curbing the spread of spheroteca spores is obtained by sowing doctor plants under the bushes - garlic, marigolds (tagetes), dill, parsley, mint. The first two also protect plants from pests, flowering marigolds and spices attract beneficial insects.
Protecting gooseberries from powdery mildew is a constant process; the lightest spores are regularly carried by the wind. Spring treatment bushes protects berry bushes from pathogens introduced in autumn. In order to fully protect the garden from the sphere library, you need to constantly monitor the condition of the bushes, prevent them from shading or thickening, spray them with an optimally selected composition in due time, and cut out shoots with signs of damage with a firm hand. Compliance with the entire set of measures will preserve the harvest of gooseberries and the health of all plants on the site.
In this article you will find useful information about why powdery mildew appears on gooseberries, how to deal with it in simple and effective ways.
Powdery mildew on gooseberries - preventive and therapeutic measures
Powdery mildew affects gooseberries very often. Moreover, leaves, branches, and berries.
If you rub these whitish spots, it seems to erase. It was as if, indeed, the bush had simply been sprinkled with flour.
But simply wiping off the stains from the leaves will not get rid of this fungal disease.
What to do if powdery mildew appears on gooseberries?
One of them reads like this:
- it is necessary to cut out all diseased branches, leaving only young and healthy ones;
- spill what’s left of the bush with a rich-colored manganese solution;
- pollinate a bush with ash and not know what powdery mildew is for five years.
This is what powdery mildew looks like on gooseberries
It is absolutely true that affected branches with leaves should be cut out and destroyed.
But there are also other methods of struggle...
- "Topaz" and "Vectra". Here are the drugs that are most effective against powdery mildew on gooseberries. This is what experience and professional gardeners say. True, they also add that “Topaz” today is no longer “the same.” One way or another, spraying with these preparations is carried out twice in the spring, repeated every two weeks. After harvesting, a third spraying should be done.
- Spraying gooseberries with preparations that do not contain “chemicals” is quite effective. For example, “Zircon” or “Fitosporin”. The bush should also be sprayed with “Zircon” three times, as with “Topaz” or “Vectra”, and with “Fitosporin” you can water the bush along the branches and leaves directly from a watering can.
- An infusion of fresh manure at the rate of 1 kg per 10 liters of water helps against powdery mildew. Only watering should be stable and frequent.
- Some gardeners practice an infusion of ash (1 kg per 10 liters of water), but this measure is more of a preventive nature than a therapeutic one.
HOW TO GET RID OF POWDERY MILDEW ON GOOSEBERRY If gooseberries have been growing at your dacha for a long time, you got the bush from your grandmother, and she once took cuttings from her great-grandmother, most likely you are familiar with the problem of powdery mildew firsthand. This whitish coating on the leaves and stems, brown spots on the berries, which can be cleaned off if you try, but it’s still not very pleasant. Old varieties are good because they are tasty and definitely have not undergone any modifications, but the problem is that they are not at all resistant to various diseases. Get rid of delicious variety I don’t want to, but to defeat powdery mildew is the opposite. At the same time, it would be nice to do without toxic pesticides. There are effective folk remedies for the prevention and control of powdery mildew. And they have been tested in practice. The gooseberry disease, which everyone calls powdery mildew, is called spheroteca. It affects all parts of the bush: leaves, shoots, ovaries, berries. At first, the plant is covered with a white coating, and over time it turns into a brown coating, reminiscent of felt. Affected shoots become bent, leaves curl, and fruits do not fill well. The disease is caused by a genus of fungi with the same name, which release spores twice: in spring and summer. Therefore, in a good way, you need to carry out three treatments of gooseberries against powdery mildew: before flowering, immediately after flowering and before leaf fall. In this case, it is better not to spray the bushes, but to wet them, trying not to miss a single branch. In addition, it is important to remember that the fungal spores overwinter in the litter, that is, it is necessary to spill the same product on the soil around the bush. It is recommended to carry out the treatment in the evening. Folk remedies for powdery mildew on gooseberries Ammonium nitrate 50 grams ammonium nitrate dissolve in 10 liters of water. Gooseberries are treated after flowering. Aspirin Soda 1 tbsp. soda, 1 aspirin tablet, 1 tsp. dishwashing detergent or liquid soap, 1 tbsp. vegetable oil is dissolved in 4.5 liters of water. The bushes are treated with this composition once every two weeks during the season. Water Water should be brought to a boil. In early spring, before the snow melts, gooseberry bushes are doused with boiling water directly from a watering can. Gaupsin or trichodermin (biological products) 150 ml. The drug is dissolved in 10 liters of water. Spray gooseberries during the growing season at intervals of 2 weeks. Ash Option 1. One kilogram of ash is poured into 10 liters of water and left for 7 days, stirring occasionally. Then carefully pour the infusion, leaving sediment at the bottom. Option 2,300 grams of ash are mixed with 10 liters of water, brought to a boil and boiled for 30 minutes. Then cool until sediment appears and carefully pour into a clean container. Option 3.3 kg. ash is poured with 10 liters of boiling water and left for 24 hours. Then filter. Spraying is carried out at the end of May - beginning of June three times with an interval of one day. The ash sludge is diluted with water and the soil under the bushes is watered with this mixture. Soda ash 50 grams of soda ash dissolved in a small amount hot water, then bring the water to 10 liters and add 10 grams of liquid soap. Gooseberries are processed twice: before flowering and after flowering. Kefir or sour milk 1 liter of kefir or sour milk is mixed with 9 liters of water. Treatment is carried out three times every three days. Mullein Mullein is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:3 and infused for three days. Then dilute again with water 1:3 and filter. Gooseberries are treated before flowering, after flowering and before leaf fall. Onion peel 200 grams of peel onions pour 10 liters of boiling water and leave for 2 days. Gooseberries are treated before flowering, after flowering and before leaf fall. Whey 1 liter of whey is mixed with 9 liters of water. Treatment is carried out three times every three days. Tansy 30 grams of dry tansy is poured with 10 liters of water and left for 24 hours. Then cook for 1.5-2 hours and filter. Tansy decoction is used to treat the ground around the bushes in spring and autumn. Rotten hay or forest litter A bucket is filled one third with hay, topped up with water and left for three days. Then again dilute with water 1:3 and filter. Gooseberries are treated before flowering, after flowering and before leaf fall. Soda 2 tbsp. soda and 50 grams of grated laundry soap are dissolved in 10 liters of water. The bushes are treated twice: before flowering and after flowering. Fertilizers For 10 liters of water you need 20 grams of superphosphate, 50 grams of potassium chloride, 30 grams of urea, 5 grams of potassium permanganate. Gooseberries are sprayed once after flowering. Fitosporin Take 100-150 ml. drug per 10 liters of water. The bush and the soil under it are treated in the spring before flowering and in the fall after fruiting. Horsetail 1 kg. fresh horsetail is poured into 10 liters of water and boiled for 2 hours. The broth is cooled, filtered and diluted with water 1:5. Spray gooseberries during the summer season at intervals of a week. In conclusion, I would like to say that powdery mildew, like many others fungal diseases, loves humidity, thickened plantings and soils poor in organic matter. Therefore, firstly, you need to try to regularly cut out old, poorly fruiting branches so that air can freely penetrate inside the bush, and secondly, to heal and enrich the soil with organic matter. Instead of digging under the bushes, weeding out all the weeds and removing the litter (what if there is a fungus lurking there?), it is better, on the contrary, to put tops under the gooseberries (the tops of nightshades are especially good: potatoes and tomatoes) and generously spill them on top with a solution of EM preparations . Beneficial microorganisms will quickly get down to business and “chew” organic residues along with pathogenic fungi. We wish you success and great harvests!