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Powdery mildew on gooseberries is very common, especially on those bushes that descend from old plants planted by the grandparents of the current summer residents. Several generations of gooseberry bushes retain not only the high taste and vitamin composition of their fruits, but also the ability to be exposed to the same diseases as their progenitor. From this point of view, it is much more profitable to plant new modern varieties on the site, because breeders have already taken care of immunity against this dangerous disease.
What is this?
Sferoteka or powdery mildew is a fungal disease that can destroy an adult healthy bush. The smallest spores of the fungus are widely spread with the help of wind or insects that carry them on their paws. The disease recurs for several years in a row. At first, its appearance contributes to a decrease in yield, then the growth of the plant is inhibited, it withers, in the end, it inevitably dies if the fight is not started in a timely manner.
Powdery mildew fungi settle on young leaves, shoots, flowers, even ovaries and fruits, which develop their own mycelium. At first, it looks like a thin cobweb, then it compacts to a white powdery coating, and when it grows, it turns into a brown felt cocoon that covers all the affected parts of the plant.
North America is considered the birthplace of the sphere library. When the infection came to us at the very beginning of the XNUMXth century, it immediately caused a lot of harm, spreading very quickly. It parasitizes the plant, bringing it to death. If the stalk is affected, the fruit simply falls to the ground; if the berry itself is affected, it will no longer be able to ripen.
Mushrooms hibernate on fallen berries, on affected twigs, and in the spring, when buds open, new spores are thrown out that have matured after winter. Berries are most vulnerable at the beginning of their development. After the fruit has grown to half its adult size, it becomes more resistant to the disease, and the whole plant too. Therefore, it is important to delay the maturation and release of spores, and this is achieved by the use of fungicides. It is very dangerous to get spores precisely at the beginning of the growing season, when the buds are just blooming, shoots are growing. In a month or two, they won’t do as much damage.
Doing the treatment of the bush in early spring means taking the necessary measures to combat infection. The treated plant will not only tolerate the disease more easily, but will also be less affected by spores next year.
How to recognize
At the end of May, on young gooseberry leaves, you can often see a delicate white coating – as if sprinkled with flour on the lower branches of the bush. You need to take this very seriously, consider carefully the whole plant. If spores are found on the leaves and shoots in the form of a white coating, it means that the plant is already affected by the sphere library, you need to start fighting immediately. Even if the plaque is easily erased by hand, its amount indicates that the spores have settled on the bush and have already begun to develop mycelium.
Many have seen a berry covered with a light cobweb or white bloom, or, even worse, a brown crust. You can no longer eat this berry. If a person examined this raid under a microscope, it would not occur to him to pull these colonies of shaggy mushrooms into his mouth.
The disease in the advanced stage looks like a hard brown crust on the berry, like a dark felt cocoon that tangled the whole bush, stunted and withered, with twisted twigs that stopped growing.
How to fight
Methods of struggle are different, but the fact that it is urgent to take action is unconditional. The very first thing to do, having suspected infection with powdery mildew, is to carefully examine the entire plant, cut off all the leaves and shoots on which the slightest traces of the sphere library are found. Infected parts of the plant must be burned, preferably away from gooseberry, currant, raspberry, yoshta bushes.
Since the fungus overwinters on fallen leaves and berries under a bush, it is imperative to remove plant debris and dig up the soil around the bush.
Some gardeners, on the contrary, advise putting nightshade tops under the bush, and then watering them with EM preparations so that beneficial microorganisms process all the fallen leaves into compost and exterminate pathogenic bacteria and organisms.
Every year you need to prune, remove not only the old, but all the weakened and affected branches. Plant nutrition matters – fertilizers make gooseberries stronger so that they can resist infection. But it is important not to overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers, because they contribute to the growth of new shoots. The growth of extra branches weakens the plant and expands the zone of possible infection, thickens the bush. The fungus loves shade and moisture; a bush that is too thick creates all the conditions for its own defeat.
A good prophylactic is a hot shower for the bush and the ground around it. In early spring, before the buds begin to swell, very hot water is poured onto the bush, about +90 degrees. You can pour not with clean water, but with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. As a result, most pathogens of fungal (along with others) diseases die, by the time new spores grow, the bush will already have time to get stronger, bloom or even acquire fruits, and will no longer be so susceptible to it.
The best means for processing gooseberries
If you notice signs of infection, if there is even the slightest suspicion of infection with a sphere library, then you need to fight using all available methods and means. Of course, most gardeners prefer to try folk remedies that will not harm the plant and its fruits. Lactic acid is considered very effective in the fight against fungal diseases. You need to take 1 liter of whey (kefir or yogurt) diluted with 9 liters of water and spray the bush three times in three days.
Gooseberries are sprayed with a decoction of field horsetail all season with a frequency of one week. And a decoction of tansy in spring and autumn sheds the ground around the bushes. Before and after flowering, the bush is treated with a soda-soap solution or a solution of soda ash with soap. Three times (before flowering, after flowering and before losing foliage) the bush is sprayed with infusion of onion peel. Three times with an interval of one day at the very beginning of June, gooseberries are sprayed with infusion of wood ash, and the sediment is poured under the root.
With a frequency of two weeks, the entire season, plants can be treated with such well-known biological products as gaupsin and trichodermin. According to the same scheme, a mash of soda, aspirin, liquid soap and vegetable oil is used. After flowering, gooseberries can be treated with a solution of ammonium nitrate.
All these are very effective methods, repeatedly tested by a large number of people, but if they do not work, you should resort to special means. “Topaz”, “HOM”, Bordeaux liquid, a solution of copper sulphate, as well as the sharing of “HOM” with “Fufanon” or “Decis” – these are already stronger drugs, they must be used strictly within the specified time, carefully read the instructions before use .
When choosing gooseberries for your garden, you should pay attention to varieties that are resistant to powdery mildew. Creating thornless varieties, breeders tried to protect them from infection. You should pay attention to the following: “Ural grapes”, “Kuibyshevsky”, “African”, “Grushenka”, “Finnish”, “Jubilee” and others.
Video “Getting rid of powdery mildew”
Delicious varieties of gooseberries are often affected by powdery mildew. This video will talk about getting rid of the disease.
