Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Soft fruit problems

Dewi MorganDewi Morgan Posts: 10
in Fruit & veg

I have a gooseberry and whitecurrant bush in my garden, both mature and well established, but for the past two years they have been attacked by something that completely strips the foliage, just leaving the bare branches and the fruit,

 The fruit appears unaffected by this but it is unsightly. Any ideas on what it could be and how to remedy it next year (preferably organically)?.

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,613

    Gooseberry sawfly.

    For organic, you just have to pick the larvae off by hand. The plant will recover. Encourage the blue tits with fat balls.

  • Dewi MorganDewi Morgan Posts: 10

    Thanks for that, Will keep a closer eye on them next year.

  • Dewi MorganDewi Morgan Posts: 10

    During the winter I smeared grease on the main stem of the bushes, hoping this would stop the larvae climbing the plants to get at the leaves.

    So far so good. Hardly any damaged leaves and the plants are looking strong and healthy.

  • bekkie hughesbekkie hughes Posts: 5,294
    If you are very lucky, you can spot the eggs. You need to keep under the bushws clear too, but once you have disturbed the life cycle a couple of times they are fairly easy to deal with.

    I chucked some nread down by mine this year to get the resident sparrows to sort em out- seems to have done the trick. image
Sign In or Register to comment.