This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Bare Gooseberry bush
sybille
Posts: 76
It happened the second time this year - my Gooseberry bush is completely bare.
All the leaves have been eaten by small green caterpillars (6 lonely small berries are left) I sprayed with a soapy solution (washing-up-lotion), that killed them, then sprayed with clear water.
2 weeks later the next batch of caterpillars arrived and finished the job.
I normally don't use poison in my garden, but I think I have to change my mind....
The little "worms" are 1.5 cm long, slim and grass green,
What are they???????????? Help please, if anybody knows how to get rid of them,
I don't want them again next year!
0
Posts
Sybille - you could try growing a cordon gooseberry , from your existing bush ie in the dormant season, winter , cut all laterals down to within two buds of the main stem . In spring, before the shoots develop, spray with a biocide eg Provado Ultimate bug killer, and give it a feed of nettle solution to boost nitrogen levels to promote leaf growth. From what I remember you can only use this bug killer twice in season so read the info carefully before spraying. This will reduce your crop significantly but, you can space the plants closer (within 18" of each other) and this makes harvesting and sawfly control easier. Good luck!
Thank you for your responses.
Pansyface (what a lovely name!!) the caterpillars don't look like the one in the picture. Mine are really bright green, but the picture of the bush looks exactly like my bush.
First I did pick them up and put them on the bird table, but they seemed to multiply every night............
Thank you for your advice plotskier, I will try next year, this year I have to be happy with my 6! berries...
its gooseberry sawfly I would bet, you only see them once the bush is almost bare, pick them off and either squash them or feed them to the birds (mine go to my fish) and next year keep an eye out so you can catch them earlier!
Can we still get Bordeaux mixture? I used this to combat American mildew on my gooseberry bushes years ago, and discovered the sawfly caterpillars don't like it either. Without using pesticides, keep spraying with the soapy water if it worked once. I have also tried just picking off the caterpillars, to the extent that I was dreaming of squashing them at night, but I couldn't keep up with the numbers. I understand that the sawfly hibernates for the winter in the soil under the bush, so a good mulch might help. Next year, keep looking for the odd leaf with lots of little holes in, you'll find it has the tiny baby caterpillars underneath it just hatched.
My sawfly babies are either bright green or patterned depending on their age.
I have never heard of Bordeaux mixture.
What I will do is in the autumn I'll change the soil (my bush is growing in a large container) That might solve the problem with the hibernation, and then wait and see what happens next year.
Bordeaux mixture is available on Amazon and other websites. Its a fungicide.
Bordeaux mixture,. how to make your own, 5parts copper sulphate- one part washing soda mix with 8 liters of clean water.discard what you don't use
pansyface - I would just use a plastic teaspoon - 4 spoons of copper sulphate : 1 soda then 8 litres water. - chuck the spoon away afterwards!