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Gooseberry leaves
SherwoodArrow
Posts: 283
It looks like something has been eating the leaves anyone know what it could be?
Iv just noticed it again today but it was eaten like this at the end of last season too.
Nottinghamshire.
Failure is always an option.
Failure is always an option.
0
Posts
Gooseberry sawfly if your leaves have gone in a flash.
I agree - gooseberry sawfly. Little blighters!
these are the bane of my life, i dug them out of the pots this year, changed all the soil to get rid of any eggslarvae from last year and covered the top of the plant pot in coir matting and the caterpillers still managed to arrive and munch away. verdun always recommends spraying with neem oil in the autumn including the leaves & soil and he doesn't have any problems with them.
They are really hard to spot but they are the same colour as the leaves, usually on the underside, right on the edge and about half an inch long, you will look and think there are none but look again closely and you will find them, very hard to spot indeed, squash them or give them to the birds, they emerge from the soil in spring.
Hi,
I also use a spray of diluted neem oil .... it is totally organic. I've had no gooseberry sawfly problems for the last 5 years ... and great crops of berries.
See this link for further info.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
and this one for how to make it.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-insect-spray.html
I use it as soon as growth starts in April and I drench the foliage. Any spare solution goes onto the soil below as the earthworms are supposed to love it. I repeat spray every few weeks.
Neem is best used preventatively .... but will work on pests that have already arrived. It does not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects are affected. The main reason is that insects need to ingest the neem oil to be affected, and beneficial insects don't eat your plants. However, you can still kill beneficial insects if you smother them with neem oil, so I tend to spray late evening to be safe.
It does stink a bit ... but is easy to mix up and apply.
I got mine off ebay .... wasn't expensive for a big bottle which will last ages. At room temperature it is solid, but goes liquid again within a couple of hours in the airing cupboard.
Worth a try .... also seems to work well for lily beetle and aphids.
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
I've got two gooseberry bushes planted next to each other, the Hinnonaki (sp?) red and yellow. Every year the yellow one gets devoured by these pests, and the red one is totally untouched. Picking them off, half a pint glass full last Fri and still no leaves left on the yellow one.
Thanks for your help, iv been picking them off today
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I think ill try the Neem oil.
Has anyone used nematodes for them? How well did they work?
Iv also got a red and yellow bush they are next to each other like yours seacrows, they are all over the yellow one and only on the red one where the leaves slightly touch.
Failure is always an option.