Currant pests and their control. My garden, vegetable garden. A collection of dacha experience.

Currants are one of the most popular fruit and berry crops throughout our country. Almost every gardener cultivates it.

For information on how to properly plant and grow currants on your site and about the best varieties, read the article “How to grow currants.”

This summer has been very hot, and the winter has been quite warm, so many pests have appeared in the gardens. Gardeners from different regions of the country complain that currants on their plots are suffering greatly from these uninvited guests.

Therefore, today we will talk about how to deal with currant pests, and how to determine who attacked your bushes, because many harmful insects not only damage all parts of the plant, but are also carriers of serious diseases from which the plants can die.

Hello, dear readers!

If we do not take care in time to protect our currants from all kinds of diseases and pests, then all our hopes for a large harvest of this berry may not come true, even if the most productive varieties were planted and we have perfectly prepared the area for planting them.

And our favorite has plenty of enemies. These include various types of insects and mites. In total, there are more than 70 species of currant pests

Their activity sharply reduces the yield and often leads to the complete destruction of the crop.

Saving fragrant shrubs from the attack of voracious parasites is possible only with the help of active, immediate and competent protective measures and skillful prevention.

Let's talk about the most common representatives of the malicious world, about effective control of currant pests and the most effective folk methods of treatment.

Why do the leaves curl?

Curling of leaf blades is one of the noticeable signs of pest activity on currants. This is typical for damage by caterpillars and occurs in the later stages, when the vegetative parts begin to die off. In addition to insects, leaf deformation occurs due to a deficiency of nitrogen and potassium in the soil or due to insufficient moisture. A similar symptom occurs when infected with fungal, bacterial and viral infections. All unhealthy leaf blades must be removed as they appear. This slows down the rate of death of the bush and reduces the number of pests.

Leaves provide photosynthesis. When they twist, the natural nutritional processes of the plant are disrupted, which leads to inhibition of development and death.

Currant pests

Currant bud mite

The arrogant parasite is one of the most dangerous guests of berry bushes (the pest especially loves blackcurrant varieties).

The parasitic creature enters the area along with the seedlings. Parasites do not like conditions of humidity and high temperatures.

Therefore, they hide inside the culture (mainly in the ovaries).

The tick is a tiny representative of the genus of spiders (its size is only 0.2 mm). Ticks are dangerous not only because of their gluttony. They are carriers of many diseases (mycoplasma, terry). The affected crop suddenly loses its immunity, becomes very susceptible to other pests and may die.

When the plant begins to bloom, its buds wither. At this time, female parasites have to get out into the fresh air (this is the only moment in their existence when currant pests are defenseless).

Parasites are actively looking for a young twig full of juices, in the axils of which they can again take refuge and peacefully reproduce.

Take a closer look at the dormant currant in winter. Are some of her dormant kidneys enlarged?

Swollen eyes are the most basic sign of the disease. In the spring, a diseased shrub will grow its shoots unevenly, the leaves will become deformed, with a noticeable lag in development.

A stunted crop will produce few flower clusters, and most of the ovaries will never wake up.

In summer, diseased plants become very noticeable, they are severely retarded in development and growth, have an untidy bush shape, many shoots are crooked and infantile, there are practically no berries, most of the fruits wither before they have time to ripen.

In the autumn, the eyes begin to swell, many of them take on a round shape, they are different in size, which is very noticeable.

Bud moth

A butterfly whose wingspan is 13-16 mm. It can be distinguished by the color of its wings: the front ones are yellowish-brown, the rear ones are brownish-gray, fringed.

The caterpillar of this species is warty with a light edge. It changes its color depending on age (red, then brown-yellow, and before pupation it becomes brown-green).

During the cold period, these currant pests are found in dense white cocoons. They can be found under the bark at the base of mature shoots. Her favorite varieties are red and white currants.

Pests awaken simultaneously with the beginning of the movement of scales on the buds. Voracious insects bite into the core of the eyes.

After destroying one ovary, they crawl to neighboring ones. One caterpillar can destroy up to 7 buds.

At the very beginning of May, the parasites turn into pupae, and after 10-12 days, butterflies begin to flutter and actively lay eggs inside the ovary.

The bud moth is very prolific - one female can lay up to 60 eggs.

Redcurrant aphid

A small insect of black or green color has a size of up to 7 mm.

Small parasites successfully reproduce on young shoots of plants and suck out the juices from them. Aphid eggs wait out the winter on the branches of the bush; with the beginning of the warm period, larvae appear.

They crawl to the bottom of the leaf and begin active activity.

Aphids are easy to spot. In places of its activity, yellow or brown-red swellings (galls) appear. Diseased leaves curl, darken and fall off. The shoots become deformed and become crooked. A clear sign of the presence of this parasite is the abundance of ants.

Everyone knows that ants and aphids depend on each other. Ants feed on the dew produced by the pest.

Moreover, ants carry the clumsy aphid on themselves, selecting the most appetizing parts of the plant for it and settling it there.

Spider mite

This is another very dangerous pest of black currants, but it does not disdain red varieties.

Spider mites live on the lower part of the crown of plants. In the process of their life activity, mites are engaged in weaving cobwebs, which can be easily detected.

Their presence is also indicated by the appearance of light dots on the leaves, which over time completely lose their color. A heavily damaged leaf becomes marbled, it dries out and falls off.

The plant's immunity, cold resistance and productivity drop sharply.

The tick spends the winter under fallen leaves and can also live in the top layer of soil. As soon as the buds begin to bloom, he climbs onto the bush and begins to damage the crown.

These mites breed mainly on weeds. The dry, hot season contributes to this.

Currant gall midges

Small flying mosquito-like insects can infect all parts of plants. In areas where their larvae feed, currant tissue begins to grow, forming swellings - galls.

Pests mainly damage blackcurrant varieties. Parasites can be of three types: leaf, flower and stem.

Mature individuals are 2-3 mm long, yellow-brown in color. Their caterpillars are initially white, as they mature they become red-orange, and scarlet at the end of development.

All varieties of these currant pests overwinter in the surface layer of soil in the larval stage.

When the weather warms, they pupate, and when the bush begins to bloom, adult insects become active.

Floral. Oviposition occurs in flower ovaries. The inflorescences die, taking on the shape of a ball or pear. When the larvae are full, they leave the bud and go into the ground.
Leafy. Parasites of this species feed on young leaves. That's where they live. Damaged leaves stop developing, curl and die. Young shrubs are particularly affected.
Stem. Pests lay eggs after flowering in cracks on the currant trunk. The larvae actively nest under the bark, where they gather in large colonies. In the area where they live, the bark dies off and the shoots die. With the global spread of gall midges in the garden, you can lose up to 70% of all plantings.

Currant borer

The larvae of this voracious beetle readily eat the core of currant branches. The affected shoots begin to dry out, the bush itself sharply loses productivity, the berries that were still able to form become tiny and frail.

Crawling pests have a flattened shape, slightly widened at the head. They live, overwinter and pupate in the same shoot that they eat.

Newborn parasites appear at the beginning of the summer season, after 7-10 days the females lay eggs on the branches of the bush.

The eggs of the beetles are filled with mucus, which dries and forms a hard oval-shaped shield on the trunk of the bush.

After two weeks, the larvae appear. They immediately penetrate the trunk.

glass currant

A small winged pest of currants is considered one of the most dangerous parasites for currants of all varieties.

The insect is dangerous because it is very difficult to eradicate - the caterpillars of the pest live in wood, in the very thick of the bush.

If you notice in the spring that dried branches stand out sharply among the green foliage, it is quite possible that these are places of pest settlement. Cut the branch with pruning shears - in the center of the cut you will see a dark cavity - this is its trace.

The insect's butterflies are medium in size (2-3 cm), they are covered with blackish-lilac scales, and there are transverse, light stripes on the bottom and on the abdomen.

They appear 10-14 days after the bush blooms (end of June). One individual is capable of laying up to 70 eggs. The masonry is made in the cracks of the shoots.

The emerging caterpillars actively eat the core of the trunk and make tunnels up to 40 cm there. They settle there for the winter.

In autumn, the caterpillars grow up to 2 cm, but do not leave the plant. They crawl out only in May of the following year to pupate.

Gooseberry moth

The small gray butterfly is the most dangerous pest of currants. Its pupae overwinter in the soil under the bushes of the plant.

They appear in the spring, as soon as the temperature rises to +10-13° C. Soon they begin laying eggs inside the flowers of the bush. Sometimes their number reaches 200 pieces.

A week later, caterpillars appear, which cause gardeners a lot of trouble.

The caterpillar actively eats the fruits of the crop; one individual is capable of destroying up to 15 berries. By comparing the number of parasites that can appear simultaneously, it is easy to imagine the scale of their harmful activities.

You can tell that the garden has been attacked by a moth by the presence of rotten berries covered with cobwebs and by the presence of the caterpillars themselves (as adults they are bright green, up to 2 cm long).

Gooseberry shoot aphid

These small sucking insects seriously damage young currant leaves (they especially love blackcurrant varieties).

With their massive invasion, the foliage becomes distorted, stops developing and dies. Young crops are extremely affected by the pest.

The parasite overwinters in the egg stage, which in the fall is laid by females on the stems of young plants in the area of the ovaries. In the spring, when they begin to bloom, small larvae appear.

In summer, winged currant pests scatter throughout the garden and establish huge colonial settlements of harmful insects.

It is quite easy to understand that a garden is infested with aphids: the leaves will tell you about it with their downward-curved edges and curved loop-shaped shoots with enlarged internodes.

Gooseberry moth

The voracious moth caterpillars actively and almost completely destroy plant leaves (these are pests of red currants, but the parasites do not bypass white varieties either).

The moth butterfly is large (up to 5 cm in length), with yellow, bright wings. She lays eggs from the inner area of the leaves in the second ten days of summer.

Adult caterpillars reach a length of 4 cm; after their active summer activity, by autumn they weave themselves into a cocoon of cobwebs, and simultaneously with the leaves they fall to the ground, where they overwinter.

Creeping pests are gray in color and have yellow stripes on their sides. In the spring, they emerge from the cocoon and crawl onto the branches of bushes, where they begin to actively feast on young leaves.

Gooseberry aphid

Damages gooseberries, black and golden currants. Adult aphids are pale green, ovoid-round, up to 2 mm long. Shiny black eggs overwinter on branches and shoots near the buds. During the swelling of the buds, larvae appear. Aphids suck juice first from the buds, then from the leaves and green shoots. Damaged leaves bend their edges down, the shoots become bent and stop growing. At the tops of the shoots, damaged leaves form dense clusters in the form of a lump. During the season, aphids produce several generations. Winged aphids fly away and colonize other bushes. In the fall, females lay overwintering eggs.

Measures to combat gooseberry aphids

Trimming and burning the tips of shoots with aphid colonies.
Spraying bushes before flowering and after picking berries with karbofos, kinmiks or tobacco decoction.

Preventive measures

♦ Effective boiling water. Hot water destroys the larvae of various currant pests that live and overwinter on the shoots of the bush.

At the same time, the bushes themselves do not suffer from dousing, but only become stronger. When carrying out the procedure, adhere to the following rules:

Do not use 100% boiling water. Let the water cool a little.
Before the event, tie the branches of the plant together.
You can pour currants only in their dormant state.

Treatment of currants against pests is carried out during a period when it is already warmer, but there is no green haze on the bushes.

You can also water the plants in winter, when the bushes are free of leaves.

♦ Handmade. One effective method is manual collection of harmful caterpillars.

In the fall, dig up the soil and hill each bush to a height of 10-12 cm with soil to a radius of up to 70 cm.

Pupae overwintering under plant debris will end up at destructive depths - they will be destroyed by the winter cold.

The layer of soil can be removed 2 weeks after the end of flowering of the bush.

♦ Competent care. Do not cut cuttings from plants affected by currant pests; carefully handle and disinfect your working tools (especially after pruning the bushes).

Buy only high-quality seedlings from professional nurseries.

In early spring, carry out thorough sanitary pruning of plants. To avoid the spread of parasites along with planting material, prepare cuttings before the insects become active after wintering.

Monitor the condition of your plantings! Remove old stumps, dry shoots, do not leave plant debris or leaves under the bushes (burn them in a timely manner).

Every autumn, carry out a general cleaning of the garden. Remove all weeds, dig up the soil well, and in the spring collect all the remaining grass and dry leaves.

♦ Down with the ants. The fight against aphids of all types must begin with the destruction of ant colonies.

Try to find an anthill and fill it with boiling water in the spring.

After the ants disappear, you can exterminate the aphids themselves. It hides inside the kidneys. The eyes have an enlarged, rounded shape.

All such ovaries must be collected and burned. You also need to regularly remove excess growth.

Be sure to clean the bark if it begins to peel off - there may be oviposition there.

♦ Beneficial insects. The spread of many currant pests is resisted by such beneficial entomophagous insects as aphelinus, aphidimiza gall midge, trichogramma and others.

To attract them, aromatic honey-bearing herbs (oregano, rosemary, calendula, cosmos, mallow, marigold) should be planted on the site.

Entomophages are also attracted to other plants (parsley, clover, sunflower, buckwheat, dill, celery).

Ladybugs, hoverflies, and lacewings are good for combating many types of parasites. They will appear if there are chamomile, tansy, coltsfoot, dandelions, evergreen shrubs, and ferns in the garden.

Take your time to rid your garden of weeds. We are talking about a swan. It should be left near the currants at least 1-2 bushes.

Quinoa is an excellent treat for some types of harmful insects. The weed is capable of taking the blow, and as soon as you see that the plant is affected by currant pests, destroy it.

Remedies and prevention

An important means of prevention is proper care of tree trunks. Since many parasites overwinter under a layer of fallen leaves, all garbage needs to be removed and burned, and the ground must be loosened and dug up.

For prevention, you can use infusions of onions, garlic, red pepper and marigolds. It is very important to constantly monitor the condition of currant bushes and timely pruning of diseased and damaged branches. If the plant is severely affected, it should be completely uprooted and burned.

Traditional methods

How to treat currants against pests	What to do	Who is it directed against?
Onion	Finely chop the onion (15-20 g), add a liter of water. Leave for 5-7 hours	Ticks
Dandelion officinalis	Pour the roots of the plant (20 g) with warm water (1 l). Leave for 1-2 hours
Garlic	Dilute crushed garlic cloves (150-170 g) with a liter of water. Place in a dark place for 5 days. Before use, dilute 5-6 ml of concentrate with water (1 l)
Laundry soap	Add soap shavings (30 g) to water (1-1.5 l)	Aphid
Wood ash	Ash (2 kg) is diluted with a bucket of boiling water. Leave for 2 days.
Mustard	Pour mustard powder (60 g) with hot water (1-2 l). Let stand for 3 days. Concentrated liquid is diluted with 3 liters of water
Tobacco	Add tobacco (300 g) to a bucket of boiling water. Leave for 2 days and add 30 g of laundry soap
Needles	Leave spruce/pine needles (a glass) in hot water (2 liters) for 5-6 days. Dilute in proportion 1x10
Burdock	Pour crushed leaves of the plant (½ bucket) with water, stand for 3 days	Mole
Sagebrush	Boil the dried plants (1 kg) in a small amount of water for 10-15 minutes. Dilute the resulting solution with 10 liters of water.	Caterpillars and parasitic larvae
Tomatoes	Finely chop the tops. Add it (1 kg) to 10-12 liters of water. Boil for half an hour, then add laundry soap (40 g)
Hot pepper	Finely chopped pods (100 g) pour a liter of water, boil for an hour, leave for 2 days. To use, dilute the filtered solution (10 liters of water, ½ cup of composition, add 40 g of soap)

Plants must be sprayed with such compounds.

You should treat at a distance of 10-15 cm from the bush, this way you will more evenly distribute the healing tinctures/decoctions.

Now watch a video about how to protect currants from aphids and currant moth.

And one more video about how now, without waiting for spring, you can fight the currant bud mite.

See you soon, dear readers and good health to your garden!

conclusions

Currants can be affected by a large number of pests. The provoking factor of this process is climate change, non-compliance with agricultural technology and care.
Glassweed, mites, aphids, scale insects and moths are the most dangerous and common pests for the gooseberry family.
Herbivorous insects lead to inhibition of plant growth, reduced yield and death within 1-2 years.
To combat, chemicals, biological agents and traditional methods are used.
For prevention, it is important to properly care for currants. The garden should be regularly treated with insecticides, pruned and resistant varieties should be selected.

Anthracnose

Fungal disease of currants and gooseberries. The fungus infects leaves, and currants also infect petioles, fruits, stalks, and young shoots. The disease appears after flowering. Small (up to 2.5 mm) brown spots appear on the leaves. In diseased leaves, the edges bend upward, the leaves dry out and fall off. Small brown ulcers form on young shoots, stalks and fruits.

The fungus overwinters in fallen leaves and affected shoots. In the spring, spores form on them, which are a source of infection. Dispersion of spores begins before flowering. The development of the disease is favored by high air humidity and warm, damp weather.

Measures to combat anthracnose

Cutting out and burning affected shoots in autumn or early spring. Collecting and destroying fallen leaves in autumn.
Digging the soil in autumn or early spring with plant residues.
Thinning thickened bushes to improve ventilation.
Spraying the bushes in the spring before the buds open with copper sulfate.
Spraying plants before flowering, immediately after flowering and after picking berries with 1% Bordeaux mixture.

Gooseberry moth

Damages currants, gooseberries, and occasionally pome and stone fruits. The butterfly reaches 48 mm in span with yellowish-white wings covered with numerous black spots. The caterpillars are grayish-yellow, with black spots on the dorsal side. Caterpillars crawl, bending their bodies in a loop.

One-year generation. Young caterpillars overwinter in a cobweb cocoon on fallen leaves. In the spring, during the period of gooseberry buds, caterpillars emerge from their wintering places, crawl onto branches and feed on buds and young leaves. At the end of June, the caterpillars finish feeding and pupate on leaves, branches, and trunks. In mid-summer, butterflies lay eggs on the undersides of leaves. The hatched caterpillars first eat through holes in the leaves, then weave a cocoon and fall to the ground along with the leaves.

Measures to combat the gooseberry moth

Collecting and destroying fallen leaves in autumn. Digging the soil in the fall or early spring with the incorporation of plant residues.
Shaking the caterpillars onto the litter in the spring and destroying them.
Spraying bushes during bud break with karbofos or kinmiks.
In summer, bushes can be sprayed against young caterpillars with infusions and decoctions of insecticidal plants.

Leaf gall aphid

Damages white and red, less often black currants. Adult aphids are small, yellowish, with red eyes. The eggs overwinter on the bark of shoots. Aphids suck sap on the undersides of leaves. Red galls (swellings) form on the upper side of the leaf opposite the aphid feeding area. The growth of shoots decreases, the yield decreases.

Measures to combat leaf gall aphids

The same as with gooseberry aphids.

American powdery mildew

The fungus attacks gooseberries and currants. On the surface of leaves, shoots and fruits, it forms a dense gray felt coating of mycelium and spores. Damaged leaves become deformed and dry out, the tops of the shoots become bent, the fruits stop growing and fall off or remain underdeveloped.

The fungus overwinters on shoots and fallen leaves. In the spring, many spores form on the overwintered mycelium, which are carried by the wind, insects and infect plants. Infection occurs throughout the growing season, so multiple spraying is needed to protect the bushes. The development of the disease is favored by high air humidity, moderately warm weather, and excess nitrogen fertilizers. Potassium and phosphorus fertilizers increase plant resistance to diseases.

Measures to combat American powdery mildew

Planting plantings with uninfected planting material. Cutting out and burning affected shoots in autumn or early spring. Collecting and burning fallen leaves in autumn.
Digging the soil in the fall or early spring with the incorporation of plant residues. Collection and destruction of diseased leaves and berries during the growing season. Spraying the bushes: in the spring, during the period of swelling of the buds, with copper sulfate to destroy spores formed on shoots and fallen leaves; when the first signs of the disease appear, but before the gooseberries bloom or after harvesting - with copper sulfate, azocene or topaz.
To spray bushes during the growing season, gardeners use a water infusion of manure.
One part of mullein manure is infused in three parts of water for three days. The infusion is diluted with triple the amount of water. Spraying is carried out in the evening or in cloudy weather. When sprayed in sunny weather, the leaves may be burned, and the bacteria in the infusion that kill the mycelium die from the sun's rays.

Striped mosaic

If the leaf veins turn yellow and their number is constantly increasing, then this is a sign of infection with a viral disease. It is useless to fight with striped mosaic, just like with terry. The virus is spread by insects and persists in the tissues of the bush. Therefore, the only measure is to burn the bush. The soil at the site of the affected plant can be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.

Rust

Rust is red bumps on the back of leaves that merge into orange stripes as the disease spreads. Fruits may also be affected. Excessive spring watering can provoke the disease. Rust pathogens live on conifers or on a marshy plant - sedge. If there is a wetland or coniferous plantings near the garden plot, then for growing currants it would be better to choose varieties that are resistant to rust.

Treatment

Four times fungicidal treatment with an interval of 1.5 weeks. The first spraying is carried out before active leaf growth begins. The drug Previkur and Bordeaux mixture are highly effective;
A popular method of combating the disease is spraying with a garlic-tobacco solution. Leave a mixture of 1 cup of garlic cloves, 200 g of tobacco dust and 2 liters of water for 3 days. Then add soap solution and a pinch of hot pepper. Treat bare branches with the resulting solution until the leaves bloom;
Preventive measures: complete destruction of infected branches, mowing and disposal of sedge in the area adjacent to the garden, autumn harvesting of dry grass and leaves, selection of disease-resistant varieties.

Kidney mite

If in the spring large swollen buds are found on a currant or gooseberry bush, similar to small cabbage heads, most likely a bud mite lives in them. When the larva becomes crowded in a bud, it moves to another and thus damages a large number of berry buds. The tick is also dangerous because it can carry the terry virus.

Control measures

In early May, during budding, “suspicious” buds must be plucked out. Before flowering, when mites are most vulnerable, the bushes are sprayed with an insecticide (Aliot, Tanrek, Fufanon-Nova, etc.).

Currant glass

Damages currants and gooseberries. The butterfly's wingspan reaches 25 mm. Its body is covered with dark blue scales, and its abdomen has yellow transverse stripes: three in the female, four in the male. The wings are narrow, glassy-transparent. The caterpillar is creamy white with a brown head.

The generation is two-year. Caterpillars overwinter twice in currant and gooseberry shoots. During blackcurrant flowering, the caterpillars gnaw a hole outward and pupate. 10-15 days after the currant blossoms, butterflies fly out. Females lay eggs one at a time or in small groups on the bark of branches. After hatching from the egg, caterpillars penetrate through cracks in the bark, through a bud, cut, wound into the middle of branches and shoots and gnaw out passages in them from top to bottom up to 30-40 cm in length. Damaged branches and shoots dry out.

Read also: Diseases of black currants and ribs

Measures to combat currant glass

Cutting down to living tissue and burning branches damaged by caterpillars in early spring. It is not recommended to leave stumps in which caterpillars may remain.
Bushes should be periodically inspected during spring and summer and pruned with the immediate destruction of branches damaged by glass.
Spraying bushes before flowering with karbofos or kin mix.

Willow scale

Damages currants, gooseberries, and many tree and shrub species. The scutellum of females is white, pear-shaped, up to 2.4 mm long. The female's body is orange, the eggs are purple-red. Develops in one generation per year. The eggs overwinter under the scutes.

Stray larvae are born from eggs during currant flowering. They crawl along the branches, stick their proboscis into the bark in a convenient place, begin to feed on sap and form a shield. At the end of July, the larvae finish developing and turn into females. Here, under the shield, the females lay eggs and die.

Feeding the scale insect slows down the growth of shoots. When the scale insect population is high, the branches and bushes inhabited by it die. The scale insect spreads with infected planting material.

Measures to combat willow scale

Planting currants and gooseberries with material not infected with scale insects.
Cutting out and destroying shoots and branches infested with scale insects in the fall or early spring.
Spraying bushes before flowering with kinmiks or lepidocide.
Acacia scale insects can also be found on currants and gooseberries.

White spot (septoria)

The disease affects leaves, less often petioles, berries, currant and gooseberry shoots. On the leaves, the disease manifests itself in the form of small (up to 2-3 mm) rounded brown spots. Soon the spots turn white, and a brown border forms along their edges. On the stems and petioles the spots are oblong, on the berries they are flat.

The fungus overwinters on fallen leaves and shoots. In May, spores scatter and primary infection of green leaves and shoots occurs. During the summer, black dots of fungal fruiting bodies with spores form on spots of diseased tissue. Spread by wind and rain, these spores cause secondary infection of plants. With severe development of the disease, the leaves fall prematurely and the plants weaken.

Measures to combat septoria

The same as with anthracnose.