Old gooseberry varieties are less resistant to various diseases. Even an experienced summer resident who carefully monitors his landings, the bushes can be affected by a white coating.
Often you don’t feel like cleaning the variety you like, but what to do with the diseases and how to treat them?
Where does the white plaque appear on the gooseberry berry
In mid-summer, whitish deposits and brown spots can be seen on the leaves, stems and fruits of gooseberries. Damaged parts of the plant are twisted, deformed, and fruit growth slows down. This suggests that the plants were attacked by powdery mildew.
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that progresses on gooseberries during spring and summer. Fungi affect the upper part of the leaf, berries crack and fall, poorly developed.
In cold and rainy summers, the development of the disease accelerates. High humidity favors the spread of fungus. In dry and hot weather, the disease progresses less.
Most often, tall gooseberries are exposed to the disease, which are often pruned. Low-growing weakened species that are not adequately cared for are also affected by powdery mildew.
As a prophylaxis and increase immunity plants need to apply phosphorus-potash fertilizers, loosen the soil under the bushes. A progressive disease, the presence of a strong white coating on the berries can ruin the entire crop. If the first signs of the disease are detected, control measures should be applied immediately.
Powdery mildew is transmitted from one plant to another. The spores of the fungus multiply rapidly and can infect neighboring plantings of currants.
How to handle white plaque on gooseberries
Powdery mildew can be avoided by cultivating varieties resistant to its appearance. But if the gooseberries are still covered with plaque, then what to do in that case?
1. It is necessary to begin the fight against the wintering form of infection.
2. Perform preventive spraying three times a season.
3. Increase the immunity of plants.
You need to deal with a wintering infection regularly.. All damaged shoots and berries must be removed from the plant and burned. In the fall, carry out preventive pruning to healthy tissue. Under the bushes, you must remove all fallen leaves and weeds. The soil under planting needs digging and continuous cultivation. Such methods inhibit the development of the disease. In late autumn and early spring, when the buds have not yet blossomed, it is necessary to treat the bushes with copper sulfate. People often advise scalding the bush with boiling water.
If gooseberry berries are covered with plaque every year, then spraying should be done regularly.
• The first spraying is carried out before flowering with systemic fungicides.
• The second time the treatment is done immediately after flowering, with the same preparations.
• Subsequent processing should be no later than three weeks before harvesting.
Well proven in the fight against white bloom on gooseberry berries drugs: "Topaz", "Vectra", "Cumulus".
Folk ways of processing white plaque on gooseberries
Gooseberry plantings, which are not yet very affected by the disease, can be saved without the use of chemicals. Folk remedies for the fight are quite effective in the initial stages of the disease.
It is important to remember that treatment with infusions needs to be carried out several times, repeatedly spraying the bush after rain.
When the berries of gooseberry are covered with white coating, spraying is done with the following solutions:
• ash infusion;
• mullein;
• soap and soda infusion;
• potassium permanganate;
• kefir and sour milk;
• onion peel;
• infusion of tansy;
• field horsetail.
We prepare the ash solution
A good result is the treatment of shrubs with ash infusion. Such a solution needs to be prepared from 1 kg of wood ash and 10 liters of warm water. Insist ash should be within a week, shake before processing. Spraying should be done four times with an interval of two days.
Mullein as a remedy for powdery mildew on gooseberries
Many summer residents successfully treat powdery mildew with mullein infusion. For this, 1 part of the mullein is bred in 3 parts of water. Insist the resulting mixture in a warm place for three days. The finished infusion is filtered and gooseberry processing is carried out.
Soda - the first assistant from white plaque of berry crops
Soda is widely used in garden works. Its ability to fight fungi is lime for a long time. To prepare the solution, you need 50 grams of laundry soap, which is pre-grated, 2 tbsp. l soda and 10 liters of water. The finished solution is used immediately and is not stored. Spraying with soda is best done before and after flowering of gooseberries.
How to make a manganese solution
Manganese can be used to spray gooseberries against white plaque on berries. The solution is prepared from 10 liters of water, where 1.5 grams of the substance is added. Preventive treatment should be carried out once a week and after rain.
How to make a solution of sour milk
As you know, in an acidic environment, fungi quickly die, so sour milk or kefir is used to spray gooseberries during the growing season. For the same purpose, apply serum. For a working solution, take 1 liter of sour milk, mix with 9 liters of water. The finished solution is well shaken and sprayed three times, with an interval of three days.
How to use onion peel from white plaque on gooseberries
To combat powdery mildew and increase immunity, plants use the infusion of onion husks. During the winter, you can collect and store husk from onions, and with the advent of spring, use it to spray plants.
An infusion of 200 grams of dry husk and 10 liters of boiling water is prepared. You need to insist for two days. With such an infusion, it is useful to spray gooseberries before flowering, during the formation of fruits, and after harvesting.
Tansy decoction
Medicinal plants are good at fighting many diseases of berry crops. Tansy infusion is prepared from 30 grams of dried flower and 10 liters of water. Infuse the mixture for a day, then boil for about two hours and process the gooseberry. Hot broth cultivate the land around the shrub in early spring and autumn. Processing should be carried out after harvesting the foliage.
Horsetail infusion
A working solution for spraying is prepared from 1 kg of fresh field horsetail. For this, the plants are crushed and boiled in 10 liters of water for about two hours. Ready and cooled broth should be filtered, diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 5 and treated with a plant.
Decoction of tansy can process gooseberry bushes throughout the summer season. The interval between treatments should be at least a week.
How to spray gooseberries
Spring and autumn digging of the soil, cultivation and other methods are less effective than spraying in the fight against white bloom on gooseberries. You need to handle the shrub correctly.
The finished solution of drugs must be carefully sprayed with the smallest nozzle. Processing leaves, shoots and soil under the bush. First process the upper part of the leaves, then the bottom. When spraying, you need to try to get on all the leaves and shoots from all sides of the bush. The earth around should be moistened with a solution until it is wet.
All work with the preparations must be carried out in calm weather. You can and should treat all the plants that are next to the affected area.
