Gooseberry (Ribes uva crispa) is a perennial shrub from 60 to 120 cm high. Green, round or heart-shaped leaves are covered with delicate hairs. The leaves have sharp spikes at the base that discourage animals from eating them. The shrub blooms in May with small greenish flowers. Green or maroon fruit has a thin skin with clearly visible veins. We collect the fruit successively, from June to September.
Contents:
- Gooseberry - job selection
- Gooseberry diseases and pests
Gooseberry - job selection
Gooseberries, like many berry plants, require a lot of light. In shaded places it does not yield a good harvest - the fruit is sparse and small. This species prefers loamy or sandy loam soils, fertile, airy and slightly acidic. Groundwater should be at least 50 cm below the soil level, as gooseberry roots are very sensitive and rot easily. Gooseberry responds well to organic fertilization, it is planted after manure or green manure.
Bushes are best planted in the fall, when the soil is sufficiently moist, which promotes rooting before winter. Plants are planted in holes 5-7 cm deeper than in the nursery. The shrubs have wide crowns, so we plant them at a spacing of 1.5 m x 2.0 m depending on the form. The soil around the plants should be mulched to reduce water evaporation from the soil and limit the development of weeds.
Not enough water, even for a short period of time, significantly affects the gooseberry yield. Therefore, in dry periods, we should water the bushes even every day, and not less frequently than every 3 days.
In order for the gooseberry bush to develop well and give tasty fruit, we must regularly loosen the soil. The gooseberry root system is shallow, so be very careful during the work. Regular weeding is just as important as loosening. The developing weeds limit the air movement and increase its humidity, exposing the gooseberries to the occurrence of fungal diseases.
If the soil was properly prepared and fertile before planting the bushes, then in the first two years the mineral fertilization of the bushes is limited to nitrogen only. In the following years, we feed the bushes twice a year. The first fertilization is recommended after flowering. This will have a good effect on the development of shoots and increase the yield. The second dose is usually given after the fruit has been harvested.
Cutting, which determines the yielding of the bush, is an extremely important operation in the cultivation of gooseberries. After planting, young plants should be trimmed over 1-2 buds. Thanks to this, in the spring of the following year, many new, strong skeletal shoots will grow. The following year, remove all weak shoots, and trim the ones that are left to a height of 30 cm above the ground. The gooseberry bears fruit on 2-year-old shoots, so we should regularly cut the oldest shoots - 5-6 years old. For sanitary reasons, every spring we remove all damaged, sick and infected shoots.
Gooseberry diseases and pests
The biggest problem in the cultivation of gooseberries is low resistance to diseases and pests.
American gooseberry mildew is one of the most common and dangerous diseases of gooseberry. The white coating of mycelium is visible both on the shoots, leaves and fruits of the gooseberry. Infected bushes stop growing and small, unstoppable fruits are unfit for consumption.
The spots appearing initially on the lower leaves and turning brown with time are a symptom of currant leaf anthracnose. The disease is favored by high temperature, frequent rainfall and high air humidity. As the disease progresses, all leaves become yellow and fall off.
It is worth strengthening the plant with natural nettle or burdock sprays!
Gray mold is a disease of damp and cool aura. It infects all above-ground parts of plants, manifesting itself in the form of necrotic, enlarging spots. Infected organs die and wilt and fruit rot.
In plant protection, prevention is very important - removing infected shoots, raking infected leaves and using plant extracts and slurries for watering and spraying ecological plant manure. Plant preparations are also a great alternative to chemical pesticides against fungal diseases.
The most common pests attacking gooseberries include aphids and spider mites - they feed on plant sap, weakening them and affecting their condition.Spider mites are invisible to the naked eye. They like to colonize the underside of leaves, buds and young shoots. You can recognize them by small spider webs, thanks to which these arachnids move efficiently. Aphids, on the other hand, are easy to observe because they appear in large numbers on young parts of plants.
Edgewalls are extremely dangerous for shrubs - beetles, the larvae of which feed on plant roots. Also the May beetle grubs take a liking to gooseberry roots as their favorite food. The damaged root system does not provide the plants with enough water and nutrients, and they wilt and die.
There is a whole arsenal of natural ways to get rid of these pests. Before using chemical preparations, it is worth applying liquid manure and weed extracts or spraying with soap or oil.
