How to destroy a gooseberry moth and save the crop

Gooseberry moth - a dangerous pest of gardens. It is capable of destroying a carefully grown berry crop and causing irreparable harm to green spaces. A dangerous insect is ubiquitous in the middle lane and in the north of Russia, where gooseberries and currants are massively grown. A small nondescript butterfly belonging to the moths reaches a length of 12-14 mm. The wingspan of the insect is 24-30 cm. The gooseberry moth belongs to the order of Lepidoptera. The color of the butterfly is gray-brown. On the wings there are horizontal dark zigzags and dark jagged lines along the outer edge, and in the middle there is a rounded brown spot. The forehead of the moth is convex, has a conical shape due to numerous scales. On the head of the gooseberry butterfly are filamentous antennae.

What does a gooseberry moth look like?

A small gray moth-like butterfly with a wingspan of up to 3 cm, in length reaches no more than 1.5 cm. The front wings are dark gray in color, with light stripes and a brown spot in the center. The second pair of wings is fringed, lighter, with a dark edging.

The departure activity of butterflies depends on the weather and the level of air temperature. As a rule, this period coincides with the beginning of gooseberry flowering and lasts almost a month. Within a week after departure, adult moths lay white oval eggs 0.7 mm in size, first in the bud, then in the flowers, and later on the ovary. Each female moth is able to lay up to 200 eggs. Years of moths in warm weather last several days, in cold weather 1 - 2 weeks. After 10 days, caterpillars 2 to 3 mm long emerge from the eggs with a small black head and 16 legs. Newborn caterpillars are white with a yellow tint, then, as they mature, they become gray-green, with well-visible dark blurred stripes. Their maximum body length is 9-15 mm.

The offspring of moths begins to massively gnaw the pulp and seeds of flowers and ovaries, enveloping them in cobwebs. In one ovary there is only 1 caterpillar, the rest take places in neighboring buds. Caterpillars actively feed and develop for about a month, after which they prepare for pupation. This period coincides with the full ripening of the berries. Having completed the stage of development, in the 2nd - 3rd decade of June, future moth butterflies, with the help of cobwebs, descend from the gooseberry to the ground, deepen by 5 - 7 cm and pupate.

Brown moth pupae with 8 curved spines develop up to 9 mm in length. They hibernate in cocoons made of gray-green cobwebs, 5 - 7 each in the upper soil layer under debris and fallen leaves within a radius of no more than 40 cm from gooseberry bushes. In spring, pupae turn into moths.

Important! One generation of pest butterflies goes through a full development phase in a year.

In the photo there is an adult gooseberry moth:

What harm does gooseberry moth do?

Gooseberry moth is ubiquitous in central and northern Russia and can destroy 50 to 90% of the crop.

The main food of caterpillars is seeds and berry pulp. For a short period, 1 caterpillar is able to gnaw 5 - 7 gooseberry berries. Spoiled fruits turn brown and dry out.

Pest-resistant currant varieties

There are no varieties of currants that are resistant to moth and scabbard. Bushes with strong immunity to diseases are more likely to recover faster after meeting with a pest if they are promptly helped.

The stability of the currant depends on many factors:

• Genetic origin;
• The degree of adaptation to climatic conditions;
• Weather conditions during the growing season;
• The degree of adaptation to diseases and pests.

In the early warm spring, early varieties of currants suffer more from the moth. If the spring is prolonged, harmful butterflies will lay more eggs in the flowers of later varieties.

Table: Recommended varieties of black currant

Name	By ripening period	Berry weight, g	Taste assessment, score
Pearl	early	4	5
Crane	average	1,5	4
Minaj Shmyrev	average	1	4,3
Ant	average	1,1	4
Lazy person	late	2	4,8
Chereshneva	late	3	4

For breeding new resistant forms of red currants, hybrids obtained by crossing the varieties Chulkovskaya, Rote Spetlese, Maarsea Prominent, Jonker van Tets are used.

Table: Recommended varieties of red currants

Name	By ripening period	Berry weight, g	Taste assessment, score
Gazelle	early	0,5	3,5
Alpha	average	1,5	4,7
Krasnaya Andreichenko	average	0,7	4,2
Dutch red	late	1	3,5
Summer gift	late	0,9	3,5

Signs of a gooseberry infection

To determine the cause of berry spoilage and to find a gooseberry moth on the bushes, it is enough to carefully examine the branches of the bushes. Violation of the integrity of the berries, the presence of holes in the peel, entanglement in the web - all these signs indicate that the gooseberry has been exposed to pest butterflies. Every day the number of spoiled fruits will increase, and in the absence of timely protection measures, you can lose the entire crop.

The gooseberry moth quickly enough covers new parts of the plant, creating whole spiderweb clumps, inside which there can be up to 6 berries. Some may appear intact, while others may look rotten or withered. The gooseberry moth does not touch the shell of the berries, eating only their pulp and seeds.

Having poured the spider's nest and crushed the berry, which seems to be intact, inside you can see a rather long caterpillar, up to 1 cm in size. Gradually, the number of good fruits will significantly decrease, and the caterpillars will leave the bushes, going down on the cobweb. This process can also be seen with the naked eye.

Risk group

As the name suggests, the gooseberry moth prefers gooseberries, but it feels good on currants or even raspberries.

In all these cases, they gnaw the outside of the ovary and unripe fruits, and also eat away the seeds (on the gooseberry). Other crops in the garden or in the garden are not afraid of the moth.

Did you know? The moth is still considered the only organism with the ability to digest wax, which is facilitated by the presence of a special enzyme in the caterpillar's body.

How to deal with a moth on a gooseberry

Having discovered the presence of gooseberry moths on the bushes, you should immediately take protective measures aimed at destroying the pest. The main common methods are:

1. Folk - using various natural and plant components.
2. Chemical - the most effective, but unsafe for the plants themselves and humans. They consist in the use of chemicals.
3. Agrotechnical - a set of activities that each gardener can independently carry out on his site.

When choosing the most suitable method of treating bushes from the effects of gooseberry moth, it is necessary to take into account and take into account all the strengths and weaknesses of each method.

Folk remedies

For a long time, the owners of garden plots are not only engaged in breeding, growing and harvesting berries, but also improve the well-known and common methods of fighting moths on gooseberries. Practical experience is passed down from generation to generation and includes the use of affordable, effective tools:

1. Mustard infusion. In a bucket of water, 100 g of dry mustard are diluted, insisted for 2 days at room temperature, filtered and combined with water exceeding the volume of the infusion by 2 times.
2. Needle extract. Two liters of hot water are poured over 200 g of spruce or pine needles, covered and kept for a week, stirring daily. The finished infusion is filtered and diluted in a ratio of 1:10. Plants for pest control are sprayed once a week during the entire flowering period.
3. Infusion of tomato tops. To process gooseberries from moths, 1 kg of tomato is left to soak in a bucket of water for a day. The strained composition is sprayed with bushes once a day.
4. A solution of wood ash and soap. 1 kg of ash is infused in a bucket of water for 7 days. The liquid is filtered and soap is added so that the resulting infusion adheres to the leaves. Infected gooseberry bushes are sprayed during the period of ovary formation.
5. Elderberry powder solution. In 1 liter of water, 10 g of powder is insisted, after 48 hours it is filtered. It is recommended to process gooseberries in the evening, during the period of greatest activity of butterflies - moths. To do this, dilute 200 ml of the concentrate in 800 ml of water before spraying.
6. Infusion of pharmacy chamomile. 100 g of chamomile dried flowers are poured into 10 liters of hot water. Insist 2 days and process the gooseberry bushes 4 days after the flowers bloom completely.

Alternatively, you can use tansy herb, yarrow, and onions.

1. Tobacco broth. 400 g of tobacco or tobacco dust is infused in 10 liters of water for 48 hours. Then it is diluted in the same amount of water. It is sprayed during the flowering period once a week.
2. On the advice of the famous breeder I. V. Michurin, the gooseberry moth, which is densely settled on the bushes, can be frightened off by sticking an elderberry branch into each.

Regardless of the chosen method of combating moths, gooseberry treatment should be carried out early in the morning or in the evening so that the leaves do not get sunburn.

How to get rid of gooseberry moths with chemicals

If, when moth butterflies are found on the gooseberry, all the measures taken to combat them did not give the desired result and it was not possible to defeat the pest, you will have to use more effective, but unsafe methods based on the use of chemicals.

Means of dealing with a strong degree of exposure to pests include "Actellik", "Karbofos", "Etaphos". Such treatment will not only protect the gooseberry from moth, but will also prevent the occurrence of a fungal disease - anthracnose. This disease is characterized by the appearance of small dark spots that fade over time. The disease can lead to almost complete exposure of the bushes by the end of summer and a reduction in harvest. Spraying with chemical solutions is carried out after flowering is complete. If in the current year there is a massive defeat of the bushes by butterflies, then in the next year it is recommended to process the bushes before flowering.

Here are some more tips to help you fight gooseberry moth:

1. Processing branches with a 12% solution of dust. After a week after spraying the branches, scatter about 50 g of dry dust under each gooseberry bush.
2. The soil can be treated with hexachlorane. Poisoned mail will help in the fight against pests and will lead to the death of butterflies crawling on it.
3. During the budding period, the branches are sprayed with Kinmix, Gardona, Iskra, Karate, Fufanon.Insecticidal agents have a wide spectrum of action and effectively destroy the gooseberry moth at all stages of its development.
4. After the completion of flowering, treatment with biological preparations "Gomelin", "Lepidocid", "Bitoxibacillin", "Agravertin" is recommended.

From the end of the treatment of gooseberry bushes with chemicals until the start of berry picking, a time interval of at least 1 month must be maintained.

Attention! The use of pesticides is an extreme measure of combating moths, when all other options have been tried and proved to be ineffective. The effect of chemicals on berries is not fully understood. When poisons enter the soil and water, not only pests, but also harmless insects or birds can die.

If the invasion of gooseberry moths on the site did not have time to take on a mass character, it is better to fight them using methods that are safe for human health and the environment.

Mechanical methods of dealing with gooseberry moth

One of the most effective ways to combat the gooseberry moth, as the experience of gardeners shows, is to dig up the land surrounding the berry bush. The work will require the application of certain physical efforts, but the result will please with its effectiveness. To protect the berries from the appearance of moths and to destroy the pupae that have settled for the winter, it is necessary to spud all the bushes at the base by 10 - 15 cm.

Moth butterflies will not be able to get out from under such a layer of soil. To achieve the best result, it is necessary to take the soil with a layer of at least 5 cm, located between the rows, where the presence of moth pupae is unlikely. In autumn, after the leaves fall off the ground, the soil near the bushes is also recommended to be mulched with peat or compost with a layer of 8 - 10 cm. The resulting mulch can be covered with foil, tar paper or mulch paper. The soil should be in this state until spring. 2 weeks after the gooseberry has bloomed, the surface layer must be removed.

There are many simple, proven and accessible to every gardener ways to combat gooseberry moth with mechanical methods:

1. Setting up traps with fermented juice.
2. Placement of electric and light catchers on the site.
3. Planting tomatoes and red elderberries near gooseberry bushes will scare away the moth.
4. Watering shrubs with hot water in early spring before the snow cover melts.
5. Laying roofing material near the base of the bushes - from the root to the end of the branches. The method is best used in late autumn, when the moth caterpillars pupated for wintering. A densely laid layer will not allow gooseberry moths to crawl to the surface in spring. To consolidate the result obtained for the second year, the procedure must be repeated.

Advice! These recommendations will help to take timely measures aimed at destroying the pest and preserving the harvest. If the next year the gooseberry moth is not completely removed from the site, the procedures should be repeated.

conclusions

1. Fire and glass are one of the most dangerous pests of currants. You need to fight the pest from early spring to late autumn.
2. As soon as the snow melts, you can put a piece of roofing material under the bush to prevent the butterflies from flying out.
3. In the spring, they will help scare off butterflies by spraying with solutions prepared according to folk recipes.
4. In the summer, you need to carefully examine the bushes and pluck all the suspicious bunches of berries. They need to be scalded with boiling water.
5. During the ripening period, to combat caterpillars, it is allowed to spray the bush with biological products. After picking the berries, pesticides can be used for processing.
6. In late autumn, you need to spud the bush to a height of 10 cm to make it difficult for butterflies to get out of the ground.
7. Elderberry bushes planted near the currant will scare away the moth from it.

How to protect gooseberries from moth

In order to prevent and combat the pest, it is necessary to regularly walk and inspect shrubs to detect moths on gooseberries and destroy caterpillars and berries spoiled by them, entangled in cobwebs. This will help to take protective measures in time and save the rest of the crop from the rapid spread of the gooseberry moth. It is necessary to inspect other plants in the immediate vicinity of the gooseberry plantings. So, berry crops, beloved by the moth, - currants or raspberries - can become the source of their appearance.

Natural factors and knowledge of the characteristics of the life of fireflies will help gardeners in the destruction of their population. In a dry, hot summer, moth larvae die, not having time to hide in the upper layers of the soil.

A parasitic fungus called pink muscardine develops in the spring with heavy rainfall and has a detrimental effect on the development of butterflies. Various insects can also help gardeners in the fight against moths, for example, flies - tahinas and wasps of the poached family.

Trichograms (pictured) are released on gooseberry bushes during the laying of eggs by moths. Small insects damage the shell and parasitize on hatched caterpillars. The presence of ground beetles in the garden also reduces the number of gooseberry moths.

In addition, shrubs need good lighting and air circulation. The thickening of the bushes should not be allowed; timely thinning and pruning of gooseberries should be carried out. And with the onset of autumn, it is recommended to clean the soil around the bushes from debris and fallen leaves.

Harm

Considering the question of how to spray the gooseberries, it is necessary to pay attention to the currant bushes. The moth will never miss these bushes. It is not a butterfly that is harmful to plants, but a caterpillar. It produces a cobweb, which braids foliage, flower stalks and fruits of berry bushes. The diet of the moth larva consists of the core of the gooseberry fruit - it gnaws out all the internal contents. And currant berries are eaten directly outside. During its stay in the state of a caterpillar, the moth is damaged about 6 gooseberries, and currants - about 15. The spoiled fruits rot and fall off. With the development of the population, large yield losses are possible.

Prophylaxis

In order not to carry out expensive treatments of Viksne, Jonker van Tets and other varieties of currants with biological or contact insecticides, it is enough to constantly carry out a full cycle of agrotechnical measures. Let's add only:

• planting in the aisles of natural enemies of moths, the smell of which scares away insects;
• covering the soil with dense material that prevents butterflies from flying out in early spring;
• By hanging feeders in the garden and feeding tits and other birds during the hungry winter season, you can protect the garden from hordes of caterpillars. Birds that have made nests near the site are capable of destroying up to 60-70% of insects.