Content
Red currants, like black and white ones, are one of the most useful berries grown by gardeners in their gardens. The berries of these shrubs contain many microelements beneficial to human health. The leaves of the plant are used for pickling and pickling vegetables, for preparing tasty and aromatic tea, and compotes, jams and preserves are prepared from the fruits. It can be a shame to the point of tears if the leaves and the entire plant are sick or suffer from an attack by pests. One of these harmful insects on red currants is gall aphid. We decided to talk about its harmful effects and how to deal with them in more detail in our article.
What is redcurrant aphid
By biological definition galls on plants are ugly swellings on leaves and shoots, painted in different colors depending on the type of pathogen or pest. They are shaped like ink nuts (cecidia). Purple-red spots and ugly formations form on red currant leaves (see photo), and the cause of this is a microscopic insect - the red gall aphid.It can be difficult to see on the back side of the leaves, but it can cause enormous damage, including the death of the plant.
The size of an adult female red currant aphid reaches 2-3 mm; they are wingless or winged, depending on regeneration. During the season, both flying and creeping females can lay several clutches of eggs (black, oblong, microscopic in size), from which green caterpillars emerge. They quickly turn into adult insects and are ready to reproduce on their own. One female aphid can produce about 10 generations of its own kind over the summer. Based on these indicators, one can judge the number of pests attacking red currant bushes, causing the appearance of red spots and swellings of varying sizes on the leaves.
Red currant leaves, especially young shoots, are in great danger from the attack of a huge number of voracious pests that feed on the juices of the plant, piercing the delicate and soft tissues of the leaves with special proboscis.
Aphids that have settled on red currant leaves attract ants, who like to feast on the honeydew secreted by the aphids. Honeydew is a sweetish and sticky liquid rich in proteins and carbohydrates. Ants, protecting aphid colonies on currants, scare away ladybugs, preventing them from destroying the aphids.
Flying from one bush to another, aphids transmit pathogens of fungal, bacterial and viral infections to healthy currant bushes, infecting them and putting them in mortal danger. Red currants (like white currants) are more vulnerable than black currants. She is less resistant to disease and is more likely to suffer and die if she does not receive timely treatment.
Red currant diseases
In spring and early summer, berry bushes are not only subject to attacks by pests; with the onset of flight and the movement of insects, symptoms of various diseases, the pathogens of which are carried by arthropods and winged “aggressors,” may also appear on young shoots and juicy soft leaves of white, black and red currants.
Symptoms and treatment
Disease: anthracnose
Symptoms of the disease: small red spots appear on the leaves, which grow and merge into a large brown and shapeless spot, the petioles of the leaves become thinner, darken, the leaves dry out and fall off prematurely.
Causes: high humidity plus high air temperature (during frequent rains), insect carriers, windy weather, transferring spores from a diseased plant to healthy bushes.
Treatment and prevention: in the fall - treat currant bushes with Bordeaux mixture (1% solution), be sure to dispose of all infected parts of the plant, and burn the fallen leaves. in spring spray the plant with copper sulfate (1 percent solution), dig up the soil near the bush, and treat it with the same solution. Before flowering — you can use chemicals: epin, topsin-M, zircon. During fruiting — use only biological agents for treatment: phytospori, gamair and others.
Disease: glass rust
Symptoms of the disease: currant leaves with this fungal disease become covered with red-brown spots, soft growths in the form of small pads appear on the back of the leaf blade, which can crack and release millions of microscopic spores, infecting all the plants around.
Causes: the presence of weeds (sedge) in the garden plot, on which fungi often find their main habitat. In June or July, mushroom plantations weeds reach their maximum size, the pads containing spores burst, increasing the infection zone in the area from 25 to 300 meters under the influence of wind.
Disease treatment and prevention: in the fall, remove all branches affected by the fungus, collect and burn fallen leaves, do not use in compost heaps. Treat currant bushes in the fall, early spring, before flowering, with special fungicides (see above); there should be at least three sprayings throughout the entire season.
Disease: spharotheca (powdery mildew)
Symptoms of the disease: a gray-white coating similar to flour appears on the fruits and leaves of red currants, then the leaves curl and dry out, the not yet ripe berries fall, and the young growth of the plant stops.
Causes: infected weeds, ingress of fungus from insects, spread of spores by gusts of wind, excessive air humidity during frequent rains, when a favorable environment is created for the proliferation of fungal infection.
Prevention and treatment of the disease: treat the plant at least 3-4 times per season with fungicides; in the early stages, we recommend manually picking off the affected leaves and berries; a soda solution is popular among folk remedies for such treatments (dissolve 50 g of baking soda or soda ash in 10 liters of water).
Disease: red currant septoria
Symptoms of the disease: there are two types of septoria - rusty, when bright orange bumps-tubercles form on the leaves of red currant, and white, in this case the spots are round, gray-white with a brown edging.
Causes: dense plantings of bushes, presence of weeds, infection through insects or wind.
Prevention and treatment: in this case, frequent treatment of plants with fungicides and bacterial preparations, a huge selection of which is offered in specialized stores, also helps. Proceed strictly according to the instructions attached to the packaging of each product, do not exceed the nominal concentration of the substance, preparing from them the necessary solution for treating red currant bushes.
Disease: reversion (terry)
Symptoms of the disease: absence of fruits for 3-5 years, mutation of leaf blades (three-lobed leaves instead of the usual five), excessive growth of young shoots that thicken the bushes.
Causes: infection from diseased plants.
Treatment: There are no drugs to treat or prevent this disease yet. The only way to get rid of it and a measure to protect other plantings is to completely uproot and burn the diseased bush. Unfortunately, this disease has been little studied, drugs and methods of combating it have not yet been invented, but to reassure gardeners, we note that it is extremely rare. In dacha villages and garden plots, where the density of red currant plantings is low, it is almost never found. Reversion breaks out in the territories of agricultural firms, where the technology for growing currants is violated and an increased frequency of planting bushes is allowed.
Conclusion
If you love your garden and protect every plant from pests and diseases, then your work for their benefit will pay off handsomely. Each bush and tree will thank you with a bountiful harvest, will delight you with its healthy appearance, and their fruits will help you prepare delicious juices, jams, and preserves that your family will enjoy all year round.
