If you cherish your gooseberry crop, keep an eye out for gooseberry sawfly, which can devastate the foliage on your gooseberry bush.
They first thing you’ll notice is that the foliage will start to disappear and then when you look underneath remaining leaves you will see little green caterpillars with black dots and black heads. The eggs tend to be laid lower down at the centre of the bush, so you don’t always pick up on them until the larvae have tucked in to the leaves good and proper.
So what can you do?
Prevention
• Regularly inspect leaves from mid –April onwards.
• Cover gooseberry bushes with fine-mesh insect netting for complete protection.
Treatment
• If you do find an infestation, all is not lost – though catching them earlier rather than later is best.
• Look for insects sprays – there are plenty on the market – such as Resolva Bug Killer and Defenders Bug Control.
• Biological controls come in the form of nematodes, microscopic creatures that can be watered onto the bush. These act as parasites, infecting the caterpillars and causing their demise. Look for Nemasys Fruit and Veg Protection