Fighting The Pale-footed Gooseberry Sawfly

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The pale-footed gooseberry sawfly, which lives almost everywhere, in addition to the gooseberry, often damages golden, red and white currants. The damage to the berry harvest from its destructive activity can be very significant, therefore it is extremely important to timely identify the appearance of this garden enemy on the site and begin to fight it

Meet the pest

The length of the adult females is approximately 5 - 6 mm. They are painted black; the antennae equipped with nine segments are also black, but the legs, wings of the lids and the upper lips of the pests have a yellow-white color.

The size of light yellow eggs of pale-footed gooseberry sawflies reaches 1 - 1, 2 mm, and the length of fake caterpillars is about 12 mm. As a rule, such caterpillars are endowed with yellowish-brown heads and are painted in yellowish-greenish tones. Cocoons of summer individuals reach a length of 7 - 8 mm, and their color is whitish or yellowish-green. As for the color of the cocoons of wintering parasites, it is mostly dark brownish.

Gooseberry enemies overwinter in shiny dark brownish cocoons at a depth of two to three centimeters in the soil. Most often this occurs at the very bases of the bushes among thick roots. And the pupation of parasites occurs in April.

Further, as soon as the formation of leaves begins on red currants and gooseberries with the onset of May and the budding process starts, the pests begin to fly. After the flight, the females begin to lay eggs, laying them in the "pockets" - cuts along the edges of the young leaves. Their total fertility reaches fifty to sixty eggs. Regarding males, it should be noted that they are quite rare - as a result, females also develop from unfertilized eggs. Already 6 - 9 days later, voracious larvae revive, gnawing small holes in the leaves at great speed. And by the larvae of middle and older instars, the leaves are almost completely eaten - only the central veins remain of them. On young shoots, garden parasites often damage growth points. In the daytime, harmful larvae concentrate mainly on the lower surfaces of the leaves.

The larvae of the first and second centuries gradually raise the hind halves of the bodies upward, while the older larvae fall to the ground, curled up in rings. The stage of development of larvae covers five instars, and in general, the process of their development takes from twenty to twenty-five days.

The larvae of summer generations form small greenish-yellowish and whitish cocoons between the leaves (and slightly less often in the soil). And the larvae of the older generations leaving the soil form cocoons at a depth of two to three centimeters, remaining in them until spring. Throughout the year, 3-4 generations of pale-footed gooseberry sawflies manage to develop on the territory of Russia.

How to fight

Pale-footed gooseberry sawflies have many enemies. A huge number of predatory insects feed on their larvae and laid eggs with pleasure. Some insectivorous birds also will not refuse such food - these parasites are especially loved by blue, as well as great titmouses. And false caterpillars are often infected by tahini flies and numerous horsemen from the families of pteromalids and the notorious ichneumonids and braconids.

It should be noted that pale-footed gooseberry sawflies are very hygrophilous insects, and if the relative humidity of the air drops below the limit of 60%, they die en masse.

Under the bushes of currants and gooseberries, you need to systematically loosen and dig up the soil, as well as regularly rake the fallen leaves and remove it. Periodically, berry bushes are sprayed with infusions and decoctions of tobacco, garlic and wormwood. And to scare off adults of the pale-legged gooseberry sawfly, you can plant tomatoes in the aisles.

As for insecticides, most of the preparations used against aphids, gall midges and moths will be effective against pale-footed gooseberry sawflies. Against the first generation of pests, spraying is carried out from the beginning of bud breakout to the stage of bud separation. And immediately after flowering, the bushes are sprayed against the second generation of parasites. Additional spraying is allowed if new larvae of pale-footed gooseberry sawflies were found after harvesting.

Sometimes the caterpillars of gooseberry enemies are collected by hand, shaking them off the branches into an inverted open umbrella.