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Dense white cobwebs on currant branches. How to deal with spider mites on currants. Treatment with garlic infusion

Currants are a fairly popular garden crop in our country that do not require special care and attention to yourself. However, even this unpretentious bush can be spoiled by an invasion of pests. Bud and spider mites are the number one enemies of currants. Despite the fact that the insects are very small, they take over the plant with their numbers.

If measures are not taken in time, it may die completely.

Spider mite: description and signs of appearance

Spider mite - a real scourge of gardens, because of which many crops perish. These invisible insects literally suck the life out of the plant. In addition, they do not die in winter. Female spider mites quietly overwinter under fallen leaves, and in the spring they crawl onto plants to lay their eggs there, so curing shrubs is quite problematic.

White and red currants are more susceptible to spider mites than black ones. On these bushes, signs of ticks appear as follows. On individual leaves White microscopic dots appear, which darken over time. Then the dots become more numerous, and soon they completely cover the leaf plates. In addition, you can find a thin web on individual bunches of berries.

Why is mite dangerous for currants?

Spider mites, digging into the leaves of a bush, suck them out nutrients and juices, chlorophyll. Without these substances, the normal functioning of the plant is impossible, which means it will affect the harvest. In addition, being attacked by pests and gradually weakening, the shrub has an increasing chance of contracting some disease. This is especially true black currant. It is mostly susceptible to powdery mildew infection. That is why it is necessary to get rid of spider mites in a timely manner.

At first, small white dots form on the leaves, which darken over time. The foliage darkens, curls, falls, after which the pests move to the stems of the bush and its fruits, and the leaves become entangled in cobwebs.

IN summer heat insects multiply quickly, leaving hundreds of eggs behind. Eggs within three days turn into larvae, which also harm the crop. The lifespan of one tick is short - only a day. But during this day the insect can lay up to several hundred eggs.

Spider mites on currants: how to fight

Methods for controlling spider mites may differ depending on the time of treatment of the bush. Let's figure out the difference between treating a bush before flowering and during fruiting.

How to get rid of mites before currants bloom

Start processing the currant bush better before flowering, namely before the formation of the ovary. Otherwise, there may be no harvest at all this season. The control methods described below are suitable for both red and white and black currants.

If the above methods of control do not work, the use of chemicals is inevitable.

How to get rid of mites during currant fruiting

If the currant ovary has occurred successfully, and there are only a few traces of mites, take radical measures there is no point in fighting. The methods described above are suitable here: irrigation and further wrapping with film, tearing off damaged leaves, jars of turpentine and ammonia. If pests are actively multiplying and do not think about getting out of your area, you can use biological products. You should not treat the bush with chemicals during currant fruiting.

Anti-tick products

So, now, more about methods of combating spider mites. All available funds against ticks can be divided into three parts:

• chemicals;
• biological method;
• folk remedies.

There is more radical method. If the insects have not yet managed to infest the entire garden, the infected parts of the plants can be removed and immediately burned. It is not recommended to leave torn branches and leaves on the ground even for a short time, since pests can quickly spread to neighboring healthy plants.

Pest control with chemicals

Use of pesticides justified only if the treatment occurs during flowering or before it begins. During the fruiting period, the bush cannot be processed, since eating such berries is very dangerous. However, if the plant is already severely affected by the mite and there is no question of saving it, you can treat it along with the berries to save the neighboring bushes. Of course, you can’t eat such berries.

Spider mites do not die from any pesticides. Chemical acaricides are most often used against it. When using such a product, you must follow the instructions on the package and spray according to the specified scheme. Removing ticks with chemicals is complicated by the fact that eggs and larvae are not afraid of chemicals. That is why the bush is processed in several stages. Thus, several generations of ticks are destroyed at once. Traditional for currants the following drugs are used:

• Sunmite;
• Apollo;
• Floromite;
• Oberon.

The safest drugs for animals and humans- these are preparations based on colloidal sulfur and hormonal acaricidal:

• Nissan;
• Kontos;
• Envidor;
• Forbid 4F.

It is best to use such preparations in the spring, when pests actively begin to breed. For better effect Spraying can be repeated after 10-12 days.

Biological control

Not the most common and simple method of combating spider mites - breeding insects that feed on mites in the garden. These insects include:

• bedbugs;
• ladybug;
• lacewing;
• carnivorous mites.

Carnivorous mites include Phytoseiulus and Amblyseius. They can be purchased both online and in stores for gardeners and flower growers. The biological method is the most expensive, since for one currant bush you will need several packages of such “predators”. One package is designed for one indoor plant.

Fighting with folk remedies

Folk remedies mean spraying shrubs with decoctions and infusions of herbs that have a pungent odor or bitterness. The following formulations are considered the most effective:

• onion or garlic gruel mixed with water and infused for 24 hours;
• infusion of shag or tobacco;
• infusions of calendula, celandine, yarrow, dandelion, wormwood, dope;
• onion peel decoction;
• decoction of unripe walnuts;
• infusion of potato tops.

The only disadvantage of this approach is the need to repeat the spraying procedure many times, since the smell quickly disappears. In order for the “aroma” to last longer, it is better to carry out the procedure at night, and not in the afternoon heat.

Prevention measures

Some gardening work can protect you from insect pests. Despite the apparent complexity, preventive measures will not cause you any difficulties.

These simple measures will help you avoid pest control or prevent them from recurring.

The bud mite population, increasing, gradually fills the bud, and this stops the development of shoots and leaves of the plant. In addition, the affected currant bud becomes a source of a virus that causes infection of the entire plant.
The kidney mite or Cecidophyopsis ribis looks like a very small worm, the body of which is slightly more than 0.15 mm long and 0.04 mm wide. These mites live in the kidneys berry plants, where all stages of development take place.

Being in one currant bud, mites can develop over five generations. It is worth adding that a female kidney mite can lay up to hundreds of eggs at a time.

Did you know? The Latin name for currant is “ribes”. The name of this plant was given by the Arab conquerors of sunny Spain (711 BC), who found the taste of black currant very similar to the taste of rhubarb, called “ribas” in Farsi. The name stuck, and since then botanical name currant sounds exactly like that.

What harm does it do?

Cecidophyopsis ribis contributes to significant yield losses in blackcurrant berries. In total, about 20 percent is lost. All this makes currant cultivation less profitable, because the bushes produce less high-quality and marketable harvest.

By colonizing one or more buds, the mite multiplies rapidly and increases its living space by colonizing the next buds on the same bush or moves to neighboring bushes.

But the most unpleasant thing is that plants infected with bud mites are almost impossible to cure, and they must be uprooted and removed from the garden for sanitary purposes.
Instead of the expected monetary profit or berry harvest, the gardener will be left without even a berry plantation.

Signs of defeat

Mites suck the juice from the plant at the cellular level, and at the same time introduce enzymatic substances into the cells that disrupt the growth and differentiation of flower buds.

Black currant buds affected by the mite are clearly formed; they look definitely larger and more convex compared to healthy buds. Often most of these are subsequently destroyed on the plant without ever blooming.

Bushes affected by the pest have a small increase in young growth. Leaves on infected plants are smaller in volume and thinner than healthy leaves. They often have longer petioles than healthy leaves.
If the fruits on such bushes ripen, they have a sour taste, small or underdeveloped berries, and ripen unevenly.

Did you know? Blackcurrant served as the basis for making berry mash among the ancient Russians. The aromatic berries contained enough natural sugars for a full fermentation process and the preparation of a high-quality intoxicating drink. Girls in Rus' also used currant juice to cleanse their faces of freckles.

How to deal with bud mite on currants

Cecidophyopsis ribis is widespread in our latitudes. One of the reasons for this is the refusal to use chemicals(endosulfan, amitraz and carbosulfan), previously used in industrial and home cultivation.

It's a pity, but currently there are no chemicals approved by sanitary supervision active substances to combat bud mite on currants. It is recommended to dig up by the roots and destroy by fire plants infected with this pest.
New plantations of berry bushes should be planted only from seedlings that are not affected by the pest and taken from qualified nurseries with a good reputation, located away from areas where the disease is spread.

Agrotechnical techniques

Proper agricultural technology is the most an important condition For successful cultivation healthy berry bushes. Progressive agrotechnical simplifications of costs in growing currants only lead to an increase in the number of pests.

The use of too dense plantings in berry gardens, refusal to cultivate the soil between rows of bushes, and failure to observe crop rotation are factors that increase the likelihood of mass outbreaks of pests.

Proper agricultural practices include:

• choosing a location for the future berry garden;
• taking into account soil type;
• mandatory crop rotation within the prescribed period;
• soil cultivation under bushes and between rows;
• preparation and disinfection of seedlings before planting;
• regular weed control;

• constant visual inspection of the plantation to detect pests;
• destruction of infected buds and pruning or complete elimination of diseased bushes;
• destruction of infected plant debris using fire.

You can fight this pest like you do with others. garden pests berry bushes. After the currants shed their leaves in the fall, you need to inspect each bush for damage to fruit buds or branches by bud mites.
If there are only a few infected buds on the plant (enlarged, swollen), then they are removed using pruning shears. If most of the plant is affected, then it is useless to save it.

It is best to cut all branches (down to the ground), underground root system The bush will throw out new young branches in the spring, in which there will be no mites, since they overwinter only in the above-ground part of the plant.

This technique not only heals the bush, but also rejuvenates it. A similar agricultural technique is applied to valuable currant varieties, or if it is impossible to obtain this improved variety for planting a new currant.

Chemicals

Currants need to be processed before flowering, as soon as the bush begins to throw out tassels of flower stalks.
It is at this time that pests that have overwintered and have significantly increased their population begin to migrate from their “winter hut” to young and not yet infected branches. During this period, they can be destroyed using chemical non-systemic drugs.

Important!The kidney mite is not an insect! It will not be possible to destroy it with insect poisons.

To destroy ticks, take. Berry gardens in private gardens should be treated with products containing small amounts of toxins.

It must be remembered that currant bushes infected with bud mites cannot be treated with a solution of colloidal sulfur - it causes severe burns on the sensitive bark.

At spring treatment acaricidal drugs are used that act at the hormonal level and are not as toxic as organophosphates.

Acaricides used:

• "Nissoran";
• "Oberon"
• "Judo"
• "Forbid 4F";
• "Envidor";
• Movento;
• "Kontos"
• "Apollo"
• "Neoron";

Since these drugs are not too strong, and mites migrate within a month, two or three such procedures need to be carried out. The break between procedures should be at least ten days.

Organophosphorus systemic acaricides have a more effective effect, but they should not be used berry crops It is possible only after the end of the harvest:

• "Phosfamide";
• "Famidofos";
• "Rogor-S";
• "Dimethrin";
• "Accent";
• "Pilarmax";
• "Danadim."

Biological products:

Did you know? Another name for currant berries in Rus' is monastery berry. Currants were grown in monastery gardens and used for food, making medicines and berry infusions. Monastic chronicles of the Pskov and Novgorod regions contain references to the cultivation of currants by monks in the 11th century. To private gardens and household plots currants came only in the 16th century.

First, second and third treatments: The time for this procedure is determined by the appearance of the first full-fledged leaves and the release of peduncles on the currant. The air temperature during processing must be at least +5 °C, at low temperatures, rain or frost, the treatment will not have the desired effect.

Berry bushes are treated by spraying with biological pesticide preparations against pests (“Aktofit”, “Bitoxibacillin”, “Fitoverm”).

Treatment with one of the selected drugs is carried out weekly; three such procedures must be carried out. The pause between procedures should be seven days.

Treatment with sulfur-containing products: from the time the buds begin to bloom until the end of the month, a massive emergence of pests and their further migration throughout the garden will begin.
At this time, it is very convenient to influence pests using treatments with preparations containing sulfur (lime-sulfur decoction). As soon as the currant buds begin to unfold, you can carry out the first treatment with a 2% lime-sulfur decoction.

After about a decade or as soon as the bush has finished flowering, re-treatment with a 1% decoction is carried out. At the same time, plants can be treated with a solution of colloidal sulfur and water.

When spraying bushes, try to carefully treat each currant branch and bud.

Did you know? Russian epics mention the name of the river Smorodinovka or Smorodina. It was on the Smorodina River that the epic hero fought with the three-headed serpent Gorynych and defeated him. It is clear that the name of the ancient river was given in honor of the delicious berries growing abundantly along its banks.

Popular measures

Gardeners have long learned to find control over the malicious pest of currant bushes with the help of folk recipes. There are many means to destroy kidney mites: pouring boiling water over them, garlic water, mustard and dandelion infusions, the use of sulfur solutions.

Treatment of berry bushes with boiling water.

This treatment is carried out in early March, even before the buds on the plant swell. At this time, there is usually still snow under the bushes. In order to carry out this procedure correctly, you need to tie a lush bush in the form of a “broom”, tilt it towards the ground and fix it like that for the duration of the procedure.

A bucket of water is heated and brought to a boil, after which the water is poured into a metal garden watering can and the currant bushes are thoroughly watered along the branches and bark.
Hot water destroys mites overwintering in the buds, destroys spores of fungal diseases overwintering on plants and in the root zone ( powdery mildew and others), increases plant immunity.

Some experienced gardeners can pour boiling water over currants late autumn(early-mid November). At this time, the mite-infected kidneys are already clearly visible - they are several times larger than healthy ones.

Treatment with garlic infusion.

To prepare the infusion, take 200 grams, peel it and pass it through a meat grinder (garlic grinder). The crushed garlic pulp is poured into 10 liters of water and left to infuse for 2-3 hours.
The finished infusion is filtered through a strainer or gauze folded in two or three layers. Currant bushes are sprayed with strained garlic infusion.

Mustard infusion against ticks.

200 grams of dry mustard are poured with 10 liters of water and left overnight to infuse. In the morning, the solution is filtered through a fine strainer, poured into a spray tank and the plants are treated.

Dandelion infusion.

• 200 grams of dandelion roots (peeled from the soil and washed);
• 50 grams;
• 10 liters of water.

The roots and leaves are passed through a meat grinder, the chopped plant mass is placed in a ten-liter bucket and filled to the top of the container with water. The contents of the bucket are mixed well and left for a couple of hours to infuse.

At the end of this time, the infusion is ready for use. Before using the infusion, you need to strain it.

Treatment with colloidal sulfur solution.

10 grams of the drug is poured into a large metal or plastic container and filled with ten liters cold water, mix thoroughly, close the lid tightly and leave for 10-15 minutes.

After this, the solution is ready, it can be used to treat black and red currant bushes and gooseberries.
« stench» , which means« smell» (Now« stench» associated with unpleasant smell, but with our ancestors everything was different), since the aroma of currants, especially black ones, is quite noticeable due to the high concentration of essential oils.

Red currant:

• "Beloved";
• "Red Cross";
• "Jonker van Tets";
• "Cherry Vixne";
• "Chulkovskaya";
• "Ilyinka";
• "Ural Beauty";
• "Lights of the Urals";
• "Scarlet Dawn"

White currant:

• "Snezhana"
• "White Fairy";
• "Bayan";
• "Squirrel";
• "Versailles white"

Selected currant seedlings can be purchased in nurseries and specialized gardening stores various countries(Russia, Ukraine, Poland). The gardener needs to choose those that are most suitable for the given climatic conditions.

We must not forget that over time, even the most productive and disease-resistant currant variety gradually loses its qualities. The immunity of an old plant is weakened by age, and it may well be infested with currant bud mite.

Prevention

If you are just planning to plant a currant berry garden, then you should take some measures to ensure that you have healthy plants and a full harvest of berries in the future.

1. Choose varieties that are resistant to common currant diseases and pests.
2. Take cuttings for propagation only from healthy plants that are not infected with pests and diseases.
3. In the off-season (late autumn, winter, early spring) carry out a visual inspection and destruction of infected buds on the bushes.
4. Remove any diseased bushes found from the berry plantation and burn them.
5. Carry out preventive treatments against diseases and pests with chemical and biological preparations in a timely manner.
6. Carry out sanitary treatment of purchased planting material.

Important! Be sure to treat purchased (donated) young seedlings before planting. The best method for disinfection is heat treatment- seedlings are flooded hot water (40 ° C) for 15-20 minutes. After heat treatment, the seedlings are soaked in the Fitoverma solution. It must be prepared exactly according to the instructions included with the drug.

For preventative purposes, cloves or aerated garlic bulbs can be planted densely in the spaces between currant rows. Garlic spreads phytoncides in the air and soil, which are especially unloved by the bud mite. It is advisable to carry out such planting every spring; this will serve as another type of protection for currants.

The currant bud mite (Cecidophyopsis ribis) poses a danger not only to white, red and black currant plantings - it will also happily settle on gooseberry bushes.

To prevent pests from infesting your garden and destroying the future harvest, do not be lazy to regularly inspect plants and prevent diseases; purchase only healthy planting material from a reliable manufacturer.

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Many gardeners grow currants, as they are extremely unpretentious plant, which gives people useful and delicious berries. Its leaves and shoots are often used for cooking various decoctions and infusions, added to tea, dried. You should properly care for the crop and ensure that it is not attacked various diseases and insects. The most insidious and dangerous pest- spider mite. He has small size, can destroy the entire crop. Due to its impact, the plant dies.

Causes of pests

To prevent spider mites from spoiling the crop, it is necessary to prevent its appearance.

There are several reasons why a bush may be at risk.

If you are not careful about this and do not eliminate the causes of the pest, it will definitely attack the plant and leave the gardener without a decent harvest.

Females are capable of laying two hundred eggs in 24 hours. A comprehensive control should be carried out to get rid of not only adult ticks, but also eggs.

Signs of defeat

Initially, the disease may appear as dots yellow located on the leaf blades of the plant. These marks are traces of tick bites. Soon the leaves turn yellow and then begin to dry out and die. The plant becomes weak. Sometimes there may be a small cobweb on the bush. This also indicates that the crop is affected by mites. Pests create nests using webs. In the spring, the tick infestation is more active, at which time females begin to lay eggs.

To find out that a bush is infected, you should carefully examine it and pay attention to a variety of symptoms:

• If mites settle in the buds of a crop, winter time they swell and become large.
• If the pests are on the bush quite long time, it will not produce young shoots. If the plant nevertheless begins to grow, the leaf blades look frail and inferior. When mite buds open, gardeners will see a variety of pests.
• In summer, the crop develops poorly, the berries fall, do not have time to ripen, the shoots are crooked and weak.

Processing agents

Some believe that it is better to get rid of pests using folk remedies, since they are more accessible and extremely effective. Others use chemicals. It is better to use the second option if traditional methods are unsuccessful. If a person decides to use a chemical, the plant needs to be treated only before the bush begins to bloom, since the drug gets into the pulp of the fruit, spoils it and can harm the human body.

If the plant was processed after flowering, you should not eat the crop.

Traditional methods

The most safe options There are traditional methods for getting rid of ticks from a bush. Almost all the ingredients are free, since most recipes include improvised means or parts of any plants that grow everywhere. Infusions and solutions created from such ingredients are not capable of harming people or plants. You can get rid of insects using a powerful jet of water.

By good means for any type of ticks there are ordinary infusions, the main ingredient of which is plants that have a strong odor or bitterness.

There are many compounds that will help protect against pest attacks:

• If the number of mites is small, you need to treat the plant with an infusion made from garlic. One hundred and fifty grams of husks and dry leaves of garlic must be poured with ten liters of water (it must be warm). Leave for 24 hours, then spray the culture. If dry leaves are not available, you can replace them with two hundred grams of garlic. In this case, the product is infused for several hours.
• Incredible effective remedy- mustard infusion. Two hundred grams of dry mustard is dissolved in a bucket of liquid, infused for 12-14 hours, then filtered. The bush is treated with the resulting product.

Solutions containing ash and soap can create a special film on leaf plates so that pests cannot feed on them. Thanks to them, mites can die or stop reproducing, lose activity, which will help cure the plant. The main disadvantage traditional methods is the need to process plants many times throughout the growing season (interval - five to seven days).

Positive quality– pets and people will be safe. Spraying plants with such infusions can be done even when the crop is ripe.

Chemicals

It should be remembered that various insecticides will not act on ticks, so you should use only acaricides and insectoacaricides. There are many different drugs that guarantee 100% ridding of the plant from these pests. The most popular and safest of them are preparations that contain colloidal sulfur, as well as hormonal acaricidal agents: Envidor, Nissoran, Kontos, Forbid 4F.

If the plantings are still young and do not bear fruit, they can be sprayed with acaricides containing active ingredients based on dimethoate: Dimetrin, Accent, Danadim, Pilarmax.

Popular preparations used by many gardeners are several:

• "Iskra-Bio"- a product that lasts for quite a long time on the leaf plates of the plant. They can be processed berry bushes before harvesting, as it is safe for human health. Extremely effective.
• "Kleschevit"- a worthy preparation, but does not last on the leaf blades for more than five to seven days.
• "Tiovit-Jet"– has no phytotoxicity, stays on the leaves for a long time.
• "Bitoxibacillin"– may act more slowly than other products, lasts two weeks on the leaf blades.
• "Fitoverm". The validity period is 24 hours, pests quickly become accustomed to the drug, so you should not use it constantly.
• "Fufanon-Nova"– practically non-toxic, does not have a strong odor.

Treatment process

Growers should begin treating crops as soon as mite symptoms appear. It is worth treating the bushes in the spring, which is most effective. In summer, it is extremely difficult to remove pests from crops, as they actively reproduce.

Spraying the crop begins before it blooms and ovaries form. Otherwise, the gardener may lose the harvest.

There are a large number of methods suitable for different types currants. Before processing, you need to get rid of infected leaf blades and burn them. Strong odors can be used to repel. You should place a small number of jars around the plant containing turpentine or ammonia, then cover the culture with film and leave for a day.

A few tips on how to properly treat currants:

Let's look at how to use chemicals to save shrubs:

• You can only get rid of those ticks that eat processed greens. From it they receive a substance that inhibits the life processes of pests, which contributes to their death. The drugs can kill adult ticks and their larvae, but not eggs.
• Families of ticks cannot die instantly. The agony continues for twelve hours.
• It is necessary to carry out three to four treatments at intervals depending on weather conditions. If the temperature is up to thirty degrees - 5-6 days, above thirty - no more than three days.

Prevention

To prevent the gall mite from destroying the plant and the future harvest, it is necessary to prevent its invasion. This is much easier than saving culture from his influence. If the bush is strong and properly cared for, it has good immunity and is highly resistant to attacks by pests and diseases. In order for the culture to grow healthy and strong, you need to carry out some care measures.

The pest spends the winter in the buds and becomes active in the spring. Young buds serve as a place for the female to lay eggs. The process of laying eggs lasts about 30 days, during which time the female is capable of laying more than 5,000 eggs.

It is not difficult to examine the buds affected by the mite; in the fall the buds become round and large, in the spring they swell and become the size of a pea. Deformed leaves protrude from the expanded outer scales. The bud becomes like a burst cabbage, only small in size.

Among chemical treatments, summer residents prefer lime-sulfur decoction and colloidal sulfur. The mite on currants does not tolerate sulfur due to its sensitivity to this component.

The bushes are treated just before flowering with a solution of 10 g of sulfur per liter of water. After flowering, the treatment must be repeated with a solution of lower concentration. Lime-sulfur decoction is also used: the first treatment is 2% solution, the second is 1%. You need to spray the bushes with special care, not missing either affected or healthy branches, and you should also cultivate the ground near the root system.
There are products on sale that can be used to process before flowering; before carrying out work, you need to carefully study the instructions with the recommended proportions.

After treatment, a weak harvest is possible, but next year will delight you with its abundance and quality of berries. Sulfur-based preparations increase plant immunity against fungal diseases. Some varieties of currants, after processing, can lose their foliage.

Boiling water in pest control

• do not use boiling water;
• Watering should be done from a watering can;
• before processing, tie the branches of the bush into one bundle;

Folk method

Owners of personal plots often resort to a gentle method of destroying kidney mites using improvised means. The most common methods are destruction with tea and garlic. Garlic is a repellent against many pests.

Garlic solution

A simple step is to plant garlic, between currant bushes. If infection cannot be avoided, you can treat the bushes with a strong garlic infusion.

• garlic – 200 g;
• 8-10 liters of water;

Pre-prepared and peeled garlic is finely chopped and poured with boiled water. With the prepared solution, you can spray the bushes immediately, but the strong consistency may affect pollination (repel bees). It is advisable to carry out treatment before flowering begins.

Walnut decoction

In this way, you can spray with a decoction, walnut, tobacco, dandelion.

Welding

Young cuttings are treated with tea leaves before planting. To do this, prepare a solution of 50 g of tea and 20 liters of water. Young shoots are soaked in the prepared potion for at least 2.5 hours. It is best to use the settled decoction within 24 hours.

Other control measures

Manual selection

One of the effective and proven methods is manual selection. The main thing in this matter is not to miss the right moment. The buds should be round; if open buds are marked, it means that the pest has already left its refuge, moving to another, neighboring bud, for further reproduction.

Tool

To prevent the tools used for pruning or digging up plants, they need to be washed detergents or chemicals.

Spider mite

The fight against spider mites must begin before the arrival of warm spring days.
Acaricidal solutions are suitable for treatment and must be used before buds open. The following drugs received good recommendations from gardeners:

• Fitoverm.
• Mites.
• Bitoxibacillin.
• Akarin.
• Agrovertin.
• Spark.

These products provide safety from pests for 3 weeks. Destruction of ticks occurs within 48 hours. The preparations are safe for birds and animals.

Preventive measures

It is best to prevent the appearance of bud mites; this requires regular renewal of the bushes. Closely monitor the health of existing plants, strengthen the immune system, and fertilize.

Every spring, go around the berry bushes, noticing round, full buds, pale yellow in color, and take action. After all, not a single infected bud will be able to open, but will dry up.

If infection does occur, you can use a treatment with garlic solution, but it is best to pour boiling water over the plant along with the root soil; this disinfection can protect the berry bush from many different diseases. If the procedure is carried out immediately after the leaves fall, then over the winter the currants will gain strength and give good harvest, which will triple in a year.

Treatment of the affected bush must be carried out together with neighboring plants. This will help prevent accidental infection.

Currants occupy a place of honor in many gardens, because this crop is distinguished by its relative unpretentiousness and the ability to provide the gardener with not only tasty, vitamin-rich berries, but also healthy leaves and shoots. The aroma of black currant cannot be confused with the smell of other crops, but sometimes plantings of this crop risk dying due to pest invasion. The most insidious of them are currant bud and spider mites. Microscopic in size, they destroy the crop and lead to complete depletion of the bushes.

Scale of harm caused

Both bud mites and spider mites can lead to crop loss, and if not controlled, cause the death of black currant plantings. Despite small sizes, these pests cause enormous damage to plants due to their numbers. In addition, bushes weakened by their activities become targets for various kinds diseases and other pests.

In early April, female bud mites begin to actively lay eggs (up to 8,000 from one female), which “mature” within 6-12 days. After this time, young individuals of the bud mite emerge and rush to healthy parts of the plants, climbing inside the yet unopened buds. They feed on plant sap, causing drying out of still unexpanded leaves, inflorescences and young shoots. In one year, the kidney mite produces at least 5 generations of offspring.

However, the main danger is not only the depletion of the plant. Even if pest control measures are taken in time, the bush may suffer from the terry virus, which can only be gotten rid of complete destruction plants.

Spider mite is a pest that causes weakening of the plant. Its activity leads to deterioration of winter hardiness, which is why black currants can freeze even in warm winter with large snow cover. There is no need to talk about productivity at all, since without a supply of certain substances obtained during the process of photosynthesis, flower buds on this crop are not formed.

Description of pests and signs of their appearance

It is not always the case that mites are detected on black currants within a few days after they settle in the plantings. This is primarily due to the small size of the pests. For example, a kidney mite has a body length of only 0.2 mm - females, males have an even smaller body, and a spider mite - from 0.24 to 0.47 mm

(males and females respectively). It can be extremely difficult to detect them without magnifying glasses, but traces of their activity are visible to the naked eye.

Signs of kidney mite activity

As its name suggests, the currant bud mite only affects the buds of the plant. It is according to them appearance and the presence of the pest on the plantings can be detected. When the snow melts, unusually large buds, sometimes severely deformed, are clearly visible on infected plants. The fact is that sexually mature female ticks overwinter in them, ready to reproduce with the onset of the first fine days.

The condition of the plantings and, accordingly, the future harvest depend on the time of detection of spider and bud mites on black currants. That is why it is recommended to annually inspect the branches for the presence of swollen buds and remove them before the first generation of mites emerges. During summer infection, signs of damage by bud mites include changes in the shape, color and structure of the apical leaf blades. They become leathery, slightly deformed and lighten.

Signs of spider mites

It’s not for nothing that the spider mite is called the scourge of gardens, because this pest can handle more than 200 crops, which he feeds on throughout the summer. Only the female pests survive the winter, hiding under fallen leaves. In the spring, they climb onto plants and lay thousands of translucent eggs on young leaves. A week later, larvae emerge from them, entangle the leaf blade with a web and feed on its juices.

You can notice the activity of spider mites by carefully examining black currants. First, light microscopic dots appear on the leaves of (single) bushes, which later completely cover them. Gradually, such marbling transfers to neighboring leaf blades. Sometimes the finest cobwebs can be found on berry bunches.

How to treat currant bushes

All means for controlling mites on black currants are divided into two types:

• chemical;
• organic (folk).

To reduce the number of pests on a single plant, you can selectively cut out infected branches and destroy them in a fire. It is not recommended to leave cut branches even for a short time within the garden, much less throw them on the ground, as pests can get on healthy plants located nearby.

Chemicals

Important point: Conventional insecticides do not affect spider mites and kidney mites, since these pests are not insects! If they appear, it is necessary to use acaricides and insectoacaricides.

The most popular and safest for humans and warm-blooded animals are preparations based on colloidal sulfur and hormonal acaricidal preparations:

• Envidor;
• Nissan;
• Kontos;
• Forbid 4F.

It is recommended to use them at the time of migration of female spider mites and bud mites, as well as during mass breeding of offspring, that is, in the spring, during the blooming of leaves. For greater effect, it is important to carry out two treatments with an interval of 10-12 days between them.

After harvesting, you can use more powerful systemic organophosphorus acaricides:

• Rogor-S;
• Bi-58;
• Phosphamide.

Young non-fruiting plantings are treated with acaricides containing active ingredients based on dimethoate:

• Dimetrin;
• Accent;
• Danadim;
• Pilarmax.

It is important not to exceed the dosage of medications and not to try to use more solution than recommended by the instructions for use. It is also recommended to alternate products so that pests do not develop immunity to them.

Biological method

Not really normal method free the garden from uninvited microscopic guests - breeding in it beneficial insects, which in nature consider mites (including kidney and spider mites) as food. These include bedbugs, flesh-eating mites, stetorus (ladybug) and lacewings.

Folk remedies

Among the most popular remedies for spider mites and bud mites are classic infusions from plants that are distinguished by either a strong aroma or an abundance of bitterness. So, The following formulations are considered the most effective:

1. Infusion of tobacco or shag.
2. An infusion of dandelion roots and leaves.
3. Garlic infusion.
4. Decoction of onion peels.
5. A decoction of unripe walnuts.
6. Garlic infusion.

The disadvantage of folk remedies is the need for repeated processing throughout the growing season with an interval of 5-7 days. Advantages: complete safety for people and pets. Moreover, treatment with folk remedies can be carried out even at the moment of ripening of the crop.

Mite-resistant varieties

Unfortunately, at the moment there is no currant variety that is resistant to attack by all types of mites, including bud mites and spider mites. The second, by the way, does not hesitate to destroy the strongest plants that are immune to diseases and pests.

Only some varieties of black currant are resistant to the bud mite:

Variety name	Description of the variety	Level of resistance to kidney mite
Early Potapenko	Early fruiting variety with large sweet berries. Compact, medium height. Disadvantage – early aging	High
Otradnaya	Vigorous plant with berries large sizes. Advantages of the variety: high winter, drought and heat resistance	Above average
Vigorous	Tall, sparsely leafy bush, the fruits are large, plum-shaped, sweet and dense	High
Nara	Medium-sized bush with spreading curved branches. The berries are very large and sweet, ripen early	High
Kipiana	Precocious self-fertile early variety With large berries and a medium-sized spreading bush	High

In addition to the listed varieties, black currants “Nightingale Night”, “Belorusskaya Rannyaya” and “Shalunya” are relatively resistant to bud mite. The bud mite affects red currants as often as black currants. Currently, breeders have developed several varieties resistant to this pest.

Variety name	Brief description	Degree of stability
Earring	Winter-hardy tall variety with a spreading branched crown and small-sized berries with a sweet and sour taste	Above average
Early sweet	Medium-sized bush with a compact semi-spreading crown. The berries are small, very tasty	High
Dutch early	Early ripening variety with a spreading, medium-sized crown. The berries are large, with noticeable sourness	High
Memory of Gubenko	A high-yielding small-fruited variety with a spreading, medium-sized crown. Taste qualities excellent berries	Very high
Transdanubia	Large-fruited variety with average growth force. Spreading bush, compact, medium leafy	High

Prevention measures

You can effectively fight mites on blackcurrant bushes using many methods, including treating the plantings with chemicals or using folk remedies. However, much more simple technique– preventing garden infestation by these pests.

Despite the apparent complexity, you can stop the attack of mites on black currants by performing a few simple steps:

1. Regular destruction of weeds on the site. Many pests often wait out the winter on them, and ticks are among them.
2. Cleaning autumn garden from fallen leaves. Spider mites most often overwinter in them.
3. Propagation of black currant healthy shoots or already rooted seedlings. To avoid the appearance of diseased plants on the site, it is recommended to warm them up before planting. hot water(up to 46 degrees) no more than 15 minutes.
4. Strengthening the resistance (own immunity) of plants to pests by timely application of fertilizers to the soil and foliar feeding.

In addition, it is important to dig up the soil directly under the currant bushes every year, and in the fall to remove unfallen leaves and enlarged buds from the plants.

The main point in the fight against spider mites and kidney mites is timeliness and consistency. With the proper approach and responsible implementation of agrotechnical requirements, the bushes of this crop will remain healthy, even if ticks spoil all the plantings on the neighbors’ plots.