Gooseberry Sawfly

[Dadnlad]

Not a problem this time of year, but to prevent the devastation caused by this little ****** earlier this summer, does anyone have any tips for gooseberry sawfly prevention ?

[Geordie]

If you want a chemical control you can spray the bushes with a liquid derris.

The organic way is to keep a close eye on the bushes in June. The sawfly will lay its eggs on the underside if the leaf, in the centre and toward the bottom of the bush. Any leaves found with eggs can be simply removed. The caterpillars will munch there way outwards and upwards very quickly so keep a daily on on the bush and remove once you have found. The only other method I have heard of is once the beasties are spotted spray the bush with a strong jet of water, (presumably fom hosepipe), to dislodge them and then squash them.
You may find that if your bushes were hit last year you wil get a poor crop this year.

[andrewo]

Pruning

Sawfly love conditions that are humid too, wet even the better, so make sure the plant is in the right position and not overgrown by other plants, or even over shadowed.

Make sure you also have a nice open structure for the air to get through. Trying to get mine to grow up like a bay tree ball.

Andrewo