I’ll talk a little about the disease itself. Powdery mildew has a fungal nature. The causative agent is various fungi, in different cultures it has its own. But currants and gooseberries are affected by the same variety - Sphaerotheca mors-uvae.
The white coating, which first appears on the leaves, captures more and more parts of the plant. If you do not fight it, the fruits will be covered over time. This will deprive you of at least half of the crop, and if the case is running, that's all.
How to deal with powdery mildew on gooseberries and currants
There are many ways to deal with this scourge: from popular methods to chemical ones.
It all depends on whether you manage to process the bushes every two weeks, if so, then you do not need chemistry.
I heard that they often use hot water (+90 ° C), dousing all bushes with it at the beginning of April. I have not tested this method myself, it is difficult to carry boiled water from home. And I use an ash infusion (I dilute 1 kg in 10 liters of water and leave it for 5 days, sometimes stir it. I pour the strained into the sprayer. By the way, to make the agent “stick” better, add a little soap to the infusion. Do not hold the solution for a long time, it loses their properties.
Another way: use mullein or manure. To do this, you need to take one thing and dilute with water 1:10, insist 4 hours, then spray all the bushes. It is better to do this in the morning or evening in warm, not rainy weather.
If you do not have time for regular care, use chemicals (copper sulfate, colloidal sulfur).
Disease prevention methods
But it is better not to allow such a disease. For this:
- Do not plant bushes in a shaded area.
- Do not thicken your planting.
- Try to keep the currant bushes away from gooseberries.
- Do not overdo it with nitrogen.
- Feed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
Better yet, plant disease-resistant plant varieties. For instance:
- gooseberry - Kolobok, Ural grape, Kuibyshevsky, Harlequin;
- blackcurrant - Binar, Bagheera, Black pearl, Moscow;
- white currant - Boulogne, Dutch;
- red currant - Boulogne, Red Cross.
