Currants have many enemies: powdery mildew fungi, aphids, vitreous humor, kidney mites, and a firetum. But you do not need to buy any special tool from everyone. In fact, only two are enough: one from all diseases, the second from all pests. And to understand the huge assortment of a gardening shop, it is enough to know the simplest principles of classification of drugs for processing currants.
The importance of spring currant processing
Spring is the time when you can destroy pests and fungi of diseases that are still inactive or at the very beginning of their nutrition and development. If you do not do the treatment, the parasites will leave the wintering places, begin to actively suck their currants juices and increase their populations. As a result, you will be left without a crop, and not only in this, but in subsequent years.
Currants treated in the spring, less or not at all suffer from diseases and pests in the summer (in the picture leaves affected by anthracnose)
One summer, my currant fell ill with powdery mildew. The shoots were covered with white coating, the leaves turned yellow and crumbled, the berries rotted. But somehow I didn’t worry, we ate currants, we don’t cook jam, frozen tasteless, well, let yourself get sick. The next year the picture repeated, but it got worse - whole branches began to dry out, the bush did not bloom at all. And then I became thoughtful. I did not want to stay completely without berries. I took the cure: spray for diseases. And only after a year my currant bloomed again. So I realized from my own experience that, without processing the currants, I deprived myself of the crop for two whole years. After all, the fruit buds of the current season are laid in the previous one. And the bush last summer had no strength, all the juices from it sucked out the parasites. Thanks to the treatments, the currant was able to recover and lay flower buds, which bloomed only the next year.
White plaque on leaves and stems is a sign of powdery mildew infection.
Among modern gardeners, there is now a good tendency - not to wait for their bushes, vines, trees to get sick, but to do preventive spraying in the spring.
The relationship between the type of drug and the treatment period
There are drugs of contact and systemic action. Contact work only with direct contact with a pest, egg laying or mycelium. Systemic act through the sap of plants, they are absorbed by the leaves and spread in all parts, including even the roots. No matter where the pest decides to eat a plant, it will die. From this we can conclude that systemic drugs must be processed during the growing season when there are leaves, the earliest - on the green cone. And contact ones are more effective until buds open, since only bare branches can be carefully processed. On currants with leaves already blooming, pests woke up and spread throughout the bush, it was impossible to get into each solution.
The budding of the kidneys is a boundary moment: before it, currants are treated with one drug, after it - with other
On the package of the drug may not indicate: systemic action or contact. Then read the instructions when they can be sprayed: on the leaves, until the buds open, at a certain temperature, etc. Many are suitable for processing in any season, only the concentration of the solution changes.
Classification of drugs by appointment: fungicides, insecticides, acaricides
Systemic and contact preparations for the treatment of currants are divided into three groups:
- Fungicides - funds from fungal diseases (Bordeaux mixture, HOM, Ridomil, Arzerid, Skor, etc.). Moreover, each drug in this group is universal, that is, you do not need to buy one from powdery mildew, but another from anthracnose. Anyone can kill all the fungi that exist on the currant.
- Insecticides are pesticides for controlling insects. Their bright representative is Inta-Vir. But such remedies are not effective against ticks. There are exceptions - universal insecticides from all pests. One of them is Karbofos.
- Acaricides are substances that destroy ticks. The most popular of them are Aktara and Aktelik. Interestingly, these tools, like Karbofos, are universal, they kill not only ticks, but also insects.
Many different drugs are sold in stores, but all of them can be combined into three groups: from diseases, insects and ticks
I don’t understand at all: why such a confusion. Apparently, manufacturers want us to buy many different drugs: one from a kidney tick, the second from aphids and fires. Once I bought a fungicide with the inscription: from powdery mildew on roses. However, he coped with spotting on strawberries. In order not to fall for “commercial fishing rods”, not to buy a lot of extra drugs and not to torment yourself and currants with numerous sprinkles, I buy one fungicide and literally spray my entire garden with it. I use universal remedies for pests. As a result, I do one spraying against all diseases on all cultures, and the second - from all pests. I found for myself two effective fungicides - HOM and Skor, and two pesticides - Karbofos and Aktaru. I alternate them so that the parasites do not develop immunity.
Video: when and how to spray currants
Tools for processing currants before budding
The currant buds begin to swell very early, as soon as the snow has melted, and the upper soil layer thaws. This means that the treatment must be carried out earlier: at the end of winter or at the very beginning of spring. Systemic drugs for this period are not suitable, since there are no leaves yet, so use contact ones. Moreover, most of the chemicals in this group have a complex effect - they destroy both insects and fungi. However, there are not so many insects wintering on the surface of shoots. On currants, pest eggs can be destroyed by pesticides.
The black dots on the shoot are wintering aphid eggs, their clusters are visible at the base of the kidney, and on the lower part of the twig they appear as tubercles
You do not need to arm yourself with all known drugs, choose only one that is most suitable for you and your currant. Spend one, but high-quality processing.
Hot water
Boiling water treatment is the most common way of healing currants. This tool is free, very effective and harmless to humans. Under the influence of high temperatures, all living microorganisms die. The basic rules for treating currants with boiling water:
- Water temperature should be within + 60 ... +80 ⁰C. There is no need to specifically chill and measure with a thermometer. While you pour boiling water into a watering can, go to the bush, the water itself cools to the desired rate.
- Pull the shoots of currant with twine so that the bush becomes more compact, then it is more convenient to water it, water consumption will decrease.
- Spend one 10-liter watering can on 3 bushes.
- When working with boiling water, observe safety precautions.
The most affordable and oldest way to process currants is scalding with boiling water.
Inkstone
Another name is the sulfate salt of iron. The product has a high acidity, causes chemical burns to all living things. Due to such aggressiveness, they are sprayed with iron sulfate only in the early spring or late autumn, when there are no leaves on the currant. Consumption of this chemical: 300-400 g per 10 liters of water. However, on the Internet you can find tips for spraying to breed only 5-10 g in the same volume. Therefore, more believe what is written on the packaging that you bought. Perhaps drugs from different manufacturers differ in the concentration of the active substance. Apply the solution very carefully to moisten all branches and buds as a whole. Work and soil under the bushes.
Iron sulfate is a very aggressive chemical, they are treated only with bushes without leaves or watered with a weak solution under the root as a top dressing
Urea (urea) and copper sulfate
Two familiar chemicals form an acidic environment, which means they destroy the mycelium and insect eggs. Today in stores you can find kits for early spring garden treatment, which include 700 g of urea and 50 g of copper sulphate. It is better to dissolve them separately, each in 5 liters of water. Copper sulfate will dissolve faster in warm water, then pour it into a urea solution with a thin stream. Then the working fluid will be transparent, without suspensions, the sprayer will not clog.
Copper sulfate - a widespread fungicide, is used to treat fruit crops, seed tubers of potatoes, tree wounds, disinfection of cellars, etc.
By the way, treatment with one of these drugs in the same concentration will be effective: only carbamide - 700 g per 10 l or only copper sulfate - 50 g per 10 l. However, copper sulfate only fights against parasites, and urea is also a nitrogen fertilizer. The solution is partially absorbed into the bark and will serve as foliar top dressing. There is one caveat: currants treated with urea open buds 1-1.5 weeks later, which means that flowering and fruiting will also be postponed for this period.
Urea or urea - a well-known nitrogen fertilizer
Nitrafen
This is a very old drug, it was popular in Soviet times, and then fell under the ban. Today it can again be found in stores. It is a brown paste. Nitrafen is obtained by filtering shale phenols. For spraying currants, 200-300 g of paste is diluted in 10 liters of water. The drug destroys fungi and insects wintering on the surface of shoots, and even some weeds. The chemical is very strong and harmful to our health, so use it to treat the garden no more than once every 4 years. Exactly so much it decomposes, and with frequent use it is able to accumulate in soil and plants.
The name of this drug is written both through "o" (Nitrofen) and through "a" - Nitrafen. But its essence does not change from writing - it is one and the same poisonous chemical agent.
Nitrafen - fungicide, insecticide and herbicide in one bottle
Drug 30
The product is knocked out of the general series in that it does not cause burns, but covers the twigs with an airtight film. Fungi and insect eggs, being under it, suffocate. By the way, solutions prepared according to folk recipes with the addition of soap have the same property. The drug 30 is produced with various additives (insecticides, acaricides), so the packaging may have markings: 30 plus, 30 D, 30 C, etc. The solution is prepared according to the instructions. Depending on the composition, 10 to 500 g of the drug is consumed per 10 liters of water.
The active ingredient of the Preparation 30 is mineral oil, which forms a dense film on the shoots
Bordeaux mixture
Another very old and still popular remedy. The composition includes: lime (alkali) and copper sulfate (salt). When interacting, both chemicals neutralize each other, therefore they are not dangerous for insects. The Bordeaux mixture is treated only from diseases, the active substance is copper, which is dangerous for fungi. Before budding, use a 3% mixture (300 g of copper sulphate and lime per 10 l of water), for leaves - 1% (100 g of copper sulphate and lime per 10 l).
Video: how to cook Bordeaux mixture
Currant after leaf opening
Even if you processed the currant before the leaves bloom, at the beginning of the growing season you will have to carry out the treatment again. Fungi and insects live not only on bare branches and buds, but also in the ground, inside shoots and buds, on fences and weeds.
It is for this reason that I refused treatment before budding. To get to the bushes in the snow or stale ground, to work in the cold with water - not very pleasant activities. After all, when the heat comes, insects and fungi will still come to the currant from the ground or from neighboring sites. And in the warmth, in the sun, when the birds sing, tulips and forget-me-nots bloom, it is much more pleasant to work. Only two treatments in the spring: on a green cone, and then on the leaves, my garden is enough if you do them every year.
Fungicides from powdery mildew and other fungal diseases
The already mentioned ones fall into this category: Bordeaux mixture (1%), KhOM (40 g per 10 l), Skor (2 ml per 10 l), copper sulfate (20 g per 10 l of water). Well recommended: Ridomil (10 g per 4 l of water) and Arcerid (30 g per 10 l). The most famous powdery mildew drug on currants and gooseberries is Topaz. For the preparation of 10 l of solution, 2 ml is enough.
Topaz has long established itself as an effective remedy for powdery mildew.
The main rules for the treatment with fungicides:
- Dilute the drug according to the instructions.
- Spray at a positive temperature: +4 ⁰C and above. For more precise instructions, see the instructions for a particular drug.
- Well moisten the leaves, the ground under the bushes, supports, garters, a nearby fence, etc.
- If one bush is sick, treat everything.
Optimum treatment time with fungicides: on a green cone and repeated after 10-14 days.
The phase of the green cone is the beginning of the budding of the kidneys
In our Siberian region, it is often necessary to focus not on the budding phase of the kidneys, but on the weather. Currants bloom at minimum plus temperature. If there are cold, fungi are inactive, do not eat, systemic drugs do not help. It’s already ineffective to use contact ones, and some are dangerous, because there are leaves, they can be burned, and each site can not be carefully processed. We have to wait for heat (at least + 10 ⁰C) and spray with systemic fungicides.
Insecticides and acaricides from kidney mites, aphids, fire flakes, glassware
From all these pests, you can use only one drug, but of a complex effect, for example, Karbafos (60 g per 10 l of water), Aktara (1.4 g per 10 l), Actelik (2 ml per 2 l of water), Iskra-M (5 ml per 5 l). Choose one, and another for the next processing. Pesticides are absorbed by the leaves, spread throughout the plant and destroy on the currant: ticks hidden inside the kidneys; glass-boxes feeding on the core of shoots; firefly larvae living in berries, and, of course, aphids, sucking juices from leaves.
Aktara copes not only with all pests of currants, but also effectively fights with the colorado beetle
These drugs are good because they circulate within the plant for 1-3 weeks, protecting against pests that feed at the time of spraying, as well as from future generations. After all, in aphids and ticks from the appearance of an egg to puberty, only 5-10 days pass, depending on the weather. In warmth they develop faster than in coolness.
On one leaf are aphids of different ages, as well as eggs, so treatment must be repeated to destroy the newly emerging generations
The treatment rules for pests are the same as for diseases. The second treatment is necessary if only because different insects leave their shelters at different periods. Plus, keep in mind that pests can move from neighboring untreated areas.
Fight with ants
The ants themselves do no harm to the currant. They are attracted only by aphids, or rather, its isolation. If you process currants from diseases and pests, then get rid of ants along the way. Also, these insects do not like the frequent visits of the gardener, they settle only in quiet and secluded places. Often come to the currant, loosen the ground, water, feed, cut dry branches, collect buds affected by the tick.
Anthills usually appear in rarely visited corners of the garden.
Of course, there are remedies for ants. The most effective is Anteater. It is sold in granules and as a liquid.Spread the granules around the perimeter of the bush. If you need to destroy the anthill, then use a liquid remedy: 1 ampoule (1 ml) diluted in 10 liters of water. This amount of solution is enough for 5-10 anthills.
My opinion: ants did not deserve such cruel treatment - destruction by chemicals. They, nevertheless, bring us benefits, destroying many pests, in particular, caterpillars and various worms. I manage to "come to terms" with these insect workers. I regularly go around my possessions if I see that in a wrong place the ant pile begins to grow, destroy it: dig it up, loosen it, and somehow bother them)). Sometimes you have to do this for several days in a row. But human stubbornness prevails, insects organizedly move to another place, where I do not disturb them. For many years, our anthill was under sea buckthorn, absolutely did not interfere there. Then the sea buckthorn was uprooted, the ants left through the fence, to the neighboring garden. Those owners process only the middle of the site, but they do not reach the fence, the ants again have peace.
There are many preparations and methods for spring processing of currants. Any gardener can get confused in a large assortment, buy the wrong tool and process it at the wrong time. In order not to waste money and time, you need to understand a simple scheme. Before budding, with the help of contact preparations, you can fight all diseases and aphids, and at the beginning of the growing season also with other pests, using the ability of the leaves to absorb poisonous solutions. Treat with fungicides for diseases, for pests with broad-spectrum insecticides or acaricides. One treatment in early spring is not enough, it is necessary to spray it even after the buds open.
