Evening all. I have about 12 gooseberry bushes on my lottie. The middle 2 bushes have just been ravished by the dreaded sawfly - what I want to know what does this mean to me?
1) Is it too late to spray the rest with derris spray (and by the way, looked for derris spray in B&Q yesterday but couldnt find it - does it have a brand name)?
2) Are the gooseberrys on those bushes worst hit still OK to eat (they are hard so I imagine they will be only good enough to cook at best!)
3) How do I stop this happening to me again?
It's really cheesed me off tonight to see those lovely bushes almost stripped bare. Somebody, somewhere HELP!!!!!
Ta
Eat them and don't worry. I've had sawfly several times; I just squash them and the plants soon recover.
They stripped a redcurrant in my garden completely a couple of years ago, leaving all the ruby currants on show. I thought the birds would have them, but they didn't, and they were fabulous and so easy to pick! I thought the plant would be down on vigour the following year, but it was fine, and is still a good producer.
As for derris, I get mine from my little local nursery, don't know the name and it is in my shed on the plot - sorry. I don't know how to stop it happening next year, enviornmesh in early spring maybe, or do the eggs overwinter on the plant?? hmmmm