Gooseberry leaves

[skogar]

Hello everyone,
This year all the leaves on my goseberries got stripped and some of the currants I assume by the gooseberry saw fly. So I am prepared for next year what is the best way to avoid this happening next year?
Many thanks.

[Jay-ell]

Make sure that there's enough air flowing through the bush by pruning out any crossing and congested branches in late winter/early spring. Try for the "open goblet" shape

[weetabixface]

couple of years back mine were all stripped bare

if your plants took a hard battering from saw fly, be worth giving the plants time to recover from the stress, limiting the amount of fruit next season by pinching out flowers as they set

W

[BUFFS]

I would put some soil fabric under the bush and right around th stem, with the fabric in a metre circle underneath , with some bark or gravel on top to hold it down, so the bugs that went into the soil after stripping the plant bare will have a hell of a time trying to get back onto the plant next year, I put cardboard, covered in spray cooking oil under the plants in summer and shake the bush hard with a stick so the sawfly drop off onto the card and the oil makes them stick enough to slide the card out and give all the bugs to the chooks or wild birds, works for me..

[skogar]

thank you

Many thanks for all the suggestions. I will give those a try. :-)