Whitecurrant dying?!

[Rhona]

We've just finished the most amazing crop of whitecurrants, but just as we picked that last ones last week, one of the canes seems to be dying. All the leaves have gone yellow, and curled downwards, and looks pretty dead, but the rest of the plant looks fine???

What should I do? Do I lop off the dead bit, or is it inevitable that the whole plant is somehow affected. No idea what's happened to it - was fine a week ago!

[swaine]

very intresting,
i have over 8 different verieties of whitecurrants and over 15 verieties of reds
and i ve had the same problem with a couple of plants 1 plant i lost completly
an old verity called roxby red, but have also notice this problem on a couple of whitecurrants, never had this problem before, i thought it was sunburn that had caused it,leaves seemed crispy and did exactly like what you mentioned happened to yours, fine one min,dead the next, i have trimmed back the dying stems on mine but will have to wait and see now,stew

[Snadger]

Could it be dryness at the roots? Whitecurrants are best grown on a single stem I believe so when I prune mine this year I intend rooting some cuttings and growing them as half standards!

[BayViewPlot]

My redcurrents were looking yellowy so put some trace element fert on em and done well

[swaine]

i thought that too snadger, and the roxby red currant did seem dry round the roots when i removed it, but then i started to water more, and the dying off thing still happened only this time to the whitecurrants, very weird,
someone at my allotments said weedkiller caused it as he saw the local concil man happily spaying anything and everything,, but dosent explain what happened to the ones in my back garden, were no weedkiller is used,

[ruthiebaby]

Bugs on currant roots

I was about to post a thread when I saw this one. My red and whitecurrants, (both in v large pots) have almost died off. Had no bed ready but bought them anyway (as you do!) Thought caterpillars at first, as found a few, but that doesn't account for the canes beginning to die from tops. Next thought all the rain, but pots and compost v well drained. (we live in a v wet area). So, vine weevil? No. Have removed plants from pots to replant.in beds and discovered that they had very few roots, less than when I bought them, when they were large plants with a beautiful root system, that should have borne some fruit this yr. When I knocked off the soil, I found hundreds of tiny flesh coloured bugs around the main root and any other live roots. Almost all of the rest of the roots had been killed or eaten.
These bugs are pale flesh in colour, 1-2mm in size and appear to have fine filaments or mould near them but not covering them like mealy bug. They are pear-shaped and appear to carry all their (6?) legs at the front fat part of their bodies. Does anybody know what these are, and if so, how to kill them? I am about to immerse them in a weak solution of provado Bug Killer for a few hrs as there are not enough leaves left to take it up (it's systemic.)
I've had fantastic results with this for every bug I've tried it on in my previous job with indoor ornamentals, but I've so far managed to stay organic in my new fruit and veg garden. Don't want to resort to chemicals, but these were expensive plants. Any ideas? And might this explain the above prob?

[finefencer]

Sorry to say.....it sounds like vine weevil....I had a gooseberry in a good sized pot and growing very nicely....then one side of the plant went down...leaves dying...I cut the bad side of to try and save the plant.....but to no avail...I tipped the pot out to see what the problem was only to find...the fleshy white maggots through out. Burn the plant as the egg layer does not fly....and put the compost around the fire as well, to make sure all the grubs are dead....sorry

[ruthiebaby]

Not vine weevil, don't know if reply I sent will be seen here. If not, will send again for everyone elses benefit. But for other bugs, the 'round the bonfire' idea is great. Could sterilize loads of compost that way, no steaming or chems. Would work for perennial weed roots, and anything too big for compost when you have no shredder. Less volume at end, but potash great for fruiting plants. I would save it all in a heap of it's own, dry, to add to fruiting plants when they need it.

Any more ideas on this bug? I kinow the picture wasn't too clear.

Thanks

Ruth