Help - Whats wrong with my Red Currant bush?

[redcurrant]

Hello,

I'm a virgin gardener...

2 years ago I planted a baby red currant bush and it is now 5 ft tall.

Last summer I noticed it had some sort of disease\fungus on the branches, the only way I can describe it is this "disease" looks like sea barnacles, little tiny round lumps around 1mm - 3mm in size. Brown in colour.

I can scrape these round things off, and it leaves a round white powdery mark behind.

This spread all over the bush's main\large branch.

The leaf's are okay, and don't seem to be affected, nor are the currants.

Towards the end of last summer I noticed the more heavily affected branches' were black in colour, and the leaf's fell off, and eventually these branches were dead.

I pruned these branches back, and the bush has started to flower again, It has bright green leafs so doesnt seem to be suffering, but again on the main branches are these brown lumps have appeared, on closer inspection I can see there a miniature lumps surrounding the large lumps, so I guess its spreading again.

Does anyone know what this is?

How can I get rid of this issue?

[redcurrant]

[vicky]

BBC - Gardening - Advice: Pest and disease identifier

It's scale insects, there's lots of info if you google them

And welcome to the vine!

[redcurrant]

Thanks a million :-)

Never guessed it was an insect!

We have some "Provado Ultimate Bug Killer" in the garage so I will give this a go!

[Alex_Parrott]

Hi, I had this on my blueberry bushes last year and as said previously it is called scale. The little white bits are the eggs. the best way to get rid of them is (with latex gloves) rub your fingers up and down knowing them off of the stems. It takes a long time but if you keep at it then next year you will have just a few that will be easily knocked off. Also you can put really diluted soapy water on the stems and it will stop them from being able to move up and down the stems and spreading.

[redcurrant]

Thanks for your suggestions - I will give them a try!

[BigShot]

redcurrant... Bug Killer is a neonicotinoid pesticide... seriously harmful to insects including the beleaguered bees. It is "systemic" which means it gets taken up by the plant making the whole thing (nectar and all) toxic to insects.
It sticks around for a good while too... Bayer's blurb says 6 weeks, but that's just "lethal" for 6 weeks... non-lethal effects last much longer.

As Alex described, you can get rid of them by hand. It may take a bit more work, but that way you don't end up adding to the huge threat that pesticides pose to wildlife. Pesticides (and neonicotinoids especially so) kill vast numbers of foraging insects over a long period of time; lower insect numbers mean less food for bigger animals like insectivorous birds and so on.

Personally? I'd sooner dispatch them one by one bare handed than use pesticides, but the gloves method and soapy water are direct, targeted and have significantly less impact on non-target insects.

Though, what you'd do with the bottle of pesticide is beyond me. Just don't pour it down the drain (neonicotinoids are water soluble)!

Best of luck with the problem. Hopefully your currants will be fine. I got some in quite late last year and as yet I'm not sure if they made it through the winter. Only my gooseberries are showing any sign of life right now.

[starloc]

Scale insects can be killed with alcohols like meths and isopropanol, just dab a small amount on with a small brush

[realfood]

Provado Ultimate Bug Killer, according to my label, must not be used on fruit and vegetables. It contains imidacloprid and methiocarb.

[BigShot]

That's a good point, realfood.
It follows that a systemic insecticide would make it into the fruit too. If makes the whole plant toxic thanks to its solubility and persistence so it's not even like you could wash it off after harvest.

Makes you wonder what effect it has when used in huge quantities as a seed dressing on commercial farms. All those people eating systemic pesticides.

Hmm... as if I needed any more reason to stick to home grown and organic food!

[Two_Sheds]

Provado Ultimate Bug Killer, according to my label, must not be used on fruit and vegetables.

Well done for reading the label. One of the reasons (imo) that various poisons have been banned is because of improper use, ie by people not reading the label, or ignoring the instructions, eg. do not spray if windy, spray in the evening to avoid bees