[Nobbie]

Just been to the allotment and found that half of an established gooseberry bush has just died. It looks like the affected branches have just been cut off and left as all the leaves are wilted, but there's no damage to the stem. The other half of the bush is fine. I lost another bush to this last year and never found out what it was, any ideas?

[AlaninCarlisle]

I've had this happen a few times over the years. I just put it down to bushes naturally reaching the end of their lives

[LotuSeed]

I'd check then branches for scale bugs. They look like brown limpets and camouflage really well on brown wood. Look for brown bumps about the size of a pencil eraser. Ants love their honeydew so if scale bugs are there, the ants will lead you right to them. They suck the sap from the plant and can kill it if left to their own devices. Here's a link to more info.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=224

[Nobbie]

I've had this happen a few times over the years. I just put it down to bushes naturally reaching the end of their lives

Fair enough, I've had pretty good value out of them and luckily I took cuttings a couple of years back and they're looking healthy. Hopefully the rest of the bush survives long enough to give a crop this year and then I'll grub it up. Still have loads of bottled and frozen gooseberries to see me through a lean couple of years