[owein]

Can anyone tell me waht the little green (with black spots) caterpillars are that have stripped my gooseberry bush bare of leaves?

Is there an organic way of dealing with it? and will the bush recover?

I have lots and lots of fruit but no leaves left at all!

Thanks a lot

[Harry Flashman VC]

I used to have a gooseberry bush in our garden every year it was stripped bear just about overnight but every year it always grew back. 

Thats as far as I can help.

[poppies]

Hi gooseberry sawfly is the culprit, I have just found 3 of mine stripped right  down looking like skeletons, sorry dont know of an organic method of control

[savbo]

check RHS website but I think basic response is to keep the bush open (like a cup) so humidity doesn't stay high - that encourages the sawfly - and also you can see and squish them more easily

M

[willowman]

Definately gooseberry sawfly. Horrid little monsters. They started stripping my one gooseberry bush and I stopped them with Bugoff.
Found them last week on my redcurrant bush - got blasted again.
Sorry, if it's a choice between them and my fruit, they get zapped.
Apparently the eggs are laid at the base of the plant, they hatch and work their way up the plant, stripping it as they go.
Non zapping method is to watch the bushes very carefully and remove the blighters as soon as they appear. As there always seems to be hundreds of them and they can attack overnight this seems a hit and miss method. Look away for a couple of days and your plant is bare!

[noshed]

I had them last year. But I pruned the bushes in the winter and they've been OK this year - good crop with huge thorns on the branches unfortunately. Pruning the middles out of the bushes does help when picking as well.

[Libby]

I had read that adding ash to the base of the plants stopped sawfly so I added this as soon as they were planted and kept topping it up but it didn't stop them.  We have had a very bad outbreak on the allotment this year.  I have been down for 5 days in a row and stood for about half an hour squishing them and my plants are finally free.  I am going to net the plants with a very fine net and see if that helps keep them off.

[owein]

Thanks all for the replies, will get squishing tomorrow.
So even though the plant is now completely bare, apart from the fruit, it should recover?
I also have redcurrants and black currants nearby are they likely to attack these also?
Thanks again

[Libby]

They did also attack the redcurrants but left the blackcurrants alone.  Don't know if they just didn't get to them or whether they don't attack blackcurrants.