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Growing berry bushes on their backyard, gardeners are faced with serious problems - damage to plants as a result of pests and the spread of various diseases. Many experts advise a rather extreme method - pouring boiling water over currants and gooseberries in early spring.
The method is considered very effective, but in order for the plants not to be damaged, it is necessary to know exactly the timing, technique and subtleties of the procedure.
It is possible to grow gooseberries without the use of boiling water, but the harvest of berries will be much more abundant and of better quality if pests and sources of diseases are destroyed in time.
Although this method is unusual, it is environmentally friendly and effective.
Are gooseberries treated with boiling water
Pests, wintering in large numbers in any garden on gooseberries and currants, are extremely dangerous for the future harvest. The best way to deal with them is destruction. This can be done with insecticides, which are considered effective. But it is not harmless to the human body, since it can accumulate in fruits and berries.
Pouring boiling water over currant and gooseberry bushes in early spring was used even at a time when there was no such variety of chemicals, and diseases and pests already existed. Thanks to the method, it is possible to destroy a large number of insects at one time, when they are still sleeping and cannot hide or fly away.
If you spill currants and gooseberries with boiling water, then pathogens are also destroyed, when damaged, the leaves of the bush subsequently turn yellow, the branches dry, the berries are covered with bloom and lose their presentation.
The method is popular, it is not considered a panacea for plant protection, but time has proved that, subject to the terms and rules of watering currants and gooseberries with boiling water, the berries tied on the bushes and the blossoming foliage are clean, without signs of disease. Even the use of boiling water in the spring for prevention purposes gives a big plus in the resulting crop.
Why gooseberries are doused with boiling water in spring
The most common disease of gooseberries and currants is powdery mildew.
Because of it, you can completely lose the crop. Do not ignore the disease at the first signs of it, which boil down to the appearance of white bloom on the leaves and berries. Outwardly, it looks like flour scattered on the branches. In fact, these are spores of a fungus, which spreads at an astonishing rate. After infection with powdery mildew, the branches of the bushes bend, dry and die. Among the numerous varieties of gooseberries and currants, there are those that are more resistant to the disease, but there are also those that become infected in the first year after planting. With the defeat of the gooseberry berries become tough, they cannot be eaten. Many chemicals and decoctions are powerless against the disease, and boiling currants and gooseberries in spring gives a good result. The reason is the sensitivity of powdery mildew pathogens to heat treatment.
It also helps in the destruction of insect pests that winter on gooseberries and currants: sawflies, aphids, kidney moths, gall midges, scale insects.If you pour boiling water over the gooseberries, you can get rid not only of them, but also of cocoons, eggs and spores, which are inaccessible even to chemicals.
Boiling water helps kill the most common pest, the kidney mite.
In early spring, females lay eggs in young gooseberry and currant buds. The developing larvae occupy all the new buds, affecting them and turning them into "swollen" ones. Weak shoots subsequently develop from them, and ticks carry diseases on themselves - mosaic and terry plants. If you properly process gooseberries and currants with boiling water in early spring, you can stop the spread of kidney mites and a number of bacterial diseases.
Benefits of boiling gooseberries
The method has long been widely used by gardeners, since it has a number of advantages over others:
- ease of carrying out - you only need a watering can and hot water;
- low budget - no need to spend on special means;
- efficiency - after watering gooseberries with boiling water in early spring, the bulk of the larvae and pathogenic microorganisms die;
- environmental friendliness - unlike chemicals, the method is absolutely safe for humans.
Experience shows that plants better tolerate changes in weather, climatic surprises, winter frosts, and pests appear on them extremely rarely if you pour boiling water over gooseberry and currant bushes in early spring. The leaves on such bushes are more powerful, the berries are larger, the shoots develop more intensively.
The disadvantages of the method include:
- difficulties in determining the exact timing of processing;
- lack of experience in carrying out the procedure can lead to plant burns.
You can confidently water the currant and gooseberry bushes with boiling water after studying the rules for processing or observing how experienced gardeners do it.
When gooseberries need to be doused with boiling water in spring
You can only process gooseberries with boiling water at a certain time. Otherwise, there is a possibility of not achieving the set goal or even ruining the plants.
The approximate timing of the procedure coincides with the end of the melting of the snow, when the thickness of its cover is about 10 cm, and it still lies near the gooseberry and currant bushes. At this time, it is warm in spring, there is no frost even at night. For numerous regions of the country, such weather conditions occur at different times:
- in the suburbs - should be watered before March 15;
- in Yaroslavl, Pskov, Vladimir regions - until March 25;
- in Tula, Smolensk, Kaluga, Ryazan and other regions - March 10 - 12;
- in the Ural region - 2 0-30 April;
- in Western Siberia (Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk regions, Altai Territory) - April 10 - 15;
- in Central Siberia (Transbaikalia, Irkutsk Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory) - in the first ten days of April;
- in Eastern Siberia (Primorsky, Khabarovsk Territories, Amur Region) - early April;
- south of Russia (Astrakhan and Rostov regions, Kalmykia, Krasnodar Territory) - end of February - beginning of March.
When determining when it is best to pour boiling water on gooseberries, you should focus more on the climatic conditions in a particular region, since the weather often brings surprises.
How to process gooseberries in spring with boiling water
Thanks to boiling water used to destroy diseases and pests, it is possible to remove the bushes from hibernation, and to increase the plant's immunity. They begin to water the bushes at the end of winter and the first decade of spring, before the start of sap flow and budding. For this purpose, a number of sequential actions are performed:
- Heat ordinary water to 100 oС.
- Pour boiling water into a metal watering can with a divider.
- From a height of about half a meter, branches of currant and gooseberry bushes are watered, trying to evenly moisten all branches.
- The near-stem circles of berry bushes are treated with the same water.
- Cover the soil under the bushes with a film or roofing material for several days.
This helps to destroy the larvae hibernating under the plant, eggs of insect pests, spores of pathogenic fungi that cause diseases. Boiling water must be scattered over the root system as well as over the crown, so as not to damage it. The trunks are watered only if the roots are not too close to the surface of the soil.
To obtain a greater effect, potassium permanganate (pale pink solution) or ordinary table salt in the amount of 60 g per 10 liters of boiling water is added to the water.
Preparatory activities
In the spring, when processing gooseberry bushes with boiling water, it is necessary to outline a clear plan of action in order to effectively use the time when the water does not cool down during the processing and as a result of the procedure, a visible effect is obtained in the future.
First, it is determined which gooseberry and currant bushes need to be doused with boiling water. Next, it is worth pulling off their branches with twine, thereby reducing the processing area and simplifying the process itself.
If the root system of currant or gooseberry bushes is located close to the soil surface, you should insure yourself and protect it from burns. For this purpose, you can use any available material - boards, plywood, slate.
A metal watering can with a divider is used as the main tool. Plastic - not suitable for such a procedure, since the instrument can be deformed under the influence of boiling water.
After bringing the water to a boil, it is poured into a metal watering can, it cools down a little, reaching the desired temperature (80 - 90 oС). The bush is watered without staying in one place for more than 3 - 5 seconds. About 5 liters of boiling water are spent on one plant.
How to properly pour boiling water over gooseberries in spring
You can pour boiling water over gooseberries subject to a number of safety rules:
- the person performing the treatment procedure, hands should be protected with thick fabric gloves, since the metal watering can is very hot from boiling water;
- it is necessary to check the reliability of the fastening of the spray nozzle of the watering can - in order to avoid its accidental fall from the spout at the most crucial moment;
- it is necessary to choose the right shoes so that even if boiling water from a watering can gets on it, your feet remain safe;
- it is worth making sure that the children are not near at the time of the procedure.
If the processing time has already expired - the buds woke up, began to swell or new leaves are already visible, then it is absolutely impossible to pour boiling water over the plants. The heat treatment is postponed to the next year. Otherwise, the bushes and roots can be scalded with boiling water and will inevitably die.
If everything is done correctly and on time, some time after blooming, the bushes are carefully examined. If bloated kidneys with a mite are found, they are plucked out and disposed of.
Conclusion
People began to pour boiling water over currants and gooseberries in early spring a very long time ago and still use this "old-fashioned" method, despite the huge selection of chemicals. The method is not a one hundred percent remedy that does not destroy diseases and pests once and for all, and requires caution. But the indisputable advantage of the method is its environmental friendliness and cleanliness. A one-time treatment with boiling water in early spring actually frees the gardener from worries about the health of gooseberries and currants throughout the season.
