Re: Gooseberry Saw Fly
Hi Mick ,I put a gooseberry bush in last year and it was doing really well then I looked at it one day last summer and all the leaves were gone overnight and it was crawling with caterpillars
. I picked them off with tweezers and dropped them in a mug of hot water and disinfectant.
Apparently the larvae pupate in the soil over the winter and crawl up the bush . I don't use pesticides so I am going to remove the mulch from the base of my bush and put some new compost down, then a layer of black weed prevention fabric which I am hoping they can't crawl through.
I will also check my bush daily from April till September with tweezers at the ready..