The tick is a cunning fellow, it overwinters in the buds of berry bushes, and early in the spring, when the air warms up to +5 °C, the female currant bud mite begins to lay eggs intensively.
One "mother" is capable of laying about 8 thousand eggs.
One kidney can simultaneously contain 3-8 thousand individuals, causing the kidney to swell and become like a bulb.
In cross-section, such a bulb resembles a head of cabbage, says Anastasia Kovrizhnykh , an agronomist and landscape designer, an expert of the online publication BelNovosti.
The danger of the tick is that once the mother and her legion of babies have eaten their kidney from the inside, they move forward to new achievements.
The migration of hungry mites occurs at the time of budding/flowering of the bush and continues for 4 weeks.
At this time, it is important to cut off their path and go on the warpath, if you have not already done so early in the spring by removing swollen buds and treating the bush with acaricides or boiling water.
If you do not fight the tick, the bush will face an unenviable fate: infection with viruses carried by the tick, drying out, loss of varietal qualities and growth cessation followed by slow death.
The kidney mite is a pest of the highest danger class.
It is necessary to fight it in a planned manner, from early spring until mid-November.
Control measures:
- mechanical removal of buds/branches (depending on the severity of the case);
- treatment with acaricides of your choice. Chemical or biological, observing the frequency of treatments.
You can also consider planting varieties that are resistant to damage, but this is still not a 100% guarantee that the tick will not attack these varieties. The tick is a seasoned veteran these days, and quickly develops immunity.
Biological products: “Fitoverm”, “Akarin”, “Vertimek”, “Bitoxibicillin”.
Have your currants been attacked by kidney mites? Have you managed to overcome them?
