I found black core in the center of my currants cane as I was pruning early today. I saw this before and worms too, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to it. Now I saw many canes are infected, I need spray and control this pest. Appreciate someone recommends a pesticides and spray time. Thanks
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hmm… i never noticed if mine had this. so far , knock on wood ive never had to spray anything on my currants. do these bore into the wood at the base of the canes?
No. They are all over. I think they bore into young canes. But my old canes have them too, I just didn’t notice when they were young canes.
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can you show a picture of what caused you to cut open one of the stems?
Do the currants weep or frass where the worms are entering?
I’ve had currants for years and never seen anything like this
Worst problem I’ve had is defoliation caused by imported currant worms (I believe).
Scott
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There is no cause, just annual dormant prune. Don’t you prune your currants every year to renew the canes?
No, didn’t find any weep or frass outside.
But I did found some holes which I am not sure was made by the worms, but related, maybe some birds picking the worms?
Here is the picture
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I cut open several canes lengthwise, and found a worm inside, I cut the worm too while I was cutting. The size of a dmall grain of rice.
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Currant borers? The following link lists several pesticides, organic and not, that are known to be or should be effective. They also suggest that removing infested canes should be an adequate control in the home setting.
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Please let us know what it is. I’ve grown currants for close to 40 years now and never saw this, and worms? A type of borer maybe?
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The PDF at the link below has this to say:
"Because nearly all the feeding
is done within the stem, this borer cannot be
reached with contact sprays. Cultural control can
be achieved by cutting out and burning or otherwise
destroying infested canes before June 1 each year.
It is easy to distinguish infested canes just after the
leaves appear in the spring because of their weak,
sickly appearance. Cut canes as close to the ground
as possible and crush the canes to kill any larvae or
pupae that may be inside. Canes should be
destroyed or borers might still emerge. "
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Thanks, that looks like the answer. I just bought two new currants, I wonder if they are here too? I’ll check. Thanks!
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Jay, you got it. Thanks for the link. I think I have seen the fly but didn’t know that it is. I will be paying extra attention in June and July. Meanwhile I will prune more canes off to minimize the borer. It’s interesting that appearantly my black currants and pink currants got the most, the red currants had the least.
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ill also be on the look out now. im planning to really prune hard my 2 biggest oldest currant bushes anyway. if theres any in them, these 2 bushes should show if theyre present here.
I was curious when I got home so I went out and looked at every cane on over a dozen currants. I didn’t see a hole one a single one. Reading the links posted here shows that infected canes will exhibit weak growth so I will be on the look out for that.
i have mostly reds, but the black, white and pink I have were all checked and look clear. I’ll be honest I am not as diligent in cutting back canes and when I do I have never looked that closely. I will henceforth
Scott
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currants are kinda disease free here, only occasionally had few leafs with mites. I didn’t really pay attention to the bore. The plants seem to me grow the way they are supposed to grow. I have been ignoring the bore problem till now. I am glad I posted the thread and got answers here. Thanks all for the inputs
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When I pick my currants is when I prune out the dead stalks. A two-fer!
I spray most of the species if fruit I grow, but never currants, ribes or any bush fruit. Currants here frequently lose some canes to borers, but they produce too many canes anyway. If you keep your eyes on the plants during the growing season and see leaves start to flag you can kill the worm and save the cane below. Perhaps what you really need to do is keep your currants mulched and do whatever is needed to keep them vigorous.
Some growers recommend cutting out every cane that bore fruit right after harvest and rely on new canes for your crop the following year.
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