Diseases

Gooseberry powdery mildew

Ribes uva-crispa L.

A fungal disease of gooseberries caused by the pathogen Podosphaera mors-uvae, affecting all vegetative parts of the plant, including berries, which leads to their deformation and premature drop.

In the reference 176 varieties crop Gooseberry, where this is mentioned in the description.

The causative agent of the disease is the fungus Podosphaera mors-uvae, also known as Sphaerotheca. The pathogen infects young shoots and leaves, on which a white cobweb-like coating forms at the beginning of the growing season, eventually thickening into a brown, felt-like mass. As a result, shoots become twisted, internodes shorten, and leaves fall prematurely.

A characteristic sign of gooseberry infection is the damage to berries and ovaries, on which the coating turns into a dense brown film. Infected fruits stop growing, crack, and drop off. In the final stages of the fungus development, small black dots—cleistothecia—become visible within the coating.

In breeding work, hybrids with American gooseberry species, such as Grossularia robusta and Grossularia succirubra, are used to evaluate resistance. Cultivar resistance is categorized into immune, field-resistant, and susceptible varieties, although standardized genetic markers are not used in breeding.

General information about the subject — on the page Powdery mildew.

Sources8

Varieties of Gooseberry mentioned in the description

Selection based on the description text, not on official evaluation: these data are absent from registers. For specific variety details, please refer to its profile.