Currant Potential

Day 224: My red currants are putting on their first crop of fruit this year, and although I probably won't have enough for even a small batch of jam, I should have enough to combine as a tangy addition with another type of fruit for the base (raspberries, maybe?). The variety is Red Lake, and I have reason to believe that my stock was cultivated in California because they brought with them a notorious pest of California vineyards, Blue-Green Sharpshooters. So much for interstate quarantine of plants! In any event, I am winning the Sharpshooter War by diligent application of a pesticide. It was not my first choice of defense, but I soon discovered that for soapy water to be effective, I'd have to sit in the garden to apply it every half hour, and even then, it would just relocate the Sharpshooters to other plants. So, that said, I broke out some heavier artillery and set to work eliminating Sharpshooters from my garden. Now a note on currant cultivation: most cultivated currants fruit on second-year canes. As you can see behind the fruits in this picture, the second-year cane develops a woody bark, making it fairly easy to identify when it comes time to prune them out. Although the older canes may still bear fruit for a couple of years, amounts will be reduced. At most, canes should be kept no more than three years, one as a non-fruiting stem and two to bear. Then they should be cut out to establish a rotation between new canes and old in which both bearing canes and non-bearing canes exist side-by-side. I'll be marking mine with different colours of flagging tape so I can easily tell which is which.

Blue-Green Sharpshooter, Hordnia Atropunctata

Day 206: Bug War! Introduced into my garden as an unwanted "bonus" on commercially-grown Red Currant stock, the Blue-Green Sharpshooter infestation stripped my plants of leaves last year despite my best efforts with a detergent-based, environmentally safe insect spray. They're back, and I'm just peeved enough to break out something stronger in order to control them if the need arises. Formerly known as Graphocephala atropunctata or by the alternate common name of Blue-Green Leafhopper, Hordnia is related to Cicadas. The significance of their name becomes very apparent if you happen to disturb them, at which point they will spring from infested plants with an audible click and may strike your skin with a crisp impact similar to that of being peppered with small hail. Hordnia is known to carry a pathogenic bacteria which affects grape vines, attacking the xylem and killing the plant. Not on my watch. This ends here.

Hordnia Atropunctata, Blue-Green Leafhopper

Day 236: A garden pest, (formerly, now Hordnia) Graphocephala atropunctata is commonly known as the Blue-Green Leafhopper or Blue-Green Sharpshooter. I discovered the relevance of the latter name when I sprayed them with insecticidal soap. They popped off the leaves like seeds from a dry silique, "shooting" several feet from the plant. Considering that the majority of them were on my "Red Lake" currants and only a few had migrated to the gooseberries, I think it's safe to assume that their eggs were on the stems of the currants and only hatched recently. I hadn't noticed any nymphs, but now I know to keep a closer watch. The spread of insects and diseases from "big box store" plants is becoming more prevalent as inspection standards are relaxed for species imported from other states. The guidelines are still there (the "laws," if you will), but the sheer bulk of vegetables, flowers and shrubs makes it impractical to inspect each incoming plant. We all know it's about economics, don't we? There will be more dollars in the pockets of growers and inspectors if the burden of control is shifted to the individual gardener. What a warped world this is!

Footnote: the taxonomists got me again. This critter was moved to Hordnia, and is now Hordnia atropunctata.