The Currant Borer.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 829, 1 August 1933, Page 9

The Currant Borer.

A Carden Corner.

TITOST OLD PLANTS of black currants will afford plenty of evidence of the presence of the currant borer, that insidious foe of the fruit grower. If these trees are examined it will be found that many dead and decrepit branches are evident, caused by the weevil of the currant clearwing moth or sphinx, called Aegeria tipuliformis. The eggs are deposited on the shoots in midsummer, and when hatched the weevils enter one eye and travel up or down the pith, thereby impairing the vitality of the shoot, so that where a tree is badly infested little good fruit may be expected. They pass the winter in the branch, emerging in November or December to continue their round of life. Growing currants as stools is a safe practice to keep the pest under, cutting out the eld wood each year after fruiting. Where the trees are grown in the ordinary bush form, regular prunings each year are essential. The pest will be disclosed by black linings in the stems. These should be followed down until' below the weevil and burnt. If done regularly their racages will not be serious. They also attack other currants and the gooseberry, but not to the same extent. T. D. LENNIE.