Kitchen Garden Forum

The most mature gooseberry bush on my allotment has white powdery covering on the fruit (only). The bush is very leafy at the momment.
The fruit on the other, less mature bushes appear to be OK at the moment.
Must, surely, be mildew. However, looking through the books, they say that "American Powdery Mildew" attacks the leaves.
Firstly; is that the case?
Secondly; do I spray, and with what?
Thirdly; what else would help?

i usually find mildew affects the fruit rather than the leaves. you can still pick the fruit and scrape the mildew off. however prevention is better than cure. you need to get more airflow through the bushes, the classic advise is to prune the bushes to a wineglass shape with a hollow centre this also makes picking the fruit easier as well.
sorry cant advise on sprays as ive never sprayed my gooseberries

The other Richard is right about prevention and pruning. Mono potassium phosphate is used as a PK fertiliser, but also has an effect against mildew when sprayed at low doses, and must be better than a toxic fungicide.

Thanks
I'll get the secateurs out.