READER’S QUESTION

I HAVE been told that my blackcurrant bushes have big bud disease. What is this — and what is the cure?

Mrs M. Halliday.

BIG bud disease is caused by a tiny mite, called Cecidophyopsis ribis, which makes the dormant winter buds on black- currant bushes grow grotesquely large.

Affected buds fail to come into leaf properly in spring.

The mite also carries a virus that reduces yield and ruins the plant. There is no cure for big bud.

The best control is to dig up and destroy any infested blackcurrant bushes.

You can replace them with one fairly resistant variety called Ben Hope.