Gooseberry pests?

Just out of interest, while I'm thinking about it -

Every year since I've had my hinnomaki red gooseberry (so about three years now, I think,) just as the fruits are starting to swell and ripen, something comes along and strips the entire plant bare of leaves. It doesn't touch the fruit, just the leaves, and it seems to happen almost overnight.

It doesn't seem to otherwise harm the plant, but I figure it can't possibly be good for it, right? It seems very mysterious to me, since I've never seen any kind of wiggler on or near the branches, and like I said it's very fast. Are there any pests common to goosegogs I should know about?

 

Could it be Gooseberry sawfly?

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=517

 

That definitely is sawfly. You need to keep a very close eye on the plants and spray as soon as you see one leaf damaged. If you miss the opportunity, then all you can do is to give the bush a feed with a high nitrogen fertiliser to help it grow new leaves. Nuisance though.

 

The 'recipe' i use for sawfly is....
Pour a kettle full of boiling water into a sprayer...add half a handfull of grated soap... 4/5 handfulls of crushed Elder leaves....mix well and spray on the plants......works for me

 

Is it a large slug or snail? I think one of the latter was very successful at removing leaves completely off a small gooseberry plant... it must have been crawling out onto a leaf to eat it and the leaf would break off as it couldn't support the weight.

I don't know if it kept falling onto the floor along with each leaf or if it kept hold of the stem somehow? I just saw the plant loosing all it's leaves over a few nights and I don't recall them being eaten.

I didn't even know the cause and thought it may be the change of seasons but I came upon a largish garden snail a few days later and the proverbial penny dropped.

I know this is an old post but my reply may be helpful to someone?

Does this theory hold water or have >>I<< gone out on a limb? ;-)