Topic: Gooseberry and white currant advice

[davholla]

I love Gooseberries (but not the ones shops sell).
A) I have turbo booster and chicken manure should I use half and half now to feed them
B) Has anyone grown Gooseberries and white currants in containers?  I would like some more

[johhnyco15]

the problem with growing long standing plants such as currants and gooseberries in pots is ants           ants can ruin plants as they make their home in pots standing on the floor then there is the feeding and of course watering       if you do decide to plant in pots my advice is to put bonemeal in the mix and stand the pot on bricks with maybe a sprinkling of ant powder over the bricks and you should be OK for a few seasons then go up a size of pot however you must water regularly even if its been raining containers dry out very quickly even in winter hope this helps

[Marlborough]

I lost all my container grown gooseberries to sawflies last year. I have heard that rhubarb leaves at the base of the plant can stop them.🌻

[davholla]

I lost all my container grown gooseberries to sawflies last year. I have heard that rhubarb leaves at the base of the plant can stop them.🌻

Surely that can be a problem how ever you grow them?

[davholla]

the problem with growing long standing plants such as currants and gooseberries in pots is ants           ants can ruin plants as they make their home in pots standing on the floor then there is the feeding and of course watering       if you do decide to plant in pots my advice is to put bonemeal in the mix and stand the pot on bricks with maybe a sprinkling of ant powder over the bricks and you should be OK for a few seasons then go up a size of pot however you must water regularly even if its been raining containers dry out very quickly even in winter hope this helps

Do you grow in pots?  If so which varieties?

[johhnyco15]

the problem with growing long standing plants such as currants and gooseberries in pots is ants           ants can ruin plants as they make their home in pots standing on the floor then there is the feeding and of course watering       if you do decide to plant in pots my advice is to put bonemeal in the mix and stand the pot on bricks with maybe a sprinkling of ant powder over the bricks and you should be OK for a few seasons then go up a size of pot however you must water regularly even if its been raining containers dry out very quickly even in winter hope this helps

Do you grow in pots?  If so which varieties?

no however i do grow blueberries in pots with equal sand/ericaceuos  compost up on bricks with ant powder underneath and half a teaspoon of sulphate of iron twice a year and only water with rain water other than that all my fruit is grown in open ground covered by wsm and then topped off with bark hope this helps

[Steve Oram]

Has anyone tried that thing with the rhubarb leaves?

[davholla]

Has anyone tried that thing with the rhubarb leaves?

Last year I just checked them a lot and that kept them under control.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Knock sawfly caterpillars off the plants. They have trouble getting back on, and a couple of goes will get rid of them.

[Poppy Mole]

I used rhubarb leaves to great effect, so much so that I have now planted a rhubarb crown next to my gooseberry bush

[jennym]

I've had a go at gooseberries in pots over the last 3 years, because I can't place them where I want them yet.
The bushes (grown from cuttings from previous allotment) have produced really well to my surprise. I'm getting over a kg to a small (2ft high) bush. They were a red gooseberry, afraid I don't know the variety. The mother bushes did OK over my last allotment on heavy clay, but not brilliantly.
Into the pots I put a mix of roughly roughly 1/2 of the sandy loam from the soil here, 1/2 multi purpose compost, a good brand, and a bit of bone meal and a bit of growmore. About once a month from spring to late autumn, I fed them with a cheapo version of Miracle-Gro, probably bought from Tesco or Home Bargains. Just read the ingredients on Miracle-Gro and look for cheap alternatives with the same ingredients.
The pots were about  12" to 18" (30-45cm) wide at the top and about 12" deep.
The pots were placed on deep gravel trays about 3" inches high sidewall, I think I bought them from Wilko.
It made it easy to water, I just filled up the trays, the plants wouldn't have got waterlogged because the pots were so much higher. I think the thing it, they need plenty of water when they start flowering through to when they finish fruiting, but they don't like being waterlogged.
I did the same with redcurrants, they did OK, so did ornamentals like box, lonicera nitida, passion flower, penstemon, and fruit rasps and loganberries.
I net them off to stop sawfly, or if really efficient squish them by finger daily, but use debris netting usually. its fine meshed and cheap. Also have done spray with one dot of washing up liquid and rest cheap veg oil, just half a litre, works well when you discover a real nasty infestation suddenly.

Hope this helps.
Jenny

[davholla]

I've had a go at gooseberries in pots over the last 3 years, because I can't place them where I want them yet.
The bushes (grown from cuttings from previous allotment) have produced really well to my surprise. I'm getting over a kg to a small (2ft high) bush. They were a red gooseberry, afraid I don't know the variety. The mother bushes did OK over my last allotment on heavy clay, but not brilliantly.
Into the pots I put a mix of roughly roughly 1/2 of the sandy loam from the soil here, 1/2 multi purpose compost, a good brand, and a bit of bone meal and a bit of growmore. About once a month from spring to late autumn, I fed them with a cheapo version of Miracle-Gro, probably bought from Tesco or Home Bargains. Just read the ingredients on Miracle-Gro and look for cheap alternatives with the same ingredients.
The pots were about  12" to 18" (30-45cm) wide at the top and about 12" deep.
The pots were placed on deep gravel trays about 3" inches high sidewall, I think I bought them from Wilko.
It made it easy to water, I just filled up the trays, the plants wouldn't have got waterlogged because the pots were so much higher. I think the thing it, they need plenty of water when they start flowering through to when they finish fruiting, but they don't like being waterlogged.
I did the same with redcurrants, they did OK, so did ornamentals like box, lonicera nitida, passion flower, penstemon, and fruit rasps and loganberries.
I net them off to stop sawfly, or if really efficient squish them by finger daily, but use debris netting usually. its fine meshed and cheap. Also have done spray with one dot of washing up liquid and rest cheap veg oil, just half a litre, works well when you discover a real nasty infestation suddenly.

Hope this helps.
Jenny

  Thanks for that, if I plant them into pure compost would that be bad for them?  I don't really want to dig up lots of soil from the garden and have to mix unless I have to.

[jennym]

You need to put some sand/grit into the bought compost, roughly 50/50. My soil here is quite sandy, that's why I use it, but if your's isn't you need to add it.
50/50 seems like a lot, but it's essential I reckon.

[davholla]

You need to put some sand/grit into the bought compost, roughly 50/50. My soil here is quite sandy, that's why I use it, but if your's isn't you need to add it.
50/50 seems like a lot, but it's essential I reckon.

BTW why sand/grit instead of normal soil (i.e. London clay in my case).  This will be a pain as I don't have a car.

[jennym]

Grit/sand is used for good drainage - which you won't get with London clay. Most garden centres do very small bags if you can't transport them. You can use perlite instead - that's lightweight. Or even crumbled polystyrene if you have no alternative, but personally I don't like this as it's messy and you can't chuck the old compost back on the garden.You will get better results from plants that can't take waterlogging if you ensure good drainage. Honestly, it almost guarantees you'll get rooted cuttings.

[davholla]

Thanks for that, that make perfect sense, would this be the correct size of grit?
http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/potting-grit-20kg-pid8421.html?gclid=CjwKEAiAova1BRDS15OXjcug_FMSJACWNAKZ9l7bdv5MXfKSlNJPZk4DqnK1IZ3P3acpZRKgcdhynxoC84Lw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#reviews

Probably more than I need but still not too expensive.

[jennym]

Yes, anything like that is fine really. You can get smaller bags in the garden centres, I normally get a paleish pink coloured one, does ok for dressing my cactuses too.