Gooseberries
From Allotments4All
General Information
Sowing
- Seed depth:
- Germination soil temperature:
- Days to germinate: 30
- Sow indoors: Dry and freeze seeds for 4 months prior to sowing
- Sow outdoors: As above
- Plant outdoors: Usually planted in the form of a young plant in the UK
Growing
- pH range:
- Growing soil temperature:
- Spacing in beds:
- Watering: Moderate and even
- Light: Full sun for best yeild, will tolerate partial shade
- Nutrient requirements: N=xxxx; P=xxxx, K=xxx
- Rotation considerations: Do not rotate
- Good companions:
- Bad companions:
- Seed Longevity: 17 years
Growth Habit: Gooseberries are deciduous shrubs, fast growing under optimum conditions to 3 feet tall and 6 feet wide. The plant is suitable for training as a standard. American types have weeping stems that will root wherever they touch the ground and can be invasive. Annual growth is in a single flush in spring. The roots are superficial, fine and easily damaged by frequent cultivation. Foliage: The buds perk up early in the spring, dotting the stems with green when most other plants are still tawny. The leaves are alternate, single, deeply lobed, and glossy dark green (European types), or pale to gray-green and sometimes finely pubescent (American types). The stems are thin, becoming woody, with a large thorn at each axil. American gooseberry stems are densely bristly, with one or more additional thorns at each axil. Leaf size and number are reduced under heat or light stress, and are easily burned by intense sunlight. Plants that have been subject to drought may make a new growth flush after deep irrigation. If the roots are lost, regrowth will wait until the following spring.
Flowers: The inconspicuous flowers, green with pink flushed petals, open in early spring. They are borne laterally on one-year old wood and on short spurs of older wood. The flowers are self-fertile and pollinated by wind and insects, including bees. Each flower bud opens to yield from one to four flowers, depending on cultivar.
Fruit: The fruit, borne singly or in pairs at the axils, is a berry with many minute seeds at the center. A gooseberry may be green, white (gray-green), yellow, or shades of red from pink to purple to almost black. Fruits of the European gooseberry may be very large, like a small plum, but are usually 1 inch long, less in width. American gooseberry fruits are smaller (to 1/2 inch), perfectly round, all becoming pink to wine-red at maturity. Skin color is most intense in full sunlight. Berries generally drop when overripe. The fruit has a flavor all its own, the best dessert cultivars as luscious as the best apple, strawberry or grape.
'CULTURE'
Location: Gooseberries like morning sun, afternoon part-shade and buoyant air circulation. They are most productive in full sunlight but the leaves sunburn easily under California conditions. They can be grown in the high shade of fruit trees such as persimmon or on the north side of buildings. American gooseberry are much more sun tolerant. Plants collapse quickly when soil or air temperature exceeds 85° F. Soil: Gooseberry plants are less finicky about soil acidity than most other small fruits, and tolerate a wide range of soils, except those that are waterlogged. Where summers are hot, bushes will grow better and produce better fruit in heavier soils, which retain more moisture and stay cooler. A thick mulch of some organic material also helps keep the soil cool. Sandy soils are less suitable for gooseberries because they dry out too fast.
Irrigation: With their fibrous, shallow roots gooseberries are ideal for drip system. Keep the plants watered all season, since they will not regenerate buds or leaves lost from drought stress. Plants stressed for water are susceptible to mildew.
Fertilization: Gooseberries have a high requirement for potassium and a moderate need for nitrogen, although excessive amounts of nitrogen promote disease, especially mildew. Between four and eight ounces of actual nitrogen per square yard strikes a good balance between growth and disease tolerance. The symptom of potassium deficiency is scorching of leaf margins. Deficiency can be avoided with an annual dressing of half an ounce of potassium per square yard. Gooseberry plants also have a fairly high requirement for magnesium, so if the soil is very acidic and needs lime, use dolomitic limestone, which supplies magnesium as well as calcium.
Pruning: A gooseberry bush is usually grown on a permanent short "leg" of about six inches, from which the bush is continually renewed with new shoots arising at or near ground level. Allow stems to grow for 4-5 years, then selectively remove oldest stems to make room for new shoots. Snap off any branches that form along or below the six-inch leg. Thorns make harvest tedious, so pruning is done to open up the bush and make picking easier. The plants may be grown as standards or cordons, but this requires a lot of care and the fruit often sunburns.
Propagation:
Taking cuttings to grow new gooseberry plants is very easy. As soon as the leaves have fallen in October simply cut an 18 inch length of this years growth from the plant you want to propagate and stick it in a hole with some sharp sand to ensure good drainage.
More precise details include:
Remove the top 2 or 3 inches of cutting by cutting at an angle next to, but sloping away from a bud. An angled cut like this will help winter rain to run away from the bud and prevent it rotting in its first winter.
Remove all buds on the cutting except for the top 3, which will ensure your new plants have a good length of stem. This will help to prevent fruiting branches touching touch the ground and assist air circulation around the bush in following years.
Trim the bottom end of the cutting with a clean horizontal cut and bury about 8 inches deep in a mixture of sharp sand and soil. Firm the ground around the cutting to prevent winter frost penetration from lifting the cutting or damaging future root development.
If you make a slit trench in the ground and plant half a dozen cuttings, by next spring you should hopefully get at least half to root and begin growing.
Its best to leave the cutting where they are in their first season, so that they can develop a healthy root system. They can be dug up as fully formed small plants in October, a year after you originally planted them as twigs.
Pests and Diseases: Aphids commonly attack young leaves, distorting them. Spider mites are common in summer (but rarely in the UK); spray immediately after harvest and thereafter on a regular schedule. The clear-winged borer lays its eggs on stems in April (but rarely in the UK). The larvae hatch and bore into the central pith down to soil line and emerge to pupate in the fall. An infestation is usually detected only after the stem wilts and dies. Borers will spread and generally causes loss of whole planting without quick control. Cut out affected stems, search for others and spray. The gooseberry sawfly is present in the Pacific Northwest but has not yet been detected in California. Its small green worms will hollow out the berries, leaving an empty husk. In the UK the gooseberry sawfly is widespread, and its larvae can strip leaves from a plant within a few days. Close observation as temperatures rise in early summer will enable this pest to be controlled by hand picking, spraying off with water, or using an appropriate pesticide.
Ribes species are host for White Pine blister rust, which causes few problems for gooseberry, but is lethal for 5-needle pines, including California natives such as Western Pine (Pinus monticola) and Sugar Pine (P. lambertiana). Gooseberries are banned in counties where these pines are grown for lumber (not applicable in the UK). Botrytis and Anthracnose can cause rot of leaves and loss of young growth, particularly stems lying on the ground or splashed during irrigation. Gooseberry mildew is a common problem, affecting both European and American types. It is worst in coastal fog, on drought-stressed plants, or where irrigation is by overhead sprinkling. Keep plants turgid, never stressed for water between irrigations. Benomyl spray before flowering and after harvest should control it (NOTE Benomyl is not approved for use in UK). Roots are susceptible to both Oak Root fungus (Armillaria mellea) and Phytophthora.
Harvest: Average yield from one gooseberry bush is between eight and ten pounds of fruit. Gooseberries used for culinary purposes such as tarts, etc. are usually picked underripe. A classic gooseberry concoction is a fool, made by folding cream into the stewed fruit. For dessert purposes, however, the fruit must be fully ripe.
CULTIVARS
The European gooseberry is the classic gooseberry of cookery and and desserts. The American gooseberry is smaller, adapted to more demanding cultural conditions and more productive, but without much character and generally inferior for all purposes. As the European can be grown in all Californian conditions suited for the gooseberry culture, the American is not recommended. Market demand for American gooseberries is static, while appreciation for the true European berry is growing. Experimentation with European types is limited under California conditions, and many cultivars have been introduced in recent years. Only those with proven production are described. Growers in unsuitable climates, looking for a substitute for gooseberry, should consider the Jostaberry or Buffalo Currant (Ribes aureum). See CRFG Fruit Facts: Currants.
AMERICAN GOOSEBERRY
Glenndale
Origin USDA, Glenn Dale, MD, 1932. Ribes missouriense X R. grossularia. Bush very tall, fountain shaped, generally rooting at tips. Prolific production of very small, dark red to purple berries. Tolerates bright sun, was bred for growers at extreme southern limit of gooseberry culture.
Oregon Champion
Hybrid from cross of Crown Bob with Houghton. Origin O. Dickinson, Salem, 1876. Bush tall, weeping but rarely rooting at tips. Stems bristly, spiny. Begins growth very early. Somewhat tolerant of Armillaria. Prolific, fruits small, acid, hard and green when commercially harvested, becoming bland, sweet, greenish yellow upon maturity. Most common of gooseberry cultivars; another cv. 'Mountain' is often sold for it by unscrupulous nurserymen. 'Mountain' is more vigorous, sprawling, fruit brick to deep red.
EUROPEAN GOOSEBERRY
Careless
Origin Britain. Bush spreading, tending to few branches. Few thorns. Rather prolific. Fruits yellow, rather elongated, becoming brown where sunburned, rather bland. Used for cooking in Europe; quality is higher in USA. Early Sulphur Syn. Yellow Rough. Origin Britain. Bush slow growing, susceptible to Armillaria. Slow to come into bearing. Fruits somewhat pear-shaped, deep yellow, smallish, with few bristles. Flavor very good.
Hinnonmakis Yellow
Hybrid from Finland, somewhat resistant to mildew. Fruit ripens midseason with a smooth, yellow skin. Fruit size is variable, excellent flavor.
Telegraph
Bush short, rather skimpy. Quite productive of outstandingly large, yellow fruits of fair flavor. Berries resist sunburn. Grown for size. Whinham's Industry Origin Britain. Bush slow growing. Fair production of round yellow berries, with many innocuous violet-red bristles, giving an overall red color to fruit. Flavor good.
Whitesmith
Origin Britain. Bush very dense, requires thinning to permit harvest. Somewhat tolerant of Armillaria. Fruits scattered throughout bush, medium, round to oval, pale green to white when ripe. Good flavor.
