Topic: Half standard gooseberries and blackcurrants

[richardglobal]

I've just moved so am getting the new garden into order. Among other goodies, I'm going to plant gooseberries and blackcurrants and I see that these are available from some suppliers as half standard as well as normal bushes. Has anyone any experience of these? Are they genetically different or just differently trained? Many thanks for any info.

Richard

[Tee Gee]

Although I don't have half standards I could see a benefit of having them.

What the experts will say is to keep your bush 'goblet' shaped to allow air & light around it, so for it to be a 'stemmed' goblet must improve the passage of air & light.

Go for it!

[manicscousers]

hiya, richard, welcome to the site, we have some goblet shaped gooseberries,
I was thinking of trying  to standardise  our new one next year  ;D

[saddad]

I've even seen espaliered red currants and Gooseberries... very high visual impact!
 8)

[Pigletwillie]

We have one, but wish the other 7 were all like that. They are so much easier to pick the fruit from as there is no bending and they are less prone to mildew due to their more open shape.

They are just normal gooseberries but are trained as a single stem and the top is pinched out when at the right height to encourage the side branches to break, forming the "lolipop" shape.

If you take cuttings you can have a home grown one in 3-4 years.

[Eristic]

With currants its just a matter of appearance but gooseberries are covered with thorns and growing them on a trunk is supposed to allow the picker to gather the fruit from underneath the branches without hurting the hands.

Either way it does not stop the flyiing rats eating every last one the week before they are large enough for a crumble pie.

[artichoke]

I find it difficult to believe in standard blackcurrants because we are always being told how different these are from other soft fruit - that we have to encourage new branches to come up from underground and cut off the oldest ones. I'd love to have standard gooseberries, though, and have some cuttings coming on that I hope to train.

[Pigletwillie]

I have never seen a standard blackcurrant either.

[richardglobal]

Thanks, everybody. It looks like I'll just get the half standard gooseberry and do the blackcurrant the usual way (plant cuttings from friends!). I have grown ordinary gooseberries successfully but the idea of a good bit of space between the branches and the ground did appeal.

Thanks again,

Richard

[davholla]

Is this the same as a cordon ?

[saddad]

No Davholla. A cordon is a single stem grown at an angle that is kept as a single stem. A half standard is grown vertically to the desired height @4' and then stopped to cause it to create branches at that height... to keep the fruiting branches high off  the ground...
 :)

[davholla]

No Davholla. A cordon is a single stem grown at an angle that is kept as a single stem. A half standard is grown vertically to the desired height @4' and then stopped to cause it to create branches at that height... to keep the fruiting branches high off  the ground...
 :)

Ok thanks.  My fruit book though shows apple cordons grown at an angle but gooseberries grown straight up.