Topic: Greenhouse Cape Gooseberry ""Q""

[gazza1960]

Having finally managed to get 2 cape gooseberries to grow in our GH this year,Its good to see them fruit
but the cute little lanterns containng the fruits seem to be falling off the stems a tad early
hence they look like this.....................


The husk seems ok,!!!!!  but the fruits are falling off,hence they seem to be very small
and not as sweet as "shop brought" ones.

I guess my Q is.........is it just lack of sunshine that has made them drop early as the fruit size does seem small
and the colour is nowwhere near as yellow as ones we buy or sweet to the taste.

I put them out on sunny days to gather as much sun as possible,my neighbour has grown his outdoors and although he has lanterns, his have NOT developed fruits at all so at least by growing them in the GH I think we have achieved something.









just a few pics of Gooseberrys comitting suicide into the pot below........ :-\

Gazza1960

[gp.girl]

I had quite good fruit in a mini greenhouse until I sort of forgot to water them........It rained lanterns in there :'(

Might be low night temperatures as well (5C). Anyone know?

Is it worth trying to over winter some plants?

[djbrenton]

My experience of cape gooseberries is that they poduce far more fruit than they can ripen even under glass. Loads drop off and the remainder ripen almost through the winter.

[goodlife]

Those low growing varieties do tend to drop the fruit and they need to be kept for while aside until the fruit turn more orangey colour. I find the tall varieties with more 'monstrous' growing habits are far better tasting and their fruit ripen on plant without falling off too early... ;)
Other year when I grew one of the small types..the ripe fruit tasted almost cheesy...not so nice..and the fruit is so small too.
I've over wintered some of the larger types..but they need to be kept really dry over winter...and I found those that I pruned for more manageable size, they didn't over winter well..lot of rot set in.

[Jayb]

I wonder if it is the type you are growing? There seem to be several types varieties available and confusingly they often seem to have the same names. If they are dropping before they are quite ripe, gather them up and give them a little longer to ripen inside.

They larger type will often overwinter in a greenhouse or polytunnel as long as the winter is not too cold (possibly not as cold here as some areas). A bit of fleece protection will help. They do drop leaves and fruit if frosted, but the 'crown' on well grown plants seems to be a little more resilient. The smallest growing ones seem to be annuals, though they are ready to harvest earlier.

I prefer the taste of the larger growing type too ;D

[gazza1960]

As its our 1st success of any kind with this fruit,we have not compared plant sizes as we didnt know there are various varieties to be honest.

What is the "big" type you talk of jayb....Goodlife..?

The plant itself is 2 feet tall from the pot rim upwards,but to be honest I didnt know if it was going to
grow any bigger or if it had reached its peak.

I will dig out the pkt and tell you which variety we have used as you folks may know it...!!!!!!!!

Gazza1960

[galina]

Gazza

there are two types but their names often get confused.  What you are growing are ground cherries.  Cape Gooseberries are much taller with more orangey fruit and the lanterns are bigger.  Cape gooseberries in the greenhouse are usually perennial unless winter is severe, ground cherries are not, but they often self-seed from fruit that has fallen down and rotted.

Don't worry about fruit falling off.  This is normal for ground cherries and indicates ripeness.  Nevertheless they will keep for weeks longer if you leave them in their lanterns and get a bit sweeter too.

What you are growing is physalis pruinosa, the tall cape gooseberry is physalis peruviana.

[Jayb]

Larger type as Galina says  :)

I can send some seed if you would like to try them next year, they do make quite big bushy plants and need plenty of space.

[gazza1960]

very kind offer jayb,but if these are the variety you mentioned.......................

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cape-Gooseberry-GIANT-Physalis-peruviana/dp/B0025VTHDS

Ill send off for them and see how they do next season.

many thanks for the offer though.... ;)

and the heads up on the different varieties...... :)

Gazza

[goodlife]

That's the one..those 'giant' ones are the 'shop' type berries.
BUT..they do grow big!!!..only about 5 ft tall but the width is about same too!
Once I grew 3 in small GH and I had to tie rope across to keep some growth back so I was able to enter into that jungle.. ::) ;D

[gazza1960]

excellent,sounds ideal,as we going to invest in a poly tunnel for next season,just a cheap one 4 x 3 metre hopefully about £120 squid to see what yield we can get from having another bit of "our dirt" under cover.

Should be a fun learning experience to have a Physali bush bulging in the corner.

After 23 years of seeing em imported,and distributed at the airport we used to get the odd "20" punnets
fall of the back of the drivers lorry(ere mate,Ill give you  a few if you put me ahead in the Queue") you know the score..!!!!   and ive loved the bloomin things ever since.

Roll on next season,im glad I asked.

Cheers

Folks


Gazza1960

[gavinjconway]

Hi Gazza... It's good to see someone else growing exotics... good luck with them..

We had a lot of Cape Goosberry growing almost wild in and around our veg patch in Zimbabwe. We used to let the fruit "lanterns" dry and then the fruit was ready for picking - some were bitter'ish and some were sweet.. so just leave them as long as you can in the GH..

[aj]

My observation is that the pot looks quite small for the size of the plant.

[Morris]

BUT..they do grow big!!!..only about 5 ft tall but the width is about same too!
Once I grew 3 in small GH and I had to tie rope across to keep some growth back so I was able to enter into that jungle.. ::) ;D

Haha  ;) yes, I grew it once. Mistakenly put my only plant in a huge pot at the door end. It was on a mission for total greenhouse domination, including barring my entry. I had to keep hacking it back. Good fun, and tasty - though I didn't bother again - I like my tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers better  ;D Mine died over winter, btw, but obviously others have had better luck (or skill).

[Vinlander]

The low-growing types often called 'ground cherries' are a different Physalis species which has more than one name - P.pruinosus etc.

As people have pointed out - they are much more annual - but they are also much earlier - so in London the crop is quite good even from outdoor plantings.

They grow about 50cm each way outside and produce a few dozen fruit, half of which ripen to golden before the frosts and the rest ripen over winter.

Under glass they can reach 1m each way - but an unnecessary waste of precious space - especially as they attract red spider.

The best reasons for growing them are:

They have a 'lighter' taste than the perennial ones - but I prefer it - the others are such a heady taste it's like petrol - gives me a headache...

They are completely immune to blight: In a bad year you can sneak them into a mixed salad and hardly anyone will notice that they aren't Sungold...

One more thing: ideallythey can be sown with the tomatoes in Jan/Feb but in a cloudy spring they can fade away and die - make sure you sow some more in March (with the cucumbers) because these ones won't die in April like the first sowing often does.

Odd I know, but it's happened 2 or 3 years out of the last 8.

Cheers.

[Morris]

Thanks Vinlander, that's useful, I might give them a go next year.

(In my virtual plot, anyway, where there is unlimited space... One of the pleasures of this darkening time of the year, planning without having to yet make hard, horrid choices about what to exclude  ;) )