Gooseberry varieties

[southlondongardener]

Here

Rougham Hall Nurseries - Gooseberry Availability


Are loads of gooseberry varieties including Guido, Gunner, Hedgehog, Freedom, faithfull, Berry's Green Giant, Australia and many others I have never heard of.
Has anyone grown any of these ? They sound very nice although I would guess they need treating to stop mildew.

[Farmer_Gyles]

i've got 3 varieties of gooseberry but hardly had any gooseberries - last year was the first time the caterpillars didn't strip the leaves, but the birds got the berries ........
i will pay more attention this year ......... and if all goes well, will look at more varieties for next year .......

[southlondongardener]

Where do you live ? Have you tried protecting the bushes ?

Last year I had raspberries, strawberries, jostaberries, tayberries and white currants.
All of which were ignored by the birds because my neighbour has a cherry tree.

[Habanero]

Hi Southlondongardener,

I planted 3 varieties of Goosebery last year and I got a small crop off 2 varieties and nothing off the other. How many years does it take before you can expect to get a decent crop off the bushes? My bushes are probably nom ore than 1.5 - 2 foot high at present.

I also planted Jostaberry a few weeks back. How do you rate the berries? I read that it is a quick growing bush....

[southlondongardener]

I am not really an expert.
I liked the Jostaberries but maybe should have left them longer before harvesting them.
The taste is hard to describe it is not gooseberry, blackcurrant or a cross between them.
I think you will like it.

What varieties did you plant ? I plant Hink Yellow, Langley Gage and Leveller in November.

[Habanero]

Thanks for the info. I have never seen a jostaberry as it is not common at all.

I planted hinnomaki green (from homebase), hinnomaki red (from Focus) and Whinhams Industry (red variety from my local nursery). I planted them a bit too close together due to lack of room....I think I planted them all arounf march last year. Probably got about 10 berries off them and i have not pruned them since and don't intend to this year.

I planted a tayberry early last summer and I am amazed at how much it has grown! It has grown far more than my thornless blackberries. They are very vigurous and taste great as well. I am expecting to get a decent crop off them this year.

Being extremely thorny I am a little surprised that birds are such a menace. i didn't spot any problems with birds last year....

[Farmer_Gyles]

i'm not an expert on gooseberries either, have only picked up a bit of info from here

i've got 3 varieties - one is either invicta or leveller, can't remember which (did have both but one died), one is a yellow variety, third is another green one
all 3 plants are about 12in high with shoots up to about 18in so need to be about 2ft 6in - 3ft apart

i had the invicta and leveller in pots outside the back of the house for years
every june, i'd blink and the leaves had been stripped by caterpillars - cant think what they're called now but someone will say - the gooseberries crop was always poor

last year i planted the surviving plant down the garden with the other 2 new varieties
no caterpillars for the first time ever - from info here, was possibly cos i had garlic growing around the gooseberries
had loads of gooseberries growing, but they all disappeared almost overnight - from info here, likely the birds had a banquet

this year will grow garlic around them again and also protect the plants with netting
fingers crossed i'll be picking loads of gooseberries this year!

[JanieB]

I planted several gooseberry bushes some years ago. I couldn't collect them from the farm garden like most of my fruit and veg as MIL didn't like goosegogs and so they weren't grown there (she had a thing about plums ).

It took three years before I had any crop worthwhile. And then we left, so I don't know if they were dug up, carried on producing or what.

My grandmother had some very prolific ones in her garden, I've no idea of the variety but they were ginormous and very sweet for a gooseberry .

[veg4681]

Are loads of gooseberry varieties including Guido, Gunner, Hedgehog, Freedom, faithfull, Berry's Green Giant, Australia and many others I have never heard of. Has anyone grown any of these ? They sound very nice although I would guess they need treating to stop mildew.

I don't know any of the above but one of mine is a red one, probably called 'Rolanda' and I found the fruit bigger, juicier and sweeter than the green ones. I don't look after it so don't get much fruits.

i've got 3 varieties of gooseberry but hardly had any gooseberries - last year was the first time the caterpillars didn't strip the leaves, but the birds got the berries ........

My biggest problem may have been caterpillars (smallish, slim, black & white colourings), remember seeing hundreds of them on the stems of the plants one year, stripping off the greenery completely. I didn't really care as we're not a big fan of gooseberry over here.

Last year I had raspberries, strawberries, jostaberries, tayberries and white currants.
All of which were ignored by the birds because my neighbour has a cherry tree.

What a fab strategy. Maybe worthwhile getting a cherry tree just to distract them birdies .

Hi Southlondongardener,
How many years does it take before you can expect to get a decent crop off the bushes? My bushes are probably nom ore than 1.5 - 2 foot high at present.

Ours took quite a while (years, lost count) to get going but that's because we neglected them, they were never fed with nutrients or whatever you have to do . At 2 feet high, I should think they're ready and established enough to give you decent harvest.

[gardenplot]

I got a gooseberry twig given last summer, think it was a cutting someone grew on in a pot, I have re-planted it in to a bigger pot and left the pot outside, it just looks like a twig still but it as got some buds coming on it and got loads of spikes.
So fingers crossed it grows in to a nice bush