quite pleased with these gooseberries

[swaine]

gooseberries really intrest me i grow about 50 varieties older types and have always struggled to get any sort of crop with out the berries being infested with mildews every year,
i have to admit the gooseberries dont get the attention my other soft fruit get,
again this year as the first berries were ripening mildew, so fed up i cut the plants back hard and aggressive with the intent to grub out my beloved yet mildewed plot of gooseberries,
upon checking the bushes over the last few days ive had a pleasant suprise, not going to win any shows, but in size 12 hands a reasonable size gooseberry?,

[FB.]

I found my first gooseberry sawfly larva/caterpillars today.

Caught them just before they reach the rapid leaf-munching phase and strip the bush.

and I found them on........

.

.

White Versailles whitecurrant.

.

The affected shoots have now been pinched off and the little vandals are now imprisoned in a jar, awaiting final judgement. (actually the wife has been watching them with fascination this evening and feeding them occasional whitecurrant leaves to see just how quick they can devour them; you can almost watch the caterpillars growing and the amount they poop is amazing!).

I might put up a few mug shots of the villains in the next day or so.

.

Anyway....back on-topic

[Loudbarker1]

i grow about 50 varieties older types ,

How exciting!

Dare I ask which you like best? And do you grow "Hero of the Nile" - I just have to grow that one one day.

[BUFFS]

where did you get all those types from,we only ever seem to see winhams industry and invicta,we are getting a good crop but would like to experiment with other types,being no expert on goosegoggs,i never realised there was 50 different types, are there any giant fruit types, as didnt they used to have competitions for largest fruit?, i think OH would start moaning if i got more as we have 13 ice cream tubs (smaller type) already in the freezer and 5 bushes yet to pick,i love them ,she likes them,and as i am the boss in my house,and i have my wifes permission to say so,i dont think i could sneak many in...
sawfly stripped one bush,completely,on a rainy day,but left the rest alone.

[FB.]

sawfly stripped one bush,completely,on a rainy day,but left the rest alone.

Hi Buffs.

I've generally found that if insect pests (of all kinds of fruit) are given a choice, they tend to massacre just one or two varieties and often the remainder aren't much affected.

However, if you only grow one type, the pests have to eat it or starve.

I don't much like lamb meat, aren't bothered either way about pork, and prefer beef or chicken. But I'll eat anything if I'm hungry and so will the insects.

So I've advocated "companion" or "sacrificial" planting for a few years now. Let the pests destroy one plant in five chosen for its attractiveness and the other four plants alongside it get off very lightly.

[swaine]

sure, yellow champagne is my favourite, berries are small, yellow, hairy, with a stunning flavour, , yeah im pretty sure i have the hero of the nile in the collection,

How exciting!

Dare I ask which you like best? And do you grow "Hero of the Nile" - I just have to grow that one one day.

[swaine]

hi, theres 2 main nurseries i get my gooseberries from rougham hall(ipswich i think) and tweedies in scotland, im not associated with either in anyway but would highly recommend either, im sure tweedies have around 80 types , rougham possibly more, but not all are for sale at 1 time of i remember righty, there is a nursery or 2 in europe that have good collections of gooseberry,
i think there used to be around 2000 types of gooseberry named, but unfortunatly too many lost now,
there is giant types, some are bred by the competitors themselves, there are competitions (cheshire lanchashire way) i spoke to someone who organised one show, a friendly chap but did get the feeling the shows are quite area oriantated, wasent put over in a nasty way but did get the feeling outsiders were not really embraced if you catch my drift
i used to be a bit dissapointed when i saw whinhams and invicta at garden centres along with hino maki range but ive never had any problems with any of them, so hassle free gooseberries
even adding one or two older gooseberries or any soft fruit would be a great way to preserve our heritage , kind regards stew

where did you get all those types from,we only ever seem to see winhams industry and invicta,we are getting a good crop but would like to experiment with other types,being no expert on goosegoggs,i never realised there was 50 different types, are there any giant fruit types, as didnt they used to have competitions for largest fruit?, i think OH would start moaning if i got more as we have 13 ice cream tubs (smaller type) already in the freezer and 5 bushes yet to pick,i love them ,she likes them,and as i am the boss in my house,and i have my wifes permission to say so,i dont think i could sneak many in...
sawfly stripped one bush,completely,on a rainy day,but left the rest alone.

[BUFFS]

thanks FB and swaine,we have picked our remaining goosegogs now and fully ripe,they are quite sweet,OH making some into fools,(to keep me company?) and some for pies and crumbles,for all the peculiar weather,we have not done bad at all for fruit,but i do wish the veg patch would catch up,then it would be a good year,peaches are now looking full sized but still firmly on the branches,so not ripe yet but looking lovely in greenhouse,if i could figure out the method,i would put pics on view,but tried to do that when we had chooks but not successful,so that means nobody will see me dribbling as i eventually tuck into them....

[FB.]

thanks FB and swaine,we have picked our remaining goosegogs now and fully ripe,they are quite sweet,OH making some into fools,(to keep me company?) and some for pies and crumbles,for all the peculiar weather,we have not done bad at all for fruit,but i do wish the veg patch would catch up,then it would be a good year,peaches are now looking full sized but still firmly on the branches,so not ripe yet but looking lovely in greenhouse,if i could figure out the method,i would put pics on view,but tried to do that when we had chooks but not successful,so that means nobody will see me dribbling as i eventually tuck into them....

Fool?
I feel like a fool because I haven't even begun picking gooseberries yet; we've had such a freakish cold wet summer - far worse than anything ever recorded in many centuries.

[Llamas]

Very good sized goosegogs Swaine! Phew, 50 varities?! Makes me think of some book I came across once...'Forgotten Fruit' I think it was called, all about the old or extinct cultivars of all sorts of interesting things that people used to grow.

[darcyvuqua]

i have tried to grow my little bare rooted gooseberry bush but little green growth anything i can do to help it along many thanks