Recommended gooseberry varieties

[WendyC]

I have room for one more gooseberry in the fruitcage. I have a green one which I was given but am assuming is Invicta and another which is Hinnonmaki Red.

Any recommendations? I've been reading suppliers descriptions but nothing stands out. Don't mind red or green.

[Penellype]

I bought a Captivator this spring, which is supposed to be thornless, but actually isn't, although there are far fewer thorns than usual. It produced a single fruit this year, which was very nice (red and sweet). I'm not a gooseberry expert though, there may be others who can give a much better idea of the relative merits of gooseberries.

[chrisdb]

I recommend Langley Gage. It's an old variety, so maybe not as disease resistant as some of the new ones, but if thinned the fruit is sweet and mellow and a bit plummy with almost none of the typical gooseberry sharpness. It's the best dessert variety I've tried.

[BUFFS]

I have Invicta and I believe "winhams industry", I am not sure of the spelling, but with cuttings and crosses from the two types( I stick of each bought at £ shop) we filled (overfilled really) two builders buckets of them this year even with the terrible summer and I let them go burgundy colour before picking and they taste beautifully sweet..

[WendyC]

Whinham's Industry is one I have been looking at. It's not meant to be mildew resistant though. Have you found it to be a problem.
As said before I've a green one I've always assumed to be Invicta but having read around it is described as vigorous and this one has never got very big, although it does crop well. So perhaps it is something else.

[chrisdb]

Whinham's Industry has no problems for me (in Nottinghamshire) apart from the usual occasional issues with gooseberry sawfly. It fruits reliably and I've not noticed a mildew problem.

I have Invicta as well. Mine is quite vigorous, but not very tall. The heavy fruit yields pull down the branches, so it ends up going out a lot more than up.

[Invicta]

recommended gooseberries

I have Invicta, [very healthy and a heavy cropper], Hinnomaki Red [lovely deep red berries] and an old variety Leveller. It is not such a prolific cropper as the the other two and the plant is less vigorous but the big yellow berries are sweet and flavoursome, genuine dessert fruit when ripe.

[BUFFS]

Whinham's Industry is one I have been looking at. It's not meant to be mildew resistant though. Have you found it to be a problem.
As said before I've a green one I've always assumed to be Invicta but having read around it is described as vigorous and this one has never got very big, although it does crop well. So perhaps it is something else.

the whinhams industry has given me no problems except sawfly damage, we have never had any problems with any deseases or infections of mildew and we get some really poor years but they remain trouble free, I removed a complete basin full of ripe fruit from just one plant and as has been said the branches were loaded down with the weight on each stem, I just trim out unwanted shoots and shove them into the greenhouse border until spring when they usually have a viable little root system, I usually give away 10/12 young plants around may each year as we have 9/10 established plants now so no need to keep any more. use the oily cardboard method to control the sawfly and enjoy the fruit..

[Speed Gardener]

I would recommend Yellow Champagne. It's a small one, about half the normal size, but very sweet and tasty. The bush doesn't get that big but due to its size, you still get loads of berries.