Gooseberries are actually quite easy-care plants, but unfortunately they are often affected by powdery mildew. When purchasing, you should therefore choose a variety that is resistant to this disease.
These include, among many others, the varieties
- Invicta with green fruits
- Pax with red, slightly hairy berries
- Redeva with large red fruits
- Spinefree almost completely without thorns
Location and care
Gooseberry bushes need a bright location, but should not be in the blazing sun, otherwise the berries can burn. A place between other bushes or fruit trees that provides slight shade is well suited. They need a lot of nutrients for their growth, so the soil should be improved with some compost every year, but otherwise they are quite undemanding when it comes to soil conditions. Gooseberries require a lot of water, especially during the fruiting period, so it is helpful to mulch the soil around the trunks so that it does not dry out so easily.
When planting, make sure that the planting hole should be about twice as deep and as wide as the pot ball so that the new plants can easily root in the loose soil. Several plants need a distance of around two meters between each other. This also ensures that you do not injure yourself on the thorns during harvesting. To make harvesting easier, you can also choose one of the almost thornless varieties. Bare root plants are only sold by nurseries in the winter months, so they are planted either in autumn or early spring. Plants in containers, on the other hand, can be planted all year round, but if temperatures are high, ensure sufficient watering during the growing season.
Cutting the gooseberries
When planting the gooseberry bushes, the plant is pruned so that only about six strong shoots remain, all the others are cut off directly at the ground. This supports fruit formation and at the same time the loose structure ensures that rainwater can quickly dry off the leaves, reducing the risk of powdery mildew. Over the next few years, additional strong shoots can be left until the bush consists of ten strong main branches. For older plants that already consist of ten branches, some of the old main branches should be removed annually and a few new shoots should be left standing. To ensure that the structure of the bushes remains loose, shoots that are too close together and especially those that grow inwards are removed regularly.
Gooseberries are actually quite easy-care plants, but unfortunately they are often affected by powdery mildew. When purchasing, you should therefore choose a variety that is resistant to this disease. These include, among many others, the varieties
- Invicta with green fruits
- Pax with red, slightly hairy berries
- Redeva with large red fruits
- Spinefree almost completely without thorns
Basic knowledge
A gooseberry bush should have no more than five to seven strong shoots from the base. Otherwise the bush will grow too densely and the fruits will not receive enough light. These scaffolding shoots live for around six years. Every year you remove one of these old shoots (the oldest) to make room for a new one. You should shorten the side shoots of each scaffold branch, ideally to two to three eyes.
Thinning out gooseberries
- Plants sprout early in the year. They should be thinned out in good time, around the second half of February.
- Early cutting has the advantage that the fruits become larger and pests such as the gooseberry wasp or diseases such as gooseberry powdery mildew cannot establish themselves easily.
- The weather is crucial: you cut in dry weather. It should also be dry in the following days. Diseases can enter through the open cuts, e.g. the red pustule fungus and the botrytis fungus.
- When pruned consistently, all shoot tips affected by mildew are cut away and the risk of new infection is reduced.
- Due to early pruning, many ground shoots form throughout the summer.
- You leave two or three of them standing, the rest are removed. As long as the shoots are still green, they can be pulled out without any problems. It is better to remove excess weak side shoots.
Train gooseberries as a hedge or espalier
- Only leave two or three scaffold branches standing. The trellis is trained to be long and slender.
- Tether side branches at a right angle if possible.
- With tall hedges, make sure that the top 30 cm have no side branches!
- In spring, always cut away all old fruit branches (side branches that bore fruit last year)!
- Also remove vertically growing shoots that sprout from the base
Location and care
Gooseberry bushes need a bright location, but should not be in the blazing sun, otherwise the berries can burn. A place between other bushes or fruit trees that provides slight shade is well suited. They need a lot of nutrients for their growth, so the soil should be improved with some compost every year, but otherwise they are quite undemanding when it comes to soil conditions. Gooseberries require a lot of water, especially during the fruiting period, so it is helpful to mulch the soil around the trunks so that it does not dry out so easily.
When planting, make sure that the planting hole should be about twice as deep and as wide as the pot ball so that the new plants can easily root in the loose soil. Several plants need a distance of around two meters between each other. This also ensures that you do not injure yourself on the thorns during harvesting. To make harvesting easier, you can also choose one of the almost thornless varieties. Bare root plants are only sold by nurseries in the winter months, so they are planted either in autumn or early spring. Plants in containers, on the other hand, can be planted all year round, but if temperatures are high, ensure sufficient watering during the growing season.
Cutting the gooseberries
When planting the gooseberry bushes, the plant is pruned so that only about six strong shoots remain, all the others are cut off directly at the ground. This supports fruit formation and at the same time the loose structure ensures that rainwater can quickly dry off the leaves, reducing the risk of powdery mildew. Over the next few years, additional strong shoots can be left until the bush consists of ten strong main branches. For older plants that already consist of ten branches, some of the old main branches should be removed annually and a few new shoots should be left standing. To ensure that the structure of the bushes remains loose, shoots that are too close together and especially those that grow inwards are removed regularly.
Propagation
Gooseberry bushes need a bright location, but should not be in the blazing sun, otherwise the berries can burn. A place between other bushes or fruit trees that provides slight shade is well suited. They need a lot of nutrients for their growth, so the soil should be improved with some compost every year, but otherwise they are quite undemanding when it comes to soil conditions. Gooseberries require a lot of water, especially during the fruiting period, so it is helpful to mulch the soil around the trunks so that it does not dry out so easily.
Pests and diseases
When planting, make sure that the planting hole should be about twice as deep and as wide as the pot ball so that the new plants can easily root in the loose soil. Several plants need a distance of around two meters between each other. This also ensures that you do not injure yourself on the thorns during harvesting. To make harvesting easier, you can also choose one of the almost thornless varieties. Bare root plants are only sold by nurseries in the winter months, so they are planted either in autumn or early spring. Plants in containers, on the other hand, can be planted all year round, but if temperatures are high, ensure sufficient watering during the growing season.
variety selection
Early varieties
- `Green ball` - large, green fruits with a sweet aroma
- `Höning's Earliest' - yellow, sweet fruits; medium yield
- `Maiherzog` - spherical, red, pleasantly sweet and sour fruits
Medium early varieties
- `Lauffener Gelbe`- yellow fruits with excellent sweetness, high yields
- `Red Triumph` - dark red, spherical, sweet and sour fruits
Late varieties
`White Triumph` - green-white fruits with an excellent, sweet and sour taste
Conclusion
When planting the gooseberry bushes, the plant is pruned so that only about six strong shoots remain, all the others are cut off directly at the ground. This supports fruit formation and at the same time the loose structure ensures that rainwater can quickly dry off the leaves, reducing the risk of powdery mildew. Over the next few years, additional strong shoots can be left until the bush consists of ten strong main branches. For older plants that already consist of ten branches, some of the old main branches should be removed annually and a few new shoots should be left standing. To ensure that the structure of the bushes remains loose, shoots that are too close together and especially those that grow inwards are removed regularly.
