Gooseberries For Your Garden

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Features of growing gooseberries. Yielding and low-thorn gooseberry varieties for the North-West

Gooseberry. Krasnoslavyansky grade

This plant produces one of the most delicious berries in our northern garden. Every year you look forward to when it will finally ripen. Plums, apples, pears, grapes - it will be later, and in mid - late July we are quite happy with gooseberries. Its berries are not only beautiful and varied in taste and aroma, but it is very harvestable. Up to 10 kg or more berries can be harvested from a gooseberry bush - this is the most fruitful crop among berries.

Gooseberry fruits contain vitamins, sugars, minerals, trace elements, organic acids, tannins and flavonoids. Berries with a dark color also contain vitamin P and a large amount of pectin, which helps to eliminate various harmful substances from the body.

Gooseberry is a traditional northern culture. He is very unpretentious, quite winter-hardy, not afraid of drought, rather indifferent to the soil. In one place it can grow and bear fruit normally up to 20 years, of course, with proper care. I have several bushes in my garden, which are already under 30 years old, and they still bear fruit very well. During flowering, it tolerates light frosts without damage. And one more advantage - it can grow safely and bear fruit successfully with some shading.

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About botany

Gooseberry is a perennial shrub of the gooseberry family. Bushes are erect and spreading to varying degrees, high and low. The bush consists of branches of different ages. Usually the branches are covered with thorns, but there are varieties with a small number of thorns and even completely thornless.

By replacing branches in time, you can extend the life of your plants. The branch can live up to 6-8 years (less in the south), after which the berries become small on it. The highest yield occurs on branches 4-5 years old.

The root system and the underground part of the stems live longer than the branches. The root system is fibrous. Most of the suction roots are located in the topsoil at a depth of 10–50 cm. Some skeletal roots penetrate to a considerable depth. Usually about 90% of the suction roots do not extend beyond the crown of the bush. Root growth depends on the biological characteristics of the variety, soil fertility and climatic conditions.

Active root growth begins much earlier than the aerial part. At a temperature of 1 … 3 ° C, the suction roots are in an active state. At a temperature of -3 … -4 ° C, they die off. If there is no snow for a long time in autumn, frosts on bare ground -12 … -15 ° C can kill the roots. Therefore, in the fall, it is imperative to mulch the soil around the bushes.

The flowers are rather small, inconspicuous, consist of a bell-shaped calyx and five small, barely noticeable petals. The flower raceme is located in the leaf axil. In a brush - from one to three flowers, depending on the species. Gooseberry bloom begins at an average daily temperature of 10 ° C - this is about the end of the first decade of May - and lasts 6-10 days, depending on the weather. Hot dry and windy weather during flowering causes the pistils to dry out, pollen will not germinate on them. Rainy and cold weather can also cause the ovaries to fall off.

Buds, flowers and ovaries can be damaged by spring frost. Temperature -1 … -2 ° C is considered critical for flowers and ovaries. For buds –3… –4 ° С. After a cold summer, annual growths may not mature and suffer from frost - that part of them that sticks out above the snow. Normally ripe shoots can withstand temperatures down to -25 ° C. Sometimes even lower.

The berries ripen one and a half to two months after flowering.

Gooseberry. Honey variety

Place on the site

Gooseberries grow well and bear fruit on warm soils, preferably in sunny places. Gooseberry does not tolerate waterlogging. Groundwater should be no closer than 1 m. Try to plant it in a place where cold air does not accumulate. Otherwise, if frosts begin during flowering, the flowers will have a better chance of freezing. At the same time, the place should be well ventilated, since stagnant air in a damp summer leads to disease in the bushes. Gooseberries should not be planted between rows of fruit or stone fruit crops: the yield will be small. It is imperative to clear the planting site of weed rhizomes. Wheatgrass is especially dangerous, and sleepy is not much better.

Soil

Gooseberry soils tolerate any, if only they were well filled with organic matter and mineral fertilizers and were sufficiently moisture-consuming, non-acidic. As practice has shown, it is not enough to fill only the planting hole with fertilizers. The roots, growing, will seek food outside of it, so it is useful to refine the soil outside the crown of the future bush. Do not use undecomposed manure in the year of planting. It is also better to apply mineral fertilizers in advance so that there are no root burns.

Planting gooseberries

Gooseberry is a self-pollinating crop, but the highest yield is obtained with cross-pollination. Therefore, it is better to plant two or three varieties next to each other. The distance between the bushes is 1.5-1.8 m. When planting, you need to deepen the root collar by 6-7 cm. With a smaller deepening, frail shoots will grow from it in the future. It is useful to mulch planting. The gooseberry wakes up in early spring, so it is better to do all its planting-transplants in the fall, preferably no later than the end of September, so that the bush has time to take root by the beginning of frost. Spring planting is permissible only before the buds swell. Immediately after planting, the bushes must be cut off, overcoming all pity, and left on the shoots 3-5 buds. This stimulates the growth of powerful young shoots.

Gooseberry care

These are pruning, loosening the soil, fertilizing, watering, and disease control.

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Gooseberry. Krasnoslavyansky grade

Fertilizer

Fertilizers do not need to be applied within the first three years after planting the bush if they were applied to the planting pit. Starting from the fourth year, it is advisable to apply fertilizers annually. Gooseberry reacts very violently to organic fertilization. In early spring, as soon as the snow melts, you need to fertilize the bush with a diluted mullein (pour a third of a bucket of manure with water, use it for one bush) or add a bucket of compost per square meter of area. If there is no organic matter, you can use mineral fertilizer: 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons of ammonium nitrate on a bush. Superphosphate is also brought in - half a glass and ash - a half-liter jar per adult bush.

Constantly during the summer you need to loosen the soil under the bush. Loose shallow so as not to injure the roots. Be sure to weed the weeds. If wheatgrass has climbed into the bush, you should not try to remove it with Roundup or a similar tool, as you can greatly harm the bush. It is best to regularly cut the grass to the ground, preventing it from growing back. In early spring, before budding, it is useful to pour boiling water over the branches of the bush. Such branches, as experience has shown, grow healthy and beautiful.

Gooseberry pruning

The most important event in the care. It is necessary to constantly, annually, cut out those branches that do not give good full-fledged berries and which give a small increase - usually these are old branches with dark bark, often twisted, as well as growing inward, dry, strongly inclined to the ground. Weak branches and branches that thicken the bush are also cut out, even if they are strong.

When a bush is formed, no more than three strong shoots are left in it annually, the rest must be cut out mercilessly. It is necessary that strong branches at the base of the bush are located at a distance of at least 15-20 cm from each other.

Pruning is done either in early spring or late autumn. It is especially important to thin out the center of the bush so that it is better ventilated and so that the branches do not shade each other: the gooseberry does not like such shading very much.

Gooseberry diseases

The biggest harm to gooseberries is American powdery mildew. It affects leaves, shoots, point of growth, berries. Most varieties of domestic breeding are largely resistant to this disease. However, old Western European varieties, which are still often grown by gardeners, are highly susceptible to this disease. These are the varieties of Date, English yellow, Green bottle and others, sometimes these are varieties of unknown origin. In these cases, you will have to either change the varieties or fight the disease.

To combat use soda ash - 2 tbsp. spoons in a bucket of water, plus laundry soap - dilute 50 g to adhere the solution to the bushes. The bushes are sprayed three times. The first time - immediately after flowering. The second - 5-7 days after the first. The third - another 5-7 days after the second. You can not spray, but whip the bushes with a broom, which is dipped in the solution. A broom can be made from alder or birch branches.

Mealy disease usually begins when it is very difficult to find a period of time without rain. Here you have to use every hour of the right evening time - dry and calm. In early spring, all the tops of young shoots with traces of the disease should be cut off: such tops are curved and covered with black dots of overwintered spores.

There are other methods of struggle: bushes and the ground around them are sprayed with a 3% solution of ferrous sulfate, or the bushes are sprayed several times, starting with bare spring branches, with wood ash. This should be done once a week.

There is another way: a bucket of fresh manure is dumped into the center of the bush. Bushes must grow healthy. In my garden, the last two methods did not help, perhaps because I managed to powder with ashes only twice, and put the manure when the disease had already developed quite strongly.

In extreme cases, if the listed drugs did not help, use the Topaz remedy.

And more unpleasant diseases - these are leaf spots - septoria (white spot - gray spots with a dark brown border appear in June), anthracnose (dark brown spots, leaves curl around the edges). Here mainly leaves are affected, less often fruits. Sick leaves fall off. Bushes lose their winter hardiness, reduce productivity in the current year and next. The way to fight is to regularly collect and burn fallen leaves.

Goblet rust - orange spots with spore pads. Leaves fall. The berries turn out to be underdeveloped, one-sided, dry up and fall off.

In general, in order to protect the bushes from diseases, you need to constantly take the following measures: remove fallen leaves in the fall. Treat the bushes and the trunk circle with a 5-7% urea solution, cut the bushes in a timely manner, preventing their thickening.

Gooseberry pests

Gooseberry moth - as a result of its "activity", there is a premature reddening of berries with eaten away pulp.

Gooseberry sawfly - the larvae of the pest eat the leaves, leaving only the veins.

Gooseberry moth - the larvae eat everything, even the veins, leaving only the leaf stalks.

Gooseberry glass - eats up the passages in the branches, as a result, the branches stop growing, then dry up.

Gooseberry aphid - she is aphid aphid.

Gooseberry propagation

To obtain a small number of bushes of an interesting variety, the method of propagation by horizontal layers is suitable. It is more productive to propagate gooseberries by cuttings - green or lignified. Reproduction, however, is a subject of special conversation.

Gooseberry. Russian red variety

Gooseberry varieties

For many decades, we have grown Western European varieties of Date, English yellow, English green, Green bottle, Houghton - varieties with prickly branches, American variety - without thorns. However, in recent decades, our breeders have worked fruitfully and have developed excellent varieties almost without thorns and at the same time resistant to powdery mildew. Of course, thornless varieties are nicer because it is more convenient to pick berries. However, when I remember how the neighboring boys climb into my garden to "feast" on my favorite gooseberry, I forgive him for this lack. In addition, over many years of cultivation, I got the impression: the more prickly the old bush, the tastier its berries.

I will name several varieties for our region, the most productive. Their berries are more or less tasty, they are suitable for processing. First of all, I would like to mention the varieties that have weak thorniness and resistance to powdery mildew.

Gingerbread man - very fruitful, medium ripening. The berries are quite large, deep dark red, "with good table taste" - so they say in the description of the variety. In practice - tasteless (for my taste) fruits. The spine of the shoots is weak. The variety is resistant to powdery mildew.

Eaglet is an early ripening variety. The bushes are medium-sized and medium-spreading. High yield, average winter hardiness. Berries are black in color, large and medium with a characteristic waxy bloom, mediocre taste. Pros - the absence of thorns and resistance to powdery mildew, but sometimes he gets sick with spots.

But the varieties that taste much better berries:

Senator (Consul) is a highly winter-hardy variety of average ripening. The bushes are medium-sized, slightly spiny. Berries are dark red, good taste, up to 4 g. High resistance to powdery mildew.

Commander - similar to the previous variety, ripens a little later.

North Captain is a medium-ripening variety. The bush is tall, compact, with erect branches. Very winter-hardy and productive - up to 10 kg per bush. Berries up to 4 g, black, of pleasant taste, good for processing and medical nutrition, they make an excellent wine with a dessert taste. The advantages of the variety are resistance to powdery mildew and a weak spine of the shoots.

African. Very productive and winter-hardy variety. Quickly, almost thornless. Berries are below average size, violet-red with a waxy bloom, sweet and sour with a faint blackcurrant flavor. Resistant to powdery mildew, can be affected by anthracnose.

Spiked varieties that have tasty berries but are not always disease resistant:

Russian. Medium late ripening variety. The bush is medium-sized, slightly spreading. The thorns are medium, absent on old wood. The berries are large, on average 4.2 g, dark red. The skin is thin but firm. The pulp is juicy, tender, aromatic. The taste is good. Productivity is high, the variety is moderately resistant to powdery mildew.

Date fruit. Late ripening variety. The bush is tall, compact, the spines are average. The berries are large, purple-red with a good sweet and sour taste. In damp summers, the berries can be affected by powdery mildew.

Krasnoslavyansky. Although the variety has small thorns, I note it because of the very tasty (again for my taste) dark red, slightly "hairy" medium-sized berries. The variety was obtained at the Leningrad Fruit and Vegetable Experimental Station. The bush is of medium size, spreading. Early ripening. Winter hardy. The variety is resistant to powdery mildew. Disadvantage: berries, when ripe, quickly crumble.

Malachite. Vigorous shrub, medium-ripening variety. Thorns are rare, located throughout the shoot. The berries are large, 4–5 g, green, covered with a waxy coating. The skin is thin, the flesh is tender. Average taste with a specific aftertaste - for jam, compotes, etc. The yield is high. Winter-hardy, resistant to powdery mildew.

There are other large-fruited varieties: Neslukhovsky, Nugget, Grushenka, Harlequin, Kamenyar (berries 6–20 g) and others.

Many gardeners prefer to fight diseases by growing thorny, not the largest, but such favorite, sweet varieties of gooseberries, such as Honey, Plum and others.