my jeannes, perfection reds, johnkeer von teets reds, tiben and consorts are all sizing up very nicely with the good showers we had the last 3-4 days. perfection red currant and jeannes are so heavy with fruit, i have to tie up the canes to keep off the ground. same with my nelson black berries.
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I got a cutting to root last spring of Captivator, and Jeanne. But, other than Pixwell and Poorman, I don’t have enough experience to comment. Those do fine. (Oh, as does Hinnomaki Red, in z.6b).
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I should have chimed in on this thread awhile back. I grew lots of different gooseberries for 10+ years in hot and humid Maryland. Hinnomaki Red/Yellow, Black Velvet, Poorman, etc. No Jeanne though. The only one which lasted long-term was Poorman, I have some plants at least 15 years old which are still going strong. All the others eventually got less strong and more diseased and died. I planted them in all kinds of locations; afternoon shade I found to be the best. I also like Poorman more than the others in terms of flavor; if you pick them when they become dull on the outside they are sweet, aromatic, wonderful! But, I don’t get many berries from them, they are not nearly as productive.
Maybe I’ll try a few other ones eventually, but I’m going to wait until I hear someone had 5+ years of success in a hot and humid climate before getting any more of them.
The only currants still alive are some Red Lake red currants (~20 years old) and some Minaj Smyriou blacks (~10 years old, starting to fade now though).
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My Jeanne turned out to be a mislabeled Pixwell! That’s okay though, because—true to your reports and those of others—it seems like a strong performer in our region. Looks to be vigorous (new canes this year pushed 5’ or more), disease-tolerant and productive. They do have a much softer (some would say “mushier”) texture and less complex flavor than some of the other gooseberries—but they get quite sweet when fully ripe. I thought they were very pleasant out-of-hand, and they made a really nice pie this summer! Pixwell, in short, does not deserve the hate it frequently gets. (And another plus: it’s much less thorny than most of the other gooseberries!) The other star producers this year were Hinnomaki Red and Red George; they also contributed to pie. They all got some leaf spot problems/partial defoliation by late summer, but Pixwell was the least affected of the established plants. (EDIT: Black Velvet was hardest hit by leaf spot/defoliation.)
I’ve put in a second small, experimental planting in an area with afternoon shade. And I’m also now trialing (real?) Jeanne, Glenndale (which I have high hopes for), Invicta and Amish Red. Amish Red (one of the two best performers in Kentucky State University trials, the other being H. Red) showed excellent leaf spot resistance—but it’s only in its first year, so we’ll see how it does later on.
I do expect some of them will fail here, but I think gooseberries have enough culinary and production potential here to make them worth trialing.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Scott @scottfsmith. I keep hearing good stuff about Poorman. The next one I cull will probably get replaced with Poorman.
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i only have Jeanne and it produces so heavily the branches are on the woodchips. i had to put a collar of hardware cloth around the bush to keep them off the ground. it too gets leaf diseases later in the summer. a spray of immunox in july takes care of it. i find they taste good out of hand. next year ill make something with them.
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not much to report now that everything is dormant.
I watered them regularly for the majority of the summer to get them well established but fell off in August. the bottom 1/3 of the bed received the most sunlight and as a result had the most weed growth. I’m planning on using some cheap edging to prevent creep in of invasive grasses this year and re-doing the layers of cardoard/mulch on the areas most impacted by weeds, and just re-mulching the rest. the majority of them definitely lost their leaves early so my fingers and toes are crossed things come back in the spring
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gooseberries and currants are tough plants. if they grew for you they will be back. i your zone id put down a good 5-6in. of mulch every spring to keep those roots cool. heat is Ribes worst enemy.
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I have no problem gooseberries…oh, the plant may not look pretty all the time, but that’s besides the point.
I have some in the freezer…debating on a gooseberry pie or cobbler for Thanksgiving…not sure yet.
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i guess gooseberry fool is a popular dish in the U.K.
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I tried gooseberries and currants about 30 years ago…too busy aand they got no attention.
Only Poorman continued for a number years to produce some fruit.
Not loads of fruit, but some.
And it exceeded expectations in taste.
Been adding some from cuttings I’ve been generously traded last couple years. (Thanks steveb4 for Jeanne).
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let me know how they do for you.
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so it looks like all my gooseberries survived the winter and currently have buds. even jeanne, which got hit by a string trimmer by my landsacaper by accident (although now it is a bit stubby). how should I fertilize them this spring before I re-mulch? I read that they respond well to manure and 5-10-5 but wanted to see what others thought.
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i usually sprinkle a little 10-10-10, a little compost and remulch. usually water with compost tea or Miricale grow as the berries are growing.
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Steve’s advice is good. If I had a good supply of rotted manure (and I wish I did!), I might not put anything else on them save a good top-dressing of that followed by a thick mulching. Maybe a little triple-10 for any that seemed a little puny. For the most part, I’ve been putting on whatever slow release that I happen to have on hand—Espoma Plant-Tone, neem meal, stuff like that. Ribes do seem to have higher-than-average potassium needs. Some of mine showed what looked like K deficiency symptoms on leaves last year—and it cleared after dosing them at different times with 0-0-17 soluble kelp and fish emulsion + potassium silicate (Pro-Tekt). Other than that, they’ve done okay save for the inevitable leaf spot late in the season. With established bushes, I’d say a good indicator of overall happiness is the yearly production of an acceptable number of healthy renewal canes.
Congratulations on your success so far! I hope you get some good berry production this year. Keeping my fingers crossed on mine. Just pruned them about a week ago, and all look alive . . . . I certainly wouldn’t mind another gooseberry pie this season!
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Update:
all but 2 came back. my 2 that died were Jeanne and Hinnomaki Red. I purchased and planted replacements as well as a Hinnomaki yellow that I just got this year. I thought the poorman was dead too but it just took forever to leaf out so I got a second poorman and planted it next to the current one.
Captivator - it was maybe an inch tall when I got it in a 2 inch pot last year so it is still smaller than all the others but it has roughly quadrupled in size.
Black velvet - excellent growth, looks really happy
Glendale - this was the biggest and most mature of the gooseberries when I first planted. Lots of great growth although some of the stems have patches where they didn’t leaf out but the tips of the stems still have several inches of new growth.
Pixwell - excellent growth, looks really happy
Tixia - growth is slow, half died overwinter
Amish Red - excellent growth, looks really happy
Poorman - slow to leaf out, slow growth
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a few of the larger plants got a few fruit this year but nothing like the “loaded” ones I’ve seen anyone else post about. the fruit that are present are quite small and don’t seem to be ripening. anything I could be doing wrong here or is it just that this is only year 2 and I should see more in year 3?
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No worries…the harvest does get bigger.
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Yes. Most of the stuff I planted last year has either a light crop or no crop. You should see significantly more production in year three. My oldest gooseberries—Pixwell, Red George, Hinnomaki Red (planted 2019)—are heavy with berries this year. Red George, Hinno. Red are only just now starting to ripen a few berries. Little to no signs of ripening on other cultivars yet. Pixwell is a later ripener. Gooseberries in general may ripen a bit earlier with maturity. I notice that the layer of Hinno. Red that I planted out last year has a few berries on it—but none is turning yet.
Most precocious of the new introductions is probably Amish Red, planted last spring. A couple of canes have enough berries on them to pull them earthward; looks promising. If memory serves, it was one of the best performers in Kentucky State University trials.
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Move somewhere cooler 
. Gooseberries don’t like heat, they will not be as vigorous in Maryland. My yard is particularly bad as it is on a south-facing hill. None of the European varieties survived for me, only Poorman.
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growth in my climate in several varieties has been quite vigorous like black velvet, Glendale, Pixwell and Amish red. I believe these are all hybrid varieties of American and European ancestry but I once went down the rabbit hole of researching that and found a lot of conflicting information. the only one I do know for a fact as a cross is Glendale, named for Glenn Dale Maryland. At this point I’m seeing anywhere between 8 inches to a foot of new growth this season on my vigorous cultivars. the Glendale seems to have the strongest growth but is a bit more trailing, although there is one new shoot directly upwards from the soil that is the biggest new growth yet at around 18 inches. maybe a coincidence or not but those with the most vigor are growing very close and in the shade of a giant walnut tree. I knew that gooseberries were unaffected by juglone prior to planting them there but it seems the Tree is also speeding growth, or maybe it is just the varieties I chose to grow close to it. Oddly enough my poorman is the least vigorous. here’s to hoping that fruiting on all cultivars is more abundant in year 3.
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