I just dug up several Josta Berry plants. They are free to anyone who wants them. Send me a PM to arrange a pick up. I am near Woodfield mall in Schaumburg， suburb of Chicago
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What I want to know is why you dug them up? Are they extra’s or were you just not happy with the taste? I ask this because I have a few Jostaberry plants that have not fruited yet so I’ve never tasted them. Are they good?
I have at least 10 more plants. It is the most vigorous plants among currants and gooseberries. Well, it’s both since it’s hybrid of black currants and gooseberry. They start to take away big chunk of my garden space. I have no space left to grow tomatoes if I didn’t dig them up. In terms of flavor，it has hint of black currant’s aroma, not very strong black currant flavor. But the berries size is bigger. It does not grow string of fruits like it’s gooseberry parent or cluster of fruits like it’s black currant parent.
Thanks, Annie. Of course, I should have thought before asking you to describe the taste because while I also have black currants and gooseberries, I haven’t got to taste them yet either!!! ha. THis is their 2nd or 3rd year so hopefully I’ll get some of all this year. THanks again.
I am keeping so many Josta Berry plants because I am using Josta Berry as root stock and experimenting grafting a gooseberry onto Josta Berry to make a stand up gooseberry plant.I think gooseberry looks better and easier to pick the berries.
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I’ve always heard Jostaberry is pretty good. Would like to try it.
This is an interesting read on jostaberry as a rootstock for gooseberries.
Someone asked:
Quoting a post Ed Mashburn made in 2003 June 10 regarding his > experience grafting gooseberries onto Jostaberries, I would like to > ask if the system would have more in its favor if a Jostaberry > stock were found that was resistant to suckering?
Response
I think that I wrote that article, it was in Pomona and Northland Berry News. The grower was (is) Peter Howenstein in Switzerland. I had met Peter through the internet and regular correspondence and was intriged by his planting. I had thought that grafting gooseberries to Josta would solve a lot of problems, such as getting them higher, opening them up (by trellising them) and may reduce the problems of mildew. One comment was "wouldn’t it be great to have Hinnomaki Yellow berries growing at fout feet above ground". The plan was to reverse the “dwarf apple concept” and have larger, more upright plants. What often happened was that you wound up with the same type plant at a higher level. There were several problems with the overall plan, gooseberries are very difficult to graft and Josta has a great tendency to throw suckers from the base, these grow faster and larger than the graft and cutting them off produces even more shoots to grow. The grafts were placed at 12 and 18 inches above ground level and I also did a number of them at 6 inches to form short trees. Most of the grafts lasted about 8 to 10 years some longer and some much shorter. I still have a few that are about 15 years old. I have lost some enthusiasm for this venture and just prune and train the plants to a trellis now. I also grafted to Pixwell and Glendale, two easy to propagate rootstocks, that are much more upright tall growing gooseberries with a little better results. They were easier to graft and the sucker problem was less than with Josta. Josta, at that time, was reputed to be immune to mildew, which was another plus for it. Josta was not immune and was in fact more susceptible than Pixwell or Glendale. I used several grafting techniques including standard whip, saddle grafts and reverse saddle grafts. The gooseberry scions were significantly smaller than the Josta and the thickness of the cambium were much different, good matchups required a lot of attention. Bench grafts were not very productive. I have lost track with Peter now, but he had a great planting and sent pictures, which I used in a presentation at a NAFEX meeting some years ago at Penn State. All in all, I do not think that it solved more problems than it created, and I no longer graft gooseberries except to propagate selections that need to be increased and maintained. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but in retrospect, was a lot of work that did not pan out as I had thought it may.
Ed Mashburn
Northumberland BerryWorks
707 Front Street
Northumberland, PA 17857
(570) 473-9910
https://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/nafex/2005-September/020044.html
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