So I’ve picked out my Gooseberry varieties to try this year. I’m going with Amish Red, Black Velvet, Hinnomaki Red, Jeanne, Pixwell, Poorman, Glenndale, and Captivator. I’m planting them on a south facing slope in a north to south row along a curved fence line that will get mostly morning sun and afternoon shade. I would like to plant the larger varieties on the northern (and higher) side of the row but based on what I’ve found most gooseberries are given a 3-5 foot height description from sellers for all varieties with the exception of Black velvet on the bigger end (6 feet or more) and Jeanne on the lower end (3 feet). can anyone tell me size wise (height and width) what I should expect from these varieties?
1 Like
The location of the gooseberries are the pink dots along the fence line (red line). the yellow circle represents the drip line of the black walnuts on the property and the blue circles are drip lines of existing mulberry trees.
1 Like
Not sure gooseberries play well with walnuts ?
I planted some gooseberry 50ft from walnuts .
2 yrs looking sad . (Or dead .)
Can’t say it was from the walnuts .?
Not under the walnut , but maybe in the zone of roots .
May want some other opinions …
Anyone have long term good results of gooseberry with walnut ?
Gooseberries are very Juglone Tolerant as are all Ribes. they are included in the black walnut guild. I specifically chose them for their tolerance.
2 Likes
That’s why I am trying them as well- I have a large black walnut about 40 years old. I ended up with the same 3-5 ft size range when I searched, so hard to tell when planting. I ended up with Jeanne and if they made it from last year, Black Velvet. I am told the Hinnonmaki Red has more aggressive thorns, so I’d leave a bigger space just so you can negotiate around it. To some degree height can be controlled by pruning out older branches, this worked with my spirea and ninebarks. I keep them on the lower end of the range, hoping it works as well with currants and gooseberry.
how big is it?
I will rethink that exclusion then! I was told it was larger with aggressive thorns, so I never even looked at descriptions. Just never considered it. Where I would need to plant, I do not want many thorns. One section is more open, I decided on Jeanne.
Sounds about right to me. One Black Velvet actually got up to 8’ tall, when it was able to use a nearby tree as a trellis (I’m not sure such a long shoot would be self-supporting). Hinnomaki Yellow and Jeanne were small and both eventually died on me, though their fruit was the best of all. Most of the others are mid-sized (Hinnomaki Red, Poorman, Amish Red, and Glenndale), around 4’.
I haven’t grown Pixwell myself, but my grandmother had one when I was growing up. I think it was about 4’ as well. I just ordered a Captivator this year.
3 Likes
Thank you!
