First sorry I don’t have any pics to share but here is my take on my gooseberry harvest this year. I have 5 varieties that fruited well that myself and my wife were able to enjoy. In order from ripening
Invicta:. First to ripen, largest berry, no tartness when fully ripe, translucent green with light pink blush, thin skin. The plant is smaller than the others but production was great. My wife and I both agreed that we liked the flavor and texture of the berry before fully ripe since it still retained a very slight sourness and firmer/crunchier texture. No bug problems.
Poorman: largest plant, medium pink/red berries, medium thin skin, slightly tart when ripe. Very easy to eat out of hand. No bug problems.
Hinnomaki red:. Second smallest plant, dark red berries, medium to small size, medium thin skin, good production, definitely more tart but like some descriptions kinda of like a sweet tart candy even when fully ripe. Slight bug problems in early stages of ripening.
Jahns prairie:. Second largest bush, berry color similar to poorman, good production, medium to large berries, thickest skin of the five varieties, very similar to poorman in flavor and color just ripens a couple weeks later.
Black Velvet: smallest berries of the 5, thin skin, first to start to color but last to reach edible ripeness, very tart bland flavor until fully ripe but then a very complex flavor develops. I thought I’d be pulling this one out but after trying the berries later on both my wife and I were surprised by the flavor change. I did have a bad bug problem on this s bush when first ripening so I lost probably half the crop for this year.
Overall all the berries were enjoyed fresh off the bush. My wife said she likes them all and the stagered ripening made it tough to pick a favorite. If you like berries with little tartness then my recommendation would be first Invicta, then poorman and jahns prairie, follows by black Velvet and hinnomaki red. If you don’t mind somewhat tart berries the last two have some interesting flavors that develop when fully ripe.
Overall not a bad one in the bunch but the small berries and bug problems of black Velvet would give me hesitation if choosing plants for the first time.
That’s a good list. Tixia is a good one to have too because of how large the berries are on a plant that doesn’t have many thorns. The taste is excellent as well.
I pretty much agree with the comparison although it should be mentioned Poorman can hang months, and it loses all tartness. I suspect they all do if left on long enough. One year when Poorman was young, I didn’t think it fruited and noticed berries in September when I was arranging them (in a container) for winter. The berries were not tart at all. Most were still good too.
Jewel seems like the dark berry version of Invicta, large berries that do need to hang for some time to lose tartness. They are quite dark when they first turn color. They keep getting darker and darker. I’m making jam this year so I picked them soon after darkening to retain a lot of tart flavor. Poorman has not been harvested yet. I like them after a month of being dark. I will harvest around August 15th.
What I don’t like about gooseberries is they have thick skins and sometimes feel like more skin than liquid. I prefer to process them. Poorman makes the best fruit leather ever! I remove most pulp and all seeds when I process berries, any berry except blueberries and strawberries.
I believe you sent me some cuttings of jewel last year and I do have a small plant growing that had a few berries on it. I thought that jewel was supposed to be a peach colored berry but the few on my plant were the color of my hinnomaki red.
I don’t see a mention of Pixwell. It may be the easiest to grow.
Poorman does have nice flavor.
Hinnomaki Red is too sour for fresh eating for me.
And Black Velvet has not fruited in a container I have it in.
Jewel does sound like one to put on the wish list.
Yes the description is not quite accurate on color. From One Green World. Only seller I know of. They do look peach colored for a second and then turn a dark color. It could be mislabeled, not sure what it could be though?
I agree. Pixwell is a workhorse of a gooseberry. I have a row that I neglect except for harvesting. They do great and are fairly easy to pick with a blueberry rake.
Ill have to consider pixwell and Trixia for future plantings. These are just 5 of the 6 varieties that I have that I was able to compare. I should have mentioned that all the varieties I described were plants from Indiana berry
If you’re in a hot zone 6, or maybe into zone 7, Pixwell and Glendale handle the heat better than most.
I had Pixwell, for years, in full-day, blazing sun…I didnt know any better at the time.
I agree with the descriptions from @roth2000 . My main problem with gooseberries is birds. Because of the multi stemmed growth habit and the thorns I have a hard time securing netting around the trunk. Also, our summers are hot enough to scorch gooseberries if they get no afternoon shade. With afternoon shade, however, they seem to flourish. I’ll add that Hinnomaki Yellow might be the best tasting, but as others have said it is weepy and not a strong grower.
My Amish Red and Black Velvet produced like crazy this year. They were both around 3 weeks earlier than the other varieties. Jeanne, Poorman, Jahn’s Prairie did not produce too well. The few berries that were growing mostly got picked off by birds.
I did grab a couple Jeanne gooseberry plants last time I was at honeyberryusa so I look forward to trying that variety in the future. Any opinion on its favor compared to your other ones?
I got so sick of the birds I built a portable PVC cage. I just throw the net over that.
I have a 20 foot by 10 foot area of blueberries in raised beds. I used rebar, to hold the PVC. Pound the rebar in and put the 1.5 inch pvc over it. I made cross bars every 4 feet. I took a 30x30 net spread it out and folded it by taking the east side to the middle, then the west. Then the folded east and west were brought to the middle again. Until it was 1 foot wide by 30 feet. I then rolled it up. I took this and pinned the net on one side and walked it over the PVC and unrolled it. Placed it in the middle and unfolded it. I put the whole thing on easily by myself.
I don’t have any great photos but this was painless to put on and take off compared to a tree!
Here is the PVC framework. it’s not glued, it’s numbered and all can come down including the PVC when done. I leave the rebar!
I could walk under the net and walk around and harvest. Not one berry stolen, it was easy and well worth it.
The green netting used is tough as hell. American nettings. It will rip branches out of trees without ripping, holds up well to abuse. Use a zip tie to repair holes. They do happen from time to time. The nets last about 5 years.
The last hole I got was a bird made it in, where I didn’t garden staple it down. And was now trapped and my dog tried to bust through the netting to get it. It stopped him but he did put a 6 inch hole in it where his nose got through.It so small I didn’t even bother to repair. It stopped a 70 pound dog cold in his tracks. He’s still with us, but that bird will never get in again. Once Jesse chased one into the net, he didn’t make it either all tangled in the net. My dog is trained to chase birds out of the yard, Anything out of the yard. He’s super good at it too.
He’s been such a good dog I bred him and now his son tag teams along and is learning how to keep the birds out of the yard.
AKC registered Australian Shepherds.
Drew’s Jesse of Russell Isle (Jesse) and
Jesse’s Chance of Russell Isle (Chance). He has the face of his mother but he does have his dad’s eyes! And merle coat although it is brown, not black, called red. A red merle and a blue merle. Great dogs!
Jeanne are very good berries. The plants are small, the berries are large. Good texture and flavor, among the best in my opinion. Few or no thorns. My only gripe is that you do not get many berries because the bushes are so small (although if you net your berries this might be a good thing). To compensate you can take cuttings from your bushes and make new bushes!
Will you have any starts to trade or sell this winter of the Gooseberries?
If you are asking me I would only have cuttings next spring from some of the varieties I listed.
I harvested my first and last Pixwell gooseberries this year. I will be tearing it out and putting in another white/pink currant bush. The white currants were so much better, I don’t even want to mess with gooseberries anymore.
The late Ed Mashburn, who was, for years, the NAFEX Ribes Interest Group chairman, classified Pixwell as one of the poorest quality gooseberries out there…but acknowledged that for those of us in zones too hot to be really hospitable to gooseberries…it was one, along with Glenndale, that growers in those zone 6 and maybe even zone 7 settings could count on to take the heat and bear reasonably well.
I’m In zone 5b/6a and have no problems with gooseberries. They grow well. I’m out of town but went in yesterday and wanted to pick Poorman. Hanging red for a month. Pure sweetness. I forgot!! I left without harvesting. I’m going in tomorrow for a couple days. I will do it tomorrow. All my others are harvested. I could have left others too. Most hang well and get sweeter and sweeter. I do have some Jahns Prairie that needs more time. I Iove gooseberries for processing. Such an easy plant to grow.
I have had problems with some, although nothing major.
How do you keep the worms out of the Gooseberry fruits?