Anyone dealt with scale and/or some type of wooly aphids (I just checked and there’s wooly scale bugs too, apparently) on their gooseberries and have treatment suggestions? It’s on some established plants, so I can prune a bunch of the affected older growth off, but I’d prefer to stop it from spreading further in the Spring.
I had them this year. They really like the new growth. I started spraying them with Castile soap every other day and that seemed to help a lot. I would also smash them if I could catch them. Damn things jump like lantern flies.
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Based on my attempts to grow red currants, jostaberry, goosberry and even clove currants here in southern middle TN…
They just cant take my heat and humidity.
They fail to thrive (even in morning sun only locations) and fail to fruit. My clove current even failed to produce leaves. Many canes still alive and green but absolutely no leaves… and no fruit.
Oh well… lots of other things grow like weeds here and fruit nicely… I will grow those instead.
TNHunter
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i have never tasted a gooseberry, what variety do you think i should try?
i get enough chill hours for basically all of them. I would prefer lower thorns because i have dogs that tear through my backyard where i grow them, but if theres a massive flavor benefit to a thorrny one i can find a place somewhere in the front im sure.
I guess i’ll give my opinions on other berries just so you can gauge my likes
Blackberries: this is an S-tier fruit. probalby my favorite. I dont like when theyre SUPER tart but i dont mind seediness at all and I eat these throughout the summer.
Raspberries: I like em but they get mushy quick around here
Black Rasperries: best flavor of the berries, but also go mushy
serviceberries: top tier, like a blueberry but never too tart to eat
Blueberries: when theyre good theyre great, but theyre often not that good.
Looking for 1-2 plants. FRom what I’ve read of this thread I am leaning toward a Black Velvet (front yard) and maybe an orus-8 for the backyard.
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What is your favorite color grape? I’ve only had a few varieties, but for me the green ones I tasted were similar to a green grape mixed with a sour kiwi. The red ones were more like a red grape mixed with a sour kiwi.
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i love kiwis 
especially the yellow. I prefer red grapes for sure.
I’d consider looking into poorman and Jeanne, but I haven’t tried them myself. Just two on my wishlist
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I’d second Jeanne as it’s mostly thornless
Langley gage is supposedly the absolute best tasting if you can get a real one, but it has thorns and is more susceptible to mildew and rust
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So the only one out of the ones I have I’ve gotten berries on so far is Glendale. It has thorns tho. They taste like grapes (sour skin) with a somewhat apple aftertaste (to me). The jam I made with them doesn’t have an apple taste, but reminds me of almost like a dried apricot spicy taste. My coworkers said it would be amazing on a charcuterie board lol.
Hopefully I’m able to get some from the others this year.
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sounds like jeanne is a winner, anyone selling cuttings? do i need 2? if so id be interested in whatever else you got
@steveb4 probably has some that rooted around his plant this winter. I’d like one or two myself if that’s the case
i do but theyre under 3ft. of snow right now. message me in mid apr. and i can dig some for you. if there arent any rooted they are very easy to root from cuttings. jeanne fruits so heavily you need to tie the branches to a fence or they will lay the fruit on the ground.
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Hinnomaki yellow was my favorite tasting so far from the ones that I have fruited. Currently that list includes yellow hinnomakki, red hinnomaki, Pixwell, welcome, jahns prairie.
I should hopefully have first fruit off the rest this upcoming year which include Oregon champion, red josta, jewel, black velvet, poorman, captivator, Invicta, Shefford.
Pixwell and black velvet are definitely the thorniest ones I have growing if that’s what you’re looking for.
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Black Velvet (very vigorous, not the heaviest fruit set), Poorman’s, and Hinnomaki Red (weeping growth habit even before it has berries dragging down every branch) are the three I have that I like a lot fresh. Red or purple berry type flavor and good sweet sour balance. Orus 8 tastes black curranty (minus the stinky cheese funk) and is tart (or I picked the ones I tasted early). Welcome and Amish Red are very productive, but on the tart side and not an amazing flavor. They make good pies though.
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sounds like you gotta try jeanne 
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Yes mine died over the winter last year for me- I ordered one from burnt ridge for this spring and they told me they had a growing failure with that variety so I might still try to source it somewhere else but one item usually doesn’t make sense with shipping so I may wait another year. Still hoping to have it one day.
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let me know about jeanne, also lookin for some purple raspberries and other gooseberry so lmk what you got and i’ll buy some cuttings off you whenever
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i also have amethyst purples cuttings i could send you in apr.
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