Found this page of gooseberry descriptions. There must be at least 100 varieties on there with descriptions of taste and problems. Many are from the 1800’s with a little history report. If your into gooseberries this will put you on with varieties you didn’t even know existed.
Looks like they are mostly older varieties. I found it looking for info on Houghton. There is a nursery down the street with 4 year old bushes for $25, but all they have is Houghton, Pixwell, and Hannomaki Red. I am ready to buy them all.
That’s good to know. I have both BV and HR. Poorman seems pretty hard to find. Everyone that sold it was sold out. I agree, I would rather have a tall bush so I may pass on getting more HR’s. How good are those thorns at fending off thieves. Have you been robbed before?
Larger birds may have a little difficulty with the growth habit of Hinomaki Red and with it’s small sharp plentiful thorns…but not all bird thieves are large ones!
Some of them may have been pollinated by other varieties. Who knows you may get a cross that is even better. At the very least you have about 20 freebies.
I netted my gooseberries, held the nets to the ground with rocks, and something still stole nearly every gooseberry last year. Not sure if it was chipmunks or birds, but the thorns didn’t stop them.