I purchased a Pixwell gooseberry in fall 2014. Last year, it sent out 4 very long canes, now about 6’ to 7’ tall now. The canes are like raspberry canes, round and very thorny. When I searched online, the gooseberry canes look smooth.
The plant came with the right label. Is it possible that this plant is mislabeled?
I’ll try to take some pictures tomorrow.
Pixwell are very thorny! Sharp, ferocious, nasty, etc. Pixwell is so-named, because the fruit are said to hang well below the branches and are thus easier to pick than other gooseberries – thus “Picks-well.” When mine are ripe, my hands and forearms bear the scratches that dispute that nomenclature! But, I just love a gooseberry pie!
The new canes might be a little thorny but they do not stay that way. This is what they look like later with hardly any thorns at all. I’ve grow them for years and they are very good gooseberries.
Mine were always thorny. I stopped growing them. Moved on to thorny citrus to replace them. 
Here are some pictures:
I do not remember how the leaves look like. From the very beginning, I thought it looks like raspberry. But since it was clearly marked as Pixwell, I did not pay much attention. Now it made me wondering.
The same nursery carries black and red raspberry, Dewberry and Boysenberry. I purchased the Boysenberry and it looks different.
So this is some kind of raspberry? They carry Brandywine, Heritage, Black Hawk, Cumberland, and Austin Dewberry.
That’s a pixwell gooseberry but it’s one of the thorniest ones I’ve even seen. Here is what they look with occasional thorns. I took a semi-dormant picture beside a raspberry cane so you can see the huge color difference. Notice the third picture is the fruiting cane and nearly thornless . The second picture shows mature thorns which occasionally occur. Mine looked somewhat like yours in the first year or two and many of the thorns disappeared
Thanks. This is interesting. I did not realize there are such difference. Maybe I should have trained the canes to be more bushy, and branch out early.
This is what a main stem looks like and you can see it’s got those numerous hair like thorns but the tops are nearly thornless
I think those are not gooseberry bushes in the OP photos. Especially if they have grown 6-7 feet high. They do seem more branched than most raspberries, although the purple royalty I grow do branch well, but higher up on the plant. Other than that, the thorns and the reddish color and the tall height all scream raspberry (or a related berry). Gooseberry stems and thorns tend to be greyish color, are far less numerous and are much larger individual thorns. I’m pretty sure when that leafs out you will find that it is a raspberry or similar bush, as the leaves of raspberries and gooseberries are very different. You will probably have to wait for it to fruit to know exactly what type, but that should happen this summer for you.
I held up that raspberry beside them for the same purpose to distinguish color. That’s a black raspberry in my photo. @redsun you will know for sure in a couple of weeks when it starts to break bud. Those hairlike thorns are typical with gooseberry and I’ve not seen any tame rasberry with those thorns . Blackberries and boysenberry do not have those thorns either if they are tame. Assuming its a tame bush I only know of one with those thorns and that’s immature gooseberry. I also agree with Don3a somethings not right there because the color is typically more grey like mine. Post a pic when it starts to bud and see if they bud like mine.
Compare RedSun image to Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius).
My Pixwell grows really tall and arching if left alone. I have to prune the canes to keep it in it’s allotted space, and to encourage more bushy branching. I need to thin them out a bit, because the bush is too thick. I think that is one of the reasons that I get scratched so badly when picking. Those tiny thorns go right through my garden gloves without any real effort.
The good news is that gooseberries are very easy to root, if you would like more plants. Prune the ends of the dormant canes when things are just about to start growing. Cut the prunings into 8 to 12 inch pieces and stick them mostly in the ground, leaving a short piece above ground. Let the spring rains do their thing. I have rooted a lot of new plants that way.
This is very possible. But the nursery does not offer wineberry.
We’ll see in a few weeks when the leaves come out. If I remember, the leaves are not like the typical gooseberry leaves. Smaller. Did not pay much attention the first year.
Once it leafs out we will know for sure.
Here the plant sends leaves. Do not think this is gooseberry. Wineberry?
Do not know how it gets mixed up like this. Still need the gooseberry.
Wineberry popped up on another forum last year, from a source that did not offer or label as such.
Does your nursery of origin grow their own plants, or is this a retail nursery with many sources?
Thanks for that hint. I will have to try that.
This is a nursery in Tennessee. I believe they grow their own plants. The wineberry is not offered. The plant came just like the raspberry plants I bought.
Definitely looks like wineberry, the smaller ‘fuzzy’ thorns are a dead give away. A tasty berry, but not what you paid for!
Wineberries also do not really taste like raspberries to me. Much more mild a flavor.
