american vs english gooseberries

patandchickens

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So who among us has gooseberry bushes?

I want to put in a couple this year, along with starting on some currants and maybe elders if the budget stretches. I believe that the ones I've eaten and made jam with in the past have been the big pinkish english ones (possibly "Hinnonmaeki Red", from book descriptions and photos) but I note that some books seem to be avoiding directly saying that the english gooseberries will be mildew factories in N America. The american gooseberry varieties are, I gather, smaller-fruited and spinier.

So I am wondering which to plant (in general, or specific variety recommendations/warnings), and lookin' to bum some advice from anyone who's got either sort growing right now :)

Thanks,

Pat
 

Rosalind

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I have the variably-spelled Hinnonmaki Red as well as Invicta (green English type). Success has depended completely on weather, as in, "was it a good year for gooseberries at the berry nursery from which I bought them?"

Bought Invicta the first year I lived here. It was fabulous, nearly indestructible. Withstood free-ranging chickens, playful puppies, droughts, downpours. The fruit was very nice, so I decided to get more the following year--more Invicta and some Hinnonmaki Reds to go with them, from the same nursery. That year, the H. Red barely hung on and didn't make much new growth at all, and the Invicta croaked in June for no apparent reason. Planted in the same part of the orchard, planted the same way, only this time fenced off from the playful puppies and the chickens were no longer allowed to free-range. You'd think they would have done better, but no. So this year I put in some more Invicta, and it looks like it's doing great thus far.
 
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