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[John S <swim_at_svc@yahoo.com>]

Doug,  That's a hard question for me to answer accurately without doing some objective measurements.  My feel for the situation is that H. Red is slightly better in terms of fruit productivity.  I would claim that fruit size is similar without doing the measurements.

Frankly I have problems telling the two apart, except for the subjective observation about slightly different ripening times, which overlap.

I have made some minor efforts to propagate using prunings of various sizes, but not had much success with these two.  Hinnomaki Yellow, an excellent, very cold hardy yellow berry, is trivially easy to propagate in comparison, tip rooting itself all the time.

Keep in mind that my Poorman was a discounted nursery rescue acquisition and is slightly a different size from my H. Red and I keep my gooseberries somewhat rootbound in pots.

My favorite gooseberries are H. Red (or Poorman), H. Yellow, Glendale and Black Velvet of about 15-20 varieties in trial.  Hope this helps.  I haven't found any better than the ones mentioned, but there are others similar and almost as good.



--- On Wed, 5/13/09, Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org> wrote:

From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Gooseberries
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 11:07 PM

John S., how do Poorman and Hinnomaki Red compare in berry size,
productivity in relation to bush size, bush size, and disease resistance
with you? Any difference in ease of propagation from cuttings?

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario


John S wrote:
>   Jim, My experience with Tixia is disappointing.  While the berries are
> large (easily 1"), they are also sour.  They also fall off for me before
> they ripen, making them a frustrating experience.  Given your tendency
> to pick your gooseberries pre-ripe, they may be of advantage due to
> their size but I think they are a poor table gooseberry.  If bugs are a
> major problem for your "Poorman", then screen it and let them ripen. 
> You should be pleased with the ripe berry taste.  Gooseberries fruit
> size can be significantly affected by the number of berries allowed to
> mature.  If yours are tiny, thinning may help..
>
> Hinnomaki Red is excellent but similar to Poorman in taste and sweetness
> and among my favorites..  I find they ripen at slightly different times. 
> Pixwell is a poor comparison and not worth growing unless you use the
> fruit for cooking.  Poorman produces average size berries here.  If
> yours produced tiny berries, then perhaps you had incorrectly ID's
> plants or something else was wrong.
>
> John
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