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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] H. Red vs Poorman was Gooseberries

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  • From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] H. Red vs Poorman was Gooseberries
  • Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 00:46:54 -0400

When I lived for a short time on Amherst Island (NE corner of Lake Ontario, northern edge of Ag Can zone 6a), in the fall about 29 years ago I set out 3 short cuttings of Poorman (from my young bush) in Farmington (clay) loam (shallow soil over layers of limestone and shale). 2 cuttings rooted. I gave away the rooted cuttings and my bush succumbed to vole damage, so I have no personal knowledge of the fruit.

I read that Poorman makes a somewhat larger bush than Hinnomaki Red, so if there is no difference in disease resistance or soil/climate adaptation I speculate that for people in much of North America with plenty of space who are going to plant only one bush, Poorman may be a good choice.

I have a feeling though that there was a reason why the Finns continued breeding work, so I suspect that Hinnomaki Red may have a better adaptation to conditions like those in at least the more populated areas of Finland (somewhat maritime cool climate?), and maybe Poorman does better, or at least is competitive, in a more continental climate. This in the absence of more comprehensive information from trials. I recall that about 20-30 years ago the (defunct) New York State Fruit Testing Association said that Poorman was the best gooseberry at Geneva station, which I have read has a lot of clay soil.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada



John S wrote:
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:

> 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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