From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: "Martha L. Davis" <martha_davis@earthlink.net>, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Gooseberry
Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 21:39:14 -0500
When I was in the Chicago area I had Hinomaki Yellow. The flavor was good,
but it was a pain to manage. It is a weeper and it tip roots so you have a
thorny ground cover in short order.
I'll second that. It's not much fun to pick, it's so low. This variety
doesn't seem to grow very fast, but it was covered with large berries
last year. It's just a pain to pick them.
I haven't had any berries from it yet, but Jewel is the one of my
gooseberries with the most upright growth habit. Unlike most of the
others, its canes seem to want to grow straight up.
And my Poorman looks more like a regular bush, than the others (with a
single trunk that branches). I don't know if that's typical. It doesn't
have many thorns, either. Again, I haven't had any berries from it
(these plants are all just two years old now), but it looks like it will
be easy to pick. Most of my gooseberries are extremely thorny and send
out canes that hug the ground (and will easily root themselves).
Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
--
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