What is the water requirement of gooseberries?
Gooseberries have nothing to do with dry stress. The berry bushes are best watered regularly in the morning when the natural rainfall is not sufficient. The earth’s surface may dry a little between waterings.
How to fertilize the berry bushes?
A combination of organic fertilizer and mulch meets the requirements of high consuming gooseberries perfectly. The following nutrient supply has proven itself:
- In March, compost with horn chips superficially worked in
- Repeat this procedure after flowering and after harvesting
- Spread a layer of mulch from comfrey, nettle leaves or fern
- Every 2 weeks from April to July, fertilize with a plant manure
Where no organic fertilizer is available, commercial berry fertilizer serves as an alternative in the dosage according to instructions.
Words to pay attention to when cutting gooseberries?
In the period from the harvest to the end of February, gooseberries receive a targeted pruning. In the first step, all dead wood is thinned out. Cut out inwardly directed branches as well as puny and intersecting specimens. Then it goes on like this:
- Cut the two oldest leading branches back to the ground
- Select the two strongest ones from the new shoots
- Consistently crop all other shoots sprouting from the base
- At each leading branch, leave 2-3 long shoots as these bear fruits
- Abraded fruit twigs intersect up to 2 eyes
The ideal gooseberry bush has 2 one-year-old, two-year-old, three-year-old and four-year-old leading shoots. The situation is similar with a tall gooseberry stem, where mainly hanging branches have to give way.
What diseases threaten gooseberries?
There are primarily two diseases to which attention should be paid during the summer. In dry, warm weather the powdery American gooseberry mildew lurks. If the weather is humid and warm, leaf fall disease spreads.
Tips & Tricks
The frost hardy gooseberry bushes do not need any extra winter protection. The conditions in the tub are different, however, as the root ball could freeze through here. Wrap planters with bubble wrap in good time before the first frost and place them in front of the south wall of the house on wood or polystyrene.
GTH
