Gooseberry English yellow: characteristics, features of cultivation and reproduction

Gooseberries are easy to grow in the garden. The yellow berries will look great on the table, and the jam will get a beautiful amber hue. In addition, dessert wine is made from gooseberries and compotes are boiled. The article will discuss the variety of English yellow.

Selection history

The origin history of the gooseberry variety English yellow is not known for certain. However, there is evidence that in the middle of the XX century. in the territory of the former USSR, this variety was planted everywhere.

Description

Gooseberry bush of this high-yielding variety reaches a height of about 1.5 m. It has a slightly spreading appearance. Shoots of gray with a crimson hue grow straight, there are single spikes, often located throughout the shoot.

The leaves are dark green with a blunt edge, leathery, medium size.

Important! Gooseberries of the English yellow variety are not planted near groundwater, since it does not tolerate waterlogging of the soil.

Fruiting begins 3-4 years after planting, the peak harvest is in the second half of July. From 1 bush you can collect from 8 to 12 kg of fruit. Berries with translucent veins have a beautiful amber color, shiny.

The average weight of one fruit is 3-4 g, however, it is possible to collect specimens up to 8 g. The berries have a dense glossy skin with a few hairs. The aroma of the berries is almost imperceptible, the taste is sweet with subtle sourness.

Advantages and disadvantages

Speaking about the positive and negative qualities of English yellow gooseberries, a lot depends on personal taste needs, on the possibility of caring for the plant and on the climate in which this crop will grow.

  • The pluses include:
  • straightness of the bush, which facilitates harvesting;
  • high productivity;
  • good taste;
  • beautiful unusual fruit color;
  • high winter hardiness;
  • good resistance to transportation;
  • resistance to pests and diseases.

There are also disadvantages to which gardeners refer.

  • These include:
  • unsuitability for freezing, berries lose their taste;
  • lack of aroma;
  • low resistance to the sphere library;
  • the presence of a large number of thorns, which interferes with the harvest;
  • the possibility of cracking fruits in high humidity - yield loss during prolonged rainy weather can reach up to 50%.

Familiarize yourself with the growing characteristics and properties of gooseberries.

Drought resistance, frost resistance

The variety is unpretentious for watering, the dry period tolerates well. Excess moisture adversely affects the fruits - they crack.

He tolerates winter well. Without shelter it is able to withstand frost up to –20 ° С. In regions where winters have little snow and the cold period lasts a long time, it is better to use shelters. With prolonged cold autumn rain, young shoots can freeze.

Productivity and fruiting

According to descriptions and reviews of experienced gardeners, gooseberries of the English yellow variety yield excellent and stable yields. Following the rules of plant care, from 1 ha you can get up to 15 tons of berries.

The main fruit ripening period is from July 12 to 25. This time period may vary slightly in different regions.

Landing

Gooseberry shrubs grow well next to their close relative - currants, because they have similar conditions of care.

Important! The gooseberry landing area should be protected from strong winds and drafts.

The timing

Plant seedlings are planted mainly in the last decade of March, during the snowmelt. Less commonly, seedlings root in the fall. This should be the period before the onset of the first frost.

Choosing the right place

The plant loves sunlight, so you should choose a place for planting, where after 12 hours the main amount of sunlight will fall on the bushes.

Selection and preparation of planting material

For full development, the plant needs trace elements and magnesium. The introduction of potash fertilizer is also recommended, therefore, before planting for a month or two, the soil is not only dug up, but also fertilized.

As fertilizer use rotted manure and wood ash. Additionally, sand is added to the soil - it softens it and makes it permeable.

Each hole should be filled with almost half the mixture: fertile soil (3 parts), fertilizer (2 parts), sand (1 part). In open loamy soil with a neutral pH, annual or biennial plants are planted. It is better to buy them in specialized stores or from reliable suppliers.

Important aspects when buying seedlings:

  1. Each seedling should have 1-2 shoots, each 30-50 cm long.
  2. The bark on the plant should be uniform, not have cracking.
  3. The roots should be strong, without putrefactive patches, not dry, 12 to 17 cm long.

Learn more about when gooseberries begin to bear fruit after planting seedlings.

Landing pattern

If the soil is too acidic, a little lime can be added before mulching. Each step during planting matters, nothing can be missed, then the plant will take root well and will yield a decent harvest in the future.

  1. When planting several seedlings, the distance between them should be maintained 1–1.5 m.
  2. Wells for planting should be 40 × 50 × 40 cm. In each hole, you can add 1 tbsp. l complex mineral fertilizer mixed with earth.
  3. At the bottom of the hole you need to form a “pillow” of earth.
  4. In an upright position, the seedling is placed in the hole, the roots are straightened. The root neck is not deepened more than 7 cm.
  5. Sapling in small portions is covered with soil, constantly compacting and watering it. Air should not remain in the soil. For 1 bush of water you will need about 10 liters of water.
  6. Each bush is mulched with garden compost or well-rotted manure to retain moisture. This will simultaneously feed the plant.
  7. Shoots on the bush need to be cut, leaving 5-6 buds on each.

Features of seasonal care

Every young plant needs proper care, which consists of watering, loosening the soil, harvesting weeds, pruning, preventative procedures and top dressing.

Important! Stimulants " Kornevin " or " Flora-S " can help the plant take root, so treatment with these drugs will benefit gooseberries.

Soil care

After planting, it is important to maintain a constant soil moisture. If you do not water the plant for a long time, and then water it abundantly after a dry period, then the fruits will swell and crack too quickly.

After flowering, the soil must again be mulched and poured with a solution of superphosphate in the proportions of 40-60 g per 1 m² of the trunk circle. This procedure will improve the quality of the crop.

Loosening of the soil must be carried out in a timely manner, about 5 times per season. As weed appears, it must be removed and pest preventive.

Preventative treatment

Shrubs are sprayed with wood ash until flowering. It will serve as a useful source of potassium, which will help plants bloom, bear fruit and will become a prevention against powdery mildew.

Solution for spraying: in 1 bucket of hot water (10 l) add 450 g of ash and leave to infuse for 48 hours.

Soap solution for spraying: dissolve 50 g of soap in 1 ten-liter bucket of hot water, add 1.3 kg of ash. Leave to insist for two days.

Top dressing

Spring top dressing is mandatory for the successful setting and ripening of fruits. In autumn, they are needed to prepare for wintering.

Regularly mulch the soil with thin layers of dry grass to supply nitrogen and potassium. This will serve as a kind of organic top dressing.

A little nitrogen introduced to the surface of the soil will not harm the gooseberry variety English yellow. The proportions must be kept accurate, otherwise there may be problems with the appearance of mold and aphids. For 1 bush, 20 g of ammonium nitrate and urea and 40 g of calcium nitrate are needed.

If yellowing of the leaves is observed in the first year of planting, then the bushes can be fed with this solution: 15 g of ammonium nitrate are added to 1 bucket of water (10 l). Spend 5 liters under each bush.

For foliar top dressing in late May or early June, use a solution of potassium sulfate and superphosphate (1-2%), as well as a solution rich in trace elements: take a 0.1% solution of manganese sulfate and a 0.01% solution of boric acid.

In autumn, after leaf fall, the soil is dug up and 3-4 kg of rotted manure is added under each bush.

Support

Sunlight should reach the gooseberry branches as much as possible.

So, a bush holder, bought in a store or made by one’s own hands, will be an excellent solution so that the shoots are correctly positioned in relation to the sun. In addition, it will become more convenient to cultivate the land around the shrub.

Familiarize yourself with the main types of gooseberry fencing and how to make them yourself.

Supports can be:

  • special devices sold in stores;
  • wooden pegs driven into the ground around a shrub with a wire, twine or twine attached in a circle;
  • stalks driven around gooseberry bushes, with even branches of fruit trees placed on top;
  • trimming metal pipes instead of pegs.

Pruning

For pruning, you need a well-ground pruner to get a clean cut and speed up the healing process of the plant. Fruit shrubs are pruned when they are at rest - in October and March. In the case of gooseberries English yellow, this is best done before the kidneys begin to open.

The ideal form of a trimmed gooseberry bush is a glass with an open center. Evenly spaced branches should be directed away from the middle of the bush and not be adjacent to each other so that there is access to sunlight.

Branches of one year of age do not produce fruit, and with age more than 3 years their productivity decreases. The best fruits in quantity and taste are produced in the 2nd and 3rd year after planting. All branches older than 4 years need to be cut. Large and old branches that constrain the center of the bush are removed completely. This will provide good ventilation, reduce the likelihood of mold and greatly simplify harvesting. Single shoots growing around the main stem are also removed.

With annual pruning, approximately 1/3 of the total shoots are removed. Pruning branches between the buds or lateral shoots will lead to vigorous growth of small growths, and this will negatively affect the plant. Shoots will start to grow too thick, which will block the flow of sunlight. To get larger fruits, you need to reduce the side shoots to 2 buds from last year's growth.

Did you know? Gooseberries are often green in color with light stripes, but there are varieties in which the color of the fruit can be red, yellow, purple, white and even black.

Harvesting and storage

English yellow gooseberry fruits are harvested in several stages, starting in the second half of July. During the period of technical maturity, the fruits are used for making jam, because they have a good density.

For tasting and fresh consumption, yellow varieties are best used when they have received the most saturated color and are fully ripe.

Harvest Storage:

  • ripe fruits are well stored for about 5 days at + 2 ° C;
  • in order to preserve the harvest longer or to prepare it for transportation, the fruits must be picked up a week before full ripening. Such a crop in a room with high humidity at 0 ° C can be stored for 30 days;
  • if we create storage conditions for fruits with high humidity and a temperature of –2 ° C, then the storage period of the crop can increase up to 3 months without losing its presentation.

According to gardeners, the variety has not only excellent presentation and taste, but also a long shelf life and good transportability.

Winter preparations

Before wintering, the soil around the shrubs is loosened, weeds and fallen leaves are harvested, the plant is treated with 1% Bordeaux liquid. Then the shoots are connected with a twine in a bundle and tilted to the ground.

Despite the winter hardiness of the gooseberry variety English yellow, with little snow and prolonged cold winters, the bushes are covered with spruce branches, burlap and other covering material, reinforced with boards from above.

Gooseberry bushes bent to the ground are covered with dry leaves

Breeding methods

For the reproduction of gooseberry varieties English yellow, several options are suitable:

  1. Cuttings . It will take mature processes, the cortex on which will be completely stiff. A large number of seedlings can be obtained by dividing and germinating parts of the plant.

  2. Reproduction by layering . Suitable horizontal layering that is at least 3 years old.

  3. Division of the bush into 2-3 parts. Manipulations are carried out in the fall or in the early spring.

Diseases and Pests

Gooseberries have the main enemies that can affect fruit bearing: birds, gooseberry mold (a rare occurrence for this variety), hungry sawfly larvae, spider mites, aphids and firetrucks.

It will also be useful for you to learn how to deal with lichen and moss on gooseberries.

Birds not only steal fruits, but also peck kidneys. To scare away birds use nets, rustling strips of foil and other home-made appliances.

Mold on the shrubbery may appear in the form of a powdery grayish-white mushroom on the leaves and stems, or in the form of a felt-like coating on the fruits. First, the coating has a white color, and then becomes pale brown.

Poor air circulation contributes to the development of this disease. The gooseberry sawfly larvae are pale green and look like caterpillars. In the short time between mid-spring and harvest, they can completely destroy the bushes. It is necessary to check the underside of the leaves and remove all sawfly larvae.

Shoot aphid eats foliage sap, which leads to their subsidence.

Noticing the larvae on the leaves, it is necessary to process the plant with such means: Karbofos, Actellik.

Did you know? There are gooseberry varieties that are grown beyond the Arctic Circle. The spider mite, like aphids, feeds on leaf juice. They have a marble spot. The best time for prevention is before budding.

Firefly is a butterfly, its caterpillar feeds on the juicy pulp of the fruit. For prophylaxis, “Karbofos” is treated after flowering.

Thinking about whether or not to plant English yellow gooseberries, the answer is obvious - it's worth a try. You can find many more pros for yourself than minuses.

Network user reviews

One of the best varieties of gooseberries. Frost resistant. Compact. High yield. The berries are large. The taste is sweet with sourness. Rosette //forum.vinograd.info/showpost.php?p=831837&postcount=3

Interesting Articles