General characteristics and description of varieties of hairy gooseberries

Gooseberry is a berry that is familiar to many from childhood. This plant has not lost its popularity today, and the number of varieties available has increased. Despite this, more and more gardeners want to grow exactly the hairy gooseberry, which they remember from the days of their grandmother's garden.

Hairy gooseberries used to be grown everywhere. These varieties of fruit and berry shrubs are distinguished by a sweet taste and pleasant aroma. However, they are rarely found on the market due to their low resistance to fungal diseases. What varieties have fluffy berries and how to grow them on your site - read on.

General characteristics of hairy gooseberry

Gooseberries with shaggy berries are not a separate type of fruit and berry shrub. This is a characteristic feature of some gooseberry varieties. During Soviet times, most of the cultivated representatives of this culture had a similar property.

Now finding a variety with similar indicators is problematic. This is due to the fact that most of them do not have high resistance to fungal diseases. Powdery mildew affects them especially often. Because of this, more and more gardeners are giving preference to more modern shrubs with smooth berries and high immunity.

The berries of this gooseberry are covered with hairs. The pubescence can be either dense or sparse. The peel of these fruits resembles a kiwi. It is rough, therefore it protects the berries from cracking and deformation during transportation.

Varieties with hairy berries are distinguished by the compactness of the bush, powerful and thick shoots. They are hardy and undemanding to the composition of the soil, easily endure winters and do not break due to strong winds.

The color and size of the berries depends on the gooseberry variety. Fruits of all hairy varieties very sweet... This is what attracts most gardeners to them.

Note! Wild gooseberries also have hairy berries.

Hair is absent only on the fruits of shrubs of more modern varieties. Older plants produce a crop with pubescence, the severity of which can be different.

Varieties

To buy a shaggy gooseberry, you need to know the name of the variety. There are many representatives of this culture with berries, the skin of which is covered with hairs. Gardeners' reviews indicate that three of them have the best taste.

Early Hennings

The early Hennings hairy gooseberry is one of the most famous. It has many positive reviews from gardeners and is easy to find in online stores.

Characteristics of the Early Hennings variety:

1. The bush is tall, medium spreading. The shoots are powerful and thick, the young are green and the old ones are brown. The bush is straight, the branches grow upward.
2. Leaves are leathery, small in size, light green, with cut edges.
3. The flowers are white or cream, medium in size. Often solitary, rarely collected in inflorescences of two. It has elongated and narrow petals.
4. The fruits are large, oval in shape. The rind is dense, with many long hairs. The taste is sweet, the characteristic aroma is rich, the seeds are small. The color of ripe berries is greenish-yellow.
5. In terms of ripening - early maturing.
6. Winter hardiness is high. Withstands cold snaps up to -25 ... -30 ° С without shelter.
7. Average immunity. Susceptible to powdery mildew.

English yellow

English yellow Is another well-known variety with hairy berries. Differs in large size and bright yellow color of ripe fruits. Its originator is unknown.

Characteristics of English yellow:

1. The bush is medium-sized, reaches a height of 1.5 m. The shoots are powerful, thick, straight. The plant is slightly spreading. Young shoots are green, with age they acquire a gray-brown hue. There are thorns.
2. The leaves are small, cut, with five lobes and serrated edges. The color is dark green.
3. Flowering begins in May. Flowers are yellow-green, solitary. The size is average.
4. Fruits are medium in size, the weight of each berry reaches 8-9 g. The shape is oval with a narrowing on one side. The skin is firm but thin. Slight pubescence is present. The color of the shell and pulp is bright yellow. The density of the pulp is average. The taste is sweet with a slightly sour taste. The aroma is not saturated. An average of 15 kg of crop is harvested from a bush per season.
5. Ripening periods are average.
6. Winter hardiness is high, up to -30 ° C.
7. There is resistance to most diseases inherent in the culture, except for the sphere.

The disadvantage of the English variety is the tendency to cracking berries.

Transparency

Transparant is one of the largest-fruited varieties. It has the following characteristics:

1. The bush is medium-sized, up to 1.5 m in height. Slightly spreading. The branches are strong, straight, do not bend under the weight of berries. Shoots of brown color, without thorns.
2. The leaves are small, bright green, with cut edges.
3. Flowers of a cream shade, small in size, solitary.
4. The fruits are very large. The mass of each berry reaches 40 g. The shape is oval. The skin is dense, white or light green. The fruits are fleshy, but juicy. The taste is sweet, with slightly sourness and astringency. The aroma is intense.
5. Medium late in terms of ripening.
6. Low winter hardiness. Recommended for growing in southern regions. With frosts above -25 ° C without shelter, it can freeze.
7. There is immunity to all fungal diseases, except powdery mildew.

Like all large-fruited varieties, Transparant is picky about feeding. If the soil is not fertile enough (the fertilization regime will not be observed), the berries are crushed.

Features of planting and caring for hairy gooseberries

Growing fluffy gooseberries is not much different from cultivating other varieties. But there are still some nuances.

Landing

Nurseries sell ready-made gooseberry seedlings with shaggy berries. They should have 1-2 branches at least 30 cm long and not more than 50, a whole bark without cracks, a developed root system with 3-4 skeletal edges not shorter than 12 cm.

For the plant, choose well-lit, wind-protected areas. Groundwater should run no closer than 1.5 m to the surface. It is not recommended to plant shrubs next to currants.

Note! The more sunlight a plant receives, the sweeter its berries.

The gooseberry with pubescent berries has a compact crown. Therefore, the distance between such plants should be only 1-1.5 m.

Before planting, the roots of the plant are treated with a light pink solution of potassium permanganate. Then they are soaked for a day in a root formation stimulator ("Kornevin", "Solvent", "Zircon", "Heteroauxine").

Instructions for planting a seedling:

1. Dig a hole with a diameter and depth of 40 cm. The ground removed from it is mixed with 5 kg of rotted manure, 1 kg of ash, 30 g of superphosphate, 20 g of potassium sulfate. This is done a week before planting the plant.
2. A mound is formed from the nutrient mixture in the center of the hole. A drainage layer is pre-filled (crushed ceramics, expanded clay, fine gravel).
3. The seedling is placed on an earthen hill, around which the roots are distributed.
4. Part of the soil is poured into the hole, which is tamped and watered with warm, settled water. The procedure is repeated until the hole is covered with soil.
5. The space around the trunk is mulched. Use humus, peat, rotted straw or hay, etc.
6. The branches are cut so that each of them has 4 to 6 axillary buds.

The first week after planting, special attention is paid to soil moisture, watering the plant as soon as the top layer dries out.After a week, the soil around the bush is mulched again.

Basic rules of care

Hairy gooseberries especially picky about care. It depends on how correct it is, whether the plant will hurt, yield crops and how long it will live.

Description of care for gooseberries with fluffiness on berries:

1. Watering. For watering, grooves with a depth of 15 cm are formed around the gooseberry bush. The soil is moistened to a depth of 40 cm. The first time the plant is watered in early - late May or early June, the second time - in the second half of June, the third - in September or October. On a young plant, 2-3 buckets of warm settled water are used, and on an adult - from 6 to 8 buckets. The soil is moistened early in the morning or in the evening when the sun is inactive. If it is very hot outside, spray the crown of the bush.
2. Loosening. Gooseberries are loosened after each watering, precipitation and between them. On average 6-8 times per season. The loosening process removes weeds that contribute to the spread of infections.
3. Formation. The first year, 3-4 of the most developed and strong basal shoots are left, which are shortened by a third, and the rest are removed. This is done with new shoots all subsequent years. By the age of 5-7, the bush should consist of 20 well-developed skeletal branches. From the eighth year of life, they work according to the classical scheme, but at the same time they cut out all dark branches that are more than seven years old.
4. Sanitary pruning... It is held annually in the fall. All old, dry and damaged branches are removed. Cracks in the bark are covered with garden pitch.
5. Top dressing. They begin to feed the plant the next year after planting. Fertilizer is applied four times per season. In the spring (before bud break), 30-40 g of ammonium nitrate is introduced under the bush during loosening. After flowering, fertilizer is applied, which is prepared from 1.5 tbsp. superphosphate, 1 tbsp. potassium chloride and 0.5 tbsp. urea. A bucket of mixture is poured under the bush, having previously watered it with plain water. For the third time, the plant is fed after leaf fall, burying 4 kg of humus under the bush. The fourth top dressing is foliar feeding. Gooseberries are sprayed with 30 g of urea and 3 g of potassium permanganate dissolved in 10 liters of water in late May and early June (make two treatments with an interval of 10 days).
6. Preparation for wintering. In the fall, after leaf fall, the bush is treated with a solution of copper sulfate. Fallen leaves and plant residues are removed from the site. The soil is loosened. Then the gooseberry branches are tied together in a bunch, pressed to the ground and fixed with a bracket or board. The plants are covered with burlap and covered with earth in a layer of 10 cm. If possible, in winter it is covered with snow.

Diseases, pests and control of them

Hairy gooseberries are more susceptible to infection than many other varieties. Prevention is considered compliance with the rules of care: proper watering, regular sanitary pruning, autumn cleaning of the site, deep loosening. However, even in this case, there is a risk of contracting certain diseases:

1. Powdery mildew... Another name is spherotek. This is a fungal disease. At the initial stage, leaves and shoots are covered with a thin layer of white bloom, which can be easily erased with your fingers. Over time, the plaque thickens and darkens, acquiring a brown tint. A dense brown crust appears on the berries, resembling felt and flaking from the fruit. The leaves dry out and curl, the berries flake off. Frost resistance decreases, the plant dies without treatment. To cure the disease, the affected parts are removed. The bush is sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate or fungicides ("Nitrofen").
2. Anthracnose. Fungal infection, in which the bark cracks, and bulging red formations appear on the shoots. The branches dry up and fall off. Without treatment the whole bush will dry up. To combat the disease, fungicides are used (Kuprazan, Futalan).
3. Rust. It happens columnar and goblet.In the first case, the outer side of the sheet is covered with spots, dashes and streaks, and in the second, in addition to spots, convex growths are formed on the inner side of the sheet plate. Over time, red powder begins to pour out of them, and streaks of columnar rust become covered with villi and peel off from leaves and shoots. The plant begins to get sick. It is treated with preparations containing copper (copper sulfate) and fungicides.

The risk of rust infestation increases if there are conifers (including juniper) and weeds on the site. These plants are considered intermediate hosts for the fungus.

Pests infect hairy gooseberries in the same way as other varieties of this culture. These include aphids, spider mites, moth, sawfly, moth, goldfish, glass. To combat them, insecticides ("Aktara") and folk remedies are used (for example, many insects do not feed on leaves treated with a decoction of bitter herbs).

Note! Most pests hibernate in cracked bark and fallen leaves. Therefore, the main measures to prevent insect infestation of shrubs are autumn harvesting of leaves and plant debris, sanitary pruning.

Conclusion

The hairy gooseberry is distinguished by pubescence on the peel of the berries. These are the fruits that all the old varieties of this culture. Only over time were hybrids with smooth berries developed. They often have a less sweet taste and less intense aroma. However, hairy gooseberries are less resistant to fungal diseases.

Growing gooseberry varieties with hairy fruits does not differ much from cultivating other hybrids. You just need to pay special attention to disease prevention.