Gooseberries

[skinny_bum]

Hi Last year for the 1st time I thought that I would try the old gooseberrie.
It is a pot and I only got a few on it last year, but I didnt want to eat them as they seem to have this sort of grey misty film on them, a bit like a cobweb.
Anyone know what that is and if it is safe to eat, what causes it etc.
Skinny

[richard p]

its a sort of mildew, worse in damp weather and in dense tangled bushes , try and put the bush where the wind will blow through it, prune so it developes an open cup like shape. you can just scrape it off the berries,but its best to avoid it if possibe.

[skinny_bum]

yer the berries looked nice apart form this stuff, but I am new to all type of fruit and veg growing and so no dout there will be more questions to post.

I will move the gooses to a larger pot in the wind in the hope that it gets a bit bigger & stronger, as it is starting to bud now. Do they need a lot of water, or will over watering cause the berries to swell and burst like a tomatoe, ohhhhh this is hard, I dont even know the 1st thing about anything?

[John]

I'm not sure that a pot is the best place to try to grow a goosegog. They quickly develop into large bushes when established with wide-ranging roots. This root constriction may be contributing to your problem. Have you got a space in open ground where you could plant it up?

John

[Primrose]

I think John's right about your gooseberries not thriving in a pot as they develop quite large roots. I've admitted defeat with mine in the veggie patch where they took up too much room so they're now in one of the borders in my front garden. A bit of an unconventional spot to grow them, but who cares? I don't think any passing thief would linger long enough to steal them as the thorns are too sharp and harvesting them is a slow & painstaking task!
I've previously harvested gooseberries infected with mildrew and given them a gentle scrub with a soft scrubbing brush to remove it before freezing them.

[skinny_bum]

I do think that you could all be right, I have been looking for somewhere to put it and take it out of the pot so it looks like I am going to have to make space for it in a new patch, which in the summer should get lots of sun, I will have to check the ground out, as although I live in an old house the garden only has about 4inches of mud then it is rock and hardcore and this seem to be all over the place. I will check this area out and if it has lots of stone & or clay then I will have to start a raised bed area like the veg patch which means lots of hard digging but on the other hand the rewards should be good because then I will have room for more fruit plants x