# Picking gooseberries



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Does anyone pick wild gooseberries?

I've found all kinds of vines while wandering the woods in the fall but have never seen the berries. This morning while picking up my trail cam I found a vine that had quite a few small unripe berries.

I'm wondering how long they stay on the vine once they ripen.

I'd like to pick a bunch and dehydrate them to substitute them for raisins. To me they taste exactly like dates.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Our goose berries were on shrubs never seen one taller than waist high though. We used to pick them when I was a kid. Mom would make pies with them and can some for winter. You had to get right after them when they started getting ripe because all the wild life liked th4em too.

Non in this area, I did recently ask my brother if he still picks them and he does.

Found this on the net.
*"The gooseberry definitely responds well to baking and sugaring, and tarts and pies are common. Similarly, gooseberries may be added to the many baked puddings in place of raisins or currants. They also can be stewed, or used in crunches or cobblers. People who can find ripe gooseberries may prefer simply eating them raw or adding them to fruit salads. They also provide interesting texture and taste in green salads"*

I don't know of any one who grows them, but see you can buy plants. If you think you would like to grow some in your back yard you might find this interesting. 

http://usagardener.com/how_to_grow_fruits/how_to_grow_gooseberries.php

You can take a cutting to start with.


 Al


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Thanks. That's good info on starting them from cuttings. That way a person can try several types and then expand the ones you like.

I see several cultivars are available and some are resistant to blister rust so are less of a threat to white pines. I lost a couple of pines near the house to rust probably from the gooseberries growing in my nearby woods.

They seem to be tough plants. I see them compete in really dense vegetation but I'm not sure how well those plants produce.


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## Dan in Ohio (Jul 16, 2005)

I grow them . . . I probably have a half dozen cultivars around my property . . . they are shrubs, get to be about 5' tall or so . . . taste more like grapes to me. As for ripeness, I find once they are ripe they tend to fall to the ground . . . if they are ripe and on the bush they generally will come off the bush into your hand with the slightest touch. They are shade tolerant, I put them in half-sun, half-shade areas of the yard. Also have thorns.

Not sure I have much else to note about them. I like them, way better than a lot of the other "unknown" fruits. Personally I'd plant twice as many gooseberries and skip their currant cousin. Never seen them growing wild around here though (and I have a lot other wild fruits at one time or another).


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I'm just going to have to keep a close watch on them and be ready to pick when they are ripe. I see hundreds of plants when I'm out with my dogs.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

I've never seen wild gooseberries myself but I grow my own .have done for the past 40 years. same bushes so they must be long lived. I brought 3 in from my country place about 7 years ago and transplanted them here. they just started right off that same year as if they had never been moved. mine are over 5ft . they are loaded every year. I make jam and eat them right off the bush or with cream. no pests and the birds avoid them. mine are the small ones. ~Georgia


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I'll definitely look into growing some on my homestead.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Gooseberry is the intermediate host for white pine blister rust. If you have any white pine, I'd suggest not growing gooseberries. Back in the 30's the USFS (or CCC?) would send out crews to eradicate gooseberry bushes throughout the forests in the Great Lake States.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

that's correct. I forgot to mention that. there's a place about a couple hundred miles away and I did hear you can't plant gooseberries there because of those pines. I have pines on my country place that co-existed all those years with the gooseberries and they both thrived. likely they were another pine. scotch I think is what I have. ~Georgia


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I see gooseberry vines all over the place while running the dogs but until this week had never seen any berries on them. Now if I can get the timing right I'll be picking a bunch.

I've been told that blister rust spores are not much of a threat beyond a couple hundred yards from white pine. I've also been told that pruning the lower branches to increase airflow and decrease humidity helps protect white pines from blister rust. I lost the 2 by my driveway but I've got another white pine a couple hundred feet further from my woods that is fine.


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