Gooseberry varieties: a description of the best types of red, yellow, green

Gooseberry is one of the most popular horticultural crops. Its berries are appreciated not only for their pleasant taste, but also for their excellent vitamin composition. Many gardeners are interested in different varieties of gooseberries. And breeders try to meet the demand by regularly introducing new varieties.

How are gooseberries classified?

This culture has many varieties. They are classified according to such characteristics as:

• taste - gooseberries can be dessert, table or technical (the latter is practically not grown in summer cottages);
• fruit size - small, medium or large;
• the shape of the bushes is compact and spreading);
• fruit color - yellow, green or red;
• ripening terms - early, medium and late.

Gooseberry Beryl

In practice, the last two classification criteria are most often used.

Green gooseberry varieties

This is the most numerous group, which includes varieties with green shades of berries:

• Gooseberry Beryl. These are bushes of medium height, their branches are bent towards the ground. The plant bears green sweet and sour fruits. The berries are large, round in shape, weighing on average up to 9 g. This variety tolerates frosty winters well, but it cannot be called disease-resistant.
• Gooseberry Green rain. This is a medium-late crop, undemanding to the composition of the soil and moisture, it is resistant to both frost and drought. Its fruits are sweet, large, weighing about 8-9 g. The advantage of the variety is high resistance to fungal diseases.
• Invicta gooseberry. It is characterized by excellent winter hardiness. It bears oval large berries with a pleasant sweet taste with sourness. The shrub can be grown in all regions.

There are other varieties as well. With high yields, for example, Snezhana or Pushkin. There are varieties with more modest quantitative indicators, but very sweet berries. For example, White Nights. Its fruits are small, weighing about 3 g each, but very tasty. The shrub is resistant to powdery mildew and frost. Its yield is 6 kg per bush. The berries seem a little shaggy - they are covered with fluff, which is practically invisible to the taste, but outwardly clearly visible.

Yellow gooseberry varieties

This group includes varieties with yellow berries. For example:

• Gooseberry Honey. It differs in rather tall bushes, the crown of the plant is not too spreading. The berries are distinguished by an unusual shape, slightly reminiscent of a pear, and a pronounced aroma. The fruits of this culture are very sweet - hence the name. However, the variety also has disadvantages. It is resistant to cold weather, but requires laborious maintenance and is susceptible to disease. Experienced agronomists advise growing it only in the central regions.
• Gooseberry Jubilee. Differs in the unusual shape of the branches bent towards the ground.The yellow berries are not too large and have an oval shape. The plant belongs to the group of mid-season varieties. In general, the culture is resistant to frost, it is recommended for the central regions.
• Gooseberry Amber. This is a plant with a spreading crown and rather tall bushes. Its berries are oval and amber-yellow in color. The advantage of the variety is that it perfectly tolerates winter frosts, which makes it suitable not only for the middle lane, but also for the northern regions.

Gooseberry Honey

Red gooseberry varieties

Red gooseberry varieties look unusual. But in this group, many varieties with good characteristics have been bred, for example:

• Gooseberry Candy. It is a shrub with very densely growing arched branches. It belongs to the late varieties. The variety is distinguished by not too large, but very sweet red berries. An important advantage of the variety is its winter hardiness.
• Gooseberry Krasnoslavyansky. It is a medium-sized shrub with straight branches and a not too spreading crown. Its fruits are small and oval in shape, but most importantly, they are sweet and aromatic. The plant belongs to the mid-season varieties.
• Gooseberry Mashek. The shrub has a dense spreading crown, the branches of which bend slightly towards the ground. The culture bears fruit in an oval shape. The advantage of the variety is good frost resistance. But disease resistance is poor.
• Gooseberry Date. It is believed to be the result of folk selection. The fruits of the plant are not red, but dark purple in color - but this shade has only a thick skin, but the flesh is usually green, sour-sweet, refreshing.

Gooseberry Date

There are also varieties of culture that it would be more correct to call black, but theoretically they belong to the red-fruited varieties. For example, this is the Harlequin gooseberry variety. Its sweet, oval-shaped berries have a deep red hue that appears purple in certain lighting conditions.

Highest-yielding gooseberry varieties

Today, there are many fruitful varieties on the market - both domestic and foreign selection. For example, the gooseberry Rodnik has proven itself well. Its yield is up to 9 kg per bush. Approximately the same (and sometimes even more - up to 10 kg) in the already mentioned Beryl. Bushes of a variety such as Date bring up to 20 kg of harvest.

A good option from this point of view would be a gooseberry on a stem. While these varieties are not so popular among Russian gardeners, they are still considered very promising. For example, the Hinnonmaki standard gooseberry is distinguished by a high yield. This is a bush with a dense crown, which is most often given a spherical shape.

Hinnonmaki gooseberry

Large-fruited gooseberry varieties

Many gardeners prefer plants with large berries. Of the varieties listed above, these include Beryl, Spring, Date and some others. All these are shrubs with berries up to 10 mm in length.

Thornless gooseberry varieties

The lack of thorns does not in any way affect the taste of the berries. But many prefer just such types of this culture.In the absence of thorns, the crop is much easier to harvest. According to this indicator, thornless varieties are ahead of their relatives.

In this group, the most popular varieties are Consul (the second name is Senator), as well as Eaglet and Grushenka. The Consul's yield is relatively low - up to 6 kg per bush, Grushenka's - about the same, but the Eaglet is slightly higher - up to 7 kg.

Thornless shrub variety

Classification of varieties by maturity

To enjoy sweet berries as long as possible, many experts advise planting 2-3 gooseberry bushes with different ripening periods on the site.

Early ripe

This group includes shrub species that produce crops in early or mid June, depending on growing conditions.

Early maturing varieties include:

• Yarovaya gooseberry. Its advantages include high yields, resistance to cold and disease. But the berries must be removed immediately after ripening, otherwise they may lose their taste.
• Gooseberry Grand. This is a large-fruited variety. Its reddish berries can weigh up to 13-15 g. The variety is distinguished by small thorns.
• Gooseberry Favorite. The advantages of the variety - it is resistant to pests, has good resistance to spheroteca. His berries have a yellowish tint, they are not very large (weighing up to 4 g).

There are other popular early ripening varieties - for example, Delicate gooseberry, Pax, etc.

Mid-season

These gooseberry varieties yield in mid-July. Russian Red gooseberry is popular. It is a medium-sized shrub that has a yield of over 6 kg. And you can grow it everywhere except the Urals.

This group also includes the North Captain gooseberry. This is a variety with small red berries weighing up to 4 g. They remain on the branches for a long time.

Late ripening

These varieties are not very popular, but they are also grown in the southern regions. For example, this is Korshudin - a variety with thin thorns and a sour taste. Berries appear on it closer to August. Delicious pinkish fruits are produced by the Smena seedling.

Fruits of the late-ripening variety Smena

Classification of varieties suitable for different climatic conditions

It is also necessary to choose plants according to such a criterion as adaptation to the climate.

The best varieties for southern latitudes

The advantage of such regions is that all varieties thrive there. You only need to choose those that show greater drought tolerance. For example, this is North Captain, English Yellow, Date.

The best varieties for mid-latitudes

One of the most successful options for such an area is the Rodnik gooseberry variety. Although it belongs to the early maturing varieties, it also tolerates spring frosts, when the temperature drops sharply below zero at night. Therefore, it is grown in central Russia.

The best varieties for northern latitudes

Winter-hardy gooseberry varieties are intended for cultivation in Siberia. Despite the fact that the summer in this region is short, and the weather often brings unpleasant surprises, you can grow quite sweet berries here. For example, Beryl is ideal for such conditions.

One of the sweetest varieties, Chernomor gooseberries, can also be grown there. This is a hardy plant with small thorns and small (up to 3 g), but very tasty fruits. Its important advantage is that the shrub is not afraid of powdery mildew, from which these crops often suffer.

In the Urals, it is also recommended to grow winter-hardy varieties, giving preference to mid-season varieties. There are often spring frosts, so early gooseberry varieties are not suitable.In the Urals, agronomists advise planting Kooperator and Yubilyar varieties.

Berries varieties White nights

How to find the right gooseberry variety

In order for the gooseberry to please with a good harvest, you need to select a variety not by name, but by its ability to adapt to specific conditions - climatic and soil. The plant must be suitable for growing in a specific region (for example, it must be resistant to drought or, conversely, to moisture, frost or heat). Criteria such as pest resistance and disease resistance play an important role. When choosing a variety, you need to read not only the advertising description of the seedlings that nurseries publish, but also reference materials. In addition to the advantages, its disadvantages, as well as the features of agricultural technology, will be indicated there.

If you select gooseberry varieties taking into account all of the above factors - climate, soil, site location, they will delight the owner with a good harvest for at least 10-12 years.