Detailed Explanation of Gooseberry Planting Methods and Management Technical Points

Gooseberry is the fruit of Ribes burejense, a plant in the gooseberry family. The berry is spherical, 7-9 mm in diameter, red, with a fruiting period from July to August. Ripe fruits are collected and sun-dried. It grows in mixed woods or coniferous-broadleaf mixed forests. It is distributed in Northeast China, North China, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places.

How to plant gooseberry

Seedling propagation. The horizontal layering method can be used. In spring, open-shaped longitudinal trenches outward from the clump, about 15 cm deep. Select healthy 1-year-old new shoots, bend the branches downward and guide them horizontally into the longitudinal trenches, making the entire branch cling closely to the bottom of the trench. Several branches can be placed in one trench, but care should be taken that there is a certain distance between them to allow new root growth, then fill the trench with soil, leaving the tips of the branches exposed above the ground.

As the new shoots emerging from the layers keep growing taller, earth up in stages so that the base of the new shoots develops roots. When leaves fall in autumn, separate each rooted new plant from the mother plant to become an independent plant. Horizontal layering is simple to operate, has a high survival rate, and produces robust seedlings.

Gooseberry planting techniques and precautions

I. Planting techniques

1. Orchard site selection. Gooseberry likes to grow in soil with more humus that is loose and fertile. When building an orchard on mountain slopes, choose gentle slope areas with a gradient not exceeding 10 degrees.

2. Field planting. The plant and row spacing is 1 m x 1 m. The planting holes are 40 cm deep and 40 cm wide, and 5 kg of farmyard manure is applied to each hole. When planting, place the seedling in the pit, with one person lifting the seedling and another person filling soil, firm it, and water thoroughly. After planting, the hole surface should be 8-10 cm lower than the ground so as to maintain moisture during the growing season.

3. Pruning. Gooseberry begins to bear fruit in the second year after planting, and 2-3 fruits grow on one fruit cluster. In the year of field planting, 4-5 healthy basal shoots should be selected and retained. From the second year onward, retain 4-5 healthy basal shoots each year, and generally keep 16-20 basal shoots per clump. In 4-5 years, each tree can form a high yield of 5-15 kg. The method is: for overly dense clumps, thin out weak branches, cut back perennial branches, and remove excess basal shoots.

II. Precautions

Because the branches within the clump are too dense, ventilation and light penetration are poor, the lower part of the scaffold branches tends to become bare, there is no fruit inside the canopy, and yield is low. Therefore, after entering the fruiting period, special attention should be paid to pruning work to maintain ventilation and light penetration.

Field management

1. Topdressing:

After field planting and seedling recovery, apply seedling-promoting fertilizer together with watering, applying 7500 kg of decomposed human manure and urine per hectare in holes or trenches, or 160 kg of urea. After the first fruit enlargement, apply a second topdressing of 225-300 kg of compound fertilizer per hectare to promote fruit development and plant growth. In the middle and late stages of harvest, topdressing can be carried out according to plant growth conditions. If the base fertilizer is insufficient, apply 300 kg of compound fertilizer. When conditions permit, carry out foliar topdressing by preparing urea or compound fertilizer into a 0.2%-0.3% aqueous solution and spraying it on the leaves once every 3-5 days.

If the leaves are hypertrophic, the internodes are too long, and there are signs of excessive vegetative growth, spray 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution to control it.

2. Watering:

At field planting, water thoroughly. After seedling recovery and topdressing with seedling-promoting fertilizer, water once, that is, cultivate and stop watering to control growth. After the seedling control period ends, water appropriately to keep the soil moist, once every 5-7 days, and once every 3-5 days in summer. Cultivation and weeding: In the early stage after planting, cultivate once after each watering to loosen the soil, raise the soil temperature, and promote root development. At the beginning of flowering and fruiting, combine topdressing with cultivation and earthing up so that the cultivation rows become ridges, preventing the plants from lodging and facilitating irrigation and drainage.

3. Cultivation and weeding:

Weed promptly in the middle and late stages of growth.

4. Plant adjustment:

Gooseberry has many branches and strong creeping habit, so trellising must be carried out. Generally, bamboo poles are inserted into the soil to build a herringbone trellis or a fence trellis. Each time the plant grows 30 cm, the vines are tied manually once.

5. Harvesting:

After gooseberry fruits mature, they fall off naturally, and harvesting by manual picking gives the best quality. On mature fruit, the persistent calyx outside is withered and yellow, the fruit is pale yellow, and the aroma is rich. If the fruit is not ripe enough and tastes poor, it should be ripened. This can be done by spraying the fruit with 2000-fold ethephon and then piling it until it is fully ripe. For fruit intended for storage or long-distance transport, it is preferable to keep the persistent calyx outside the fruit.