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Gooseberries - will I get more fruit planting less fans or more cordons?

iamjowilsoniamjowilson Posts: 67
in Fruit & veg
I am planning to plant some trained gooseberries. I have a 4.8m Linear area and I’m wondering if I’ll getter a better yield planting three and training them as fans, or planting more trained as single cordons? For economy I’d rather plant less, but I also want to maximise yield and not perform a false economy 🙈

can anyone advise?

As an aside, does anyone grow gooseberries in this way and can advise how deep they are when pruned (ie. how much space is needed between the ‘trunk’ and the net to comfortably accommodate the plant and it’s spurs and fruit)

Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I've only got two gooseberry bushes, trained as double cordons on a short 'leg'  in a 'U' shape in front of  a 2metre fence panel. Two fit comfortably there. I keep them pruned to about 1 metre or so high (because I have a blackberry cane trained a bit higher over the same space). I suspect they could grow higher if I let them. It's easier to pick the fruit this way and I've had a good crop this year.

    I understand the shoots root quite easily so you could grow more plants after a year or so.
    Hope this helps.


    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • iamjowilsoniamjowilson Posts: 67
    Cuttings, What a good idea! why didn’t I think of that?! 
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    :)
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • iamjowilsoniamjowilson Posts: 67
    Oh Lizzie - how deep (approximately) are your cordons please? I mean how much space do they take up in front of the fence rather than height or width. 
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    They are flat, only two upright branches on each plant with short spurs off those. I've only got a narrow bed under the fence, about a foot wide, which is why I'm growing them as cordons. Alan Titchmarsh recommended the idea in his excellent "The Kitchen Gardener" book.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • iamjowilsoniamjowilson Posts: 67
    Thanks - I guess my question is how far the spurs stick out from the main branch? Unless they’re totally flat and I’m misunderstanding which is wholly possible 😁
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    If your training anything as a cordon or fan you usually prune off anything that grows towards the wall or fence so you can have them quite flat against the surface. And you also usually trim off anything coming to far forward

    Gooseberies fruit on very short spurs so I doubt you need much space at all. You want some air flow and if the net is too close then birds could reach the fruit through the net. I would allow about 30cm?
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • iamjowilsoniamjowilson Posts: 67
    Thanks! That’s really helpful
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