Gooseberry vs Redcurrant

In Central Europe the most serious disease of gooseberry is American gooseberry mildew: shoot tips and berries are covered first by a white, later a brown felt-like coating and the fruit becomes inedible. It is prevented by an open, airy bush, cutting off infected shoot tips and choosing resistant varieties (for example the Hinnonmäki varieties, Invicta or Pallagi óriás). Leaf spot causes leaf drop by midsummer, and gooseberry sawfly larvae can strip a bush bare within days, so check the inside of the bush from May. It copes badly with hot, dry lowland summers: in scorching sun the leaves and berries scorch and drop and the next crop is weaker too, so watering and mulching are needed. Late frost can damage the early flowers.

In Central Europe it copes badly with hot, dry lowland summers: in scorching sun and drying soil it drops its leaves early and the berries stay small and fall, so watering and mulching are needed. It also dislikes strongly calcareous, alkaline soil. The most common pest is the currant clearwing moth, whose caterpillar bores out the inside of the canes, along with the redcurrant blister aphid that puckers the leaves. Diseases include leaf spot (with early leaf drop), powdery mildew and, less often, rust.