[andyf75]

Hi all,
I planted a red gooseberry Xenia last year which was looking great and has loads of fruit developing, but now the fruit is covered in what seems to be mildew. From googling Xenia is supposed to be resistant and while I haven’t pruned the bush yet it is open and the branches not congested which is supposed to be the main cause.
What can I do?
Thanks!

[gobs]

Couldn't it be 'just' frost damage?

A photo is always helpful (I don't dare to say this now, I was just told off for being unhelpful): without it, everybody is just tapering in the dark, so often.

[Growster...]

Our Xenia hasn't produced any flowers this year for some reason - probably the late frost...

I've taken some cuttings at totally the wrong time of year, but we'll see what happens next year!

[andyf75]

Hi all,
Some pics of what I think must be mildew. Not looking good at all. From all the info online it just gives ways of prevention by keeping the bush open. It seems quite open to me and is a recently planted supposedly resistant variety. What do I do? Presumably the fruit won’t be usable the mould just wipes off but the fruit is not ripe yet so by the time it is I doubt it will look very appetising! Should I give it a really drastic prune of all the affected bits and hope for the best next year?
Thanks!

[arh]

Oh dear, that doesn't look good at all, no help to you I appreciate, but I will be looking forward to the replies, just in case!!

[andyf75]

No it certainly doesn't! I think I'll prune it to the ground and if the same happens next year I'll replace it.

But I guess its probably worth contacting the seller as the variety clearly isn't mildew resistant as claimed and it would be helpful for them to know that

[lettice]

From what I've been reading in some old gardening books and looking at the photos, that looks like mildew.
It starts with a white powdery mildew on the leaves and then on the fruit, where it turns brown.
It does say that the fruits can be eaten, mildew just washed off.

To reduce it in future years.
You need to ensure the plant is open in the middle (done at pruning) and its well weeded during fruit time.
Give it a mulch of bark chippings and compost when pruned, as this helps the base and moisture.
Be careful with what you feed them with, not high in nitrogen (this promotes long sap type growth and encourages mildew), so just a general purpose fertiliser like Growmore.
Was always told they need to be in a sunny but semi sheltered position.
They require little watering, say every 10 days, but in very dry periods perhaps every 5 days at the base.

Not sure how resistant that variety is to mildew, but mine hikkonmaki red and green both are.

[lettice]

No it certainly doesn't! I think I'll prune it to the ground and if the same happens next year I'll replace it.

But I guess its probably worth contacting the seller as the variety clearly isn't mildew resistant as claimed and it would be helpful for them to know that

Id be pruning it at the normal time, it will not help it pruning early.

[andyf75]

Thanks for the advice. Yes I've read you can still eat it but the rate it is going brown I can't see how the fruit will even ripen. No sign of any going red yet.
I was worried by leaving it as it is the plant would get damaged even more. Some of the advice I've read suggests removing affected fruit and leaves immediately. If I did that there would be very little left!