[Jome]

I planted a gooseberry bush back in February, gave it lots of tlc in well manured site, and mulched it well. It sprung in to life about a month ago, with quite a few healthy looking leaves, but when I looked at it this week, all the leaves have wilted. I've given it a good water, but there has been no improvement in the last couple of days. I've looked at the plant and it doesn't seem to be diseased or have pests, the leaves have drooped. Do you think it might be down to the cold nights last week? Seems odd since it's been in the ground since Feb?

[prakash_mib]

this is second gooseberry problem reported today and a completely different. Are they bearing fruits (by the looks of it, your plants should have fruited now). if not why dont you dig it out and pot it in a good potting compost. If it is a well established plant for the past couple of months then it must be some kind of pest eating its way through to the root (borer larvae stuff) or a grub sort cutting the root.
1. remove the wilted stems and check if it is coming good.
2. if it doesnt help. dig the plant, check for any grubs and repot.
I would suggest 1 is your problem with some borer larvae. but give a google search. please post your findings so that others can be helped.

[Aunt Sally]

It it doesn't recover with a good watering there is definitly something wrong.

Grubs as Prakash sugests or verticulum wilt could be the culprit. 

[Jome]

I wasn't expecting fruit this year as it's only a small bush and I planted only this year. I didn't notice any flowers either. I will have a look at this weekend and if it's still looking sick I'll dig it out as suggested. I love gooseberries too! Thanks for your advice

[Jome]

Hi, went to check on the bush today and it still looked sickly, so I dug it up. It looked like the roots hadn't got established at all, the same root ball as when I planted. I did notice a wireworm and a small grub which looked like a pupating click beetle. Do wireworms eat anything as I'm now worried about my raspberry canes as some haven't come into leaf yet.