In the past I grew gooseberries, and we often reach 100F in the summer.
They never seemed to suffer from the heat. They did get some late afternoon
shade. I had good crops for a few years; what finally caused me to yank
them was the gooseberry saw fly, which I grew tired of battling.

Black currants do very well for me, both the Crandall, which is lovely and
smells like cloves in bloom, and the Consort. I had Jostaberries for 10
years, and they grew vigorously, but never bore much fruit.

Good luck and have fun,
Sue

--

Zone 6, South-central PA


"AlleyCatStudio1" wrote in message
...
Hello all --

I recently ordered two Gooseberry plants ('Invicta' and 'Hinnonmaki Red'
cultivars). I've read that gooseberries "collapse" when the air
temperature
exceeds 85 degrees: I live about half a mile from the south shore of Lake
Erie, so the summers aren't like Arizona, but typically there are a few
days or
weeks during the summer that exceed the 85-degree mark, and it's usually
the
case where we get at least one week that goes into the 90's. So, I intend
to
plant them in large containers so they can be temporarily moved indoors if
necessary.

It seems a shame, though, since that means they would probably not reach
their
full size, and there's a spot on the north side of the house that would
otherwise be ideal for them. Is there another way to protect
gooseberries
from high summer temperatures (e.g. covering them with wet fabric, etc. ?)
Or
might these varieties survive a week of 90-ish temperatures anyways?