How long for germination for Cape Gooseberry?

Supercell

Anyone grew these from seed before?

I sprinkled some seeds on some blended topsoil (topsoil and manure) and covered with thin layer of more blended topsoil in a pot on the 26th of last month.
At the same time, in another pot, I sowed some chives.
The chives are coming on great but not a sausage from the Cape gooseberries.

I have a few seeds left so was thinking of using that pot for something else and trying the gooseberry seeds in some standard peat compost in a tray in a south facing windowsill instead.

Should I throw in the towel on the gooseberries or give them another week?
I brought the pot inside a few days ago to give some extra warmth when i saw the chives pot coming up but it made no difference.

redser7

Yeah, sorry to say you should give up on them for this year. They need a long growing season. I started mine in January. They are tiny seeds and should be sown on the surface or barely below the surface of specially blended seed compost. They have a high germination temperature so need heat and should be in a propagator. I have a heated propagator that did the trick, or you could put the propagator on or near a radiator. But dont give up and try next year, they're a brilliant plant by all accounts. It's my first year trying them but have lots of flowers and 'capes' so hopefully will have some fruit later in the summer/autumn.

Supercell

redser7 wrote: »

Yeah, sorry to say you should give up on them for this year. They need a long growing season. I started mine in January. They are tiny seeds and should be sown on the surface or barely below the surface of specially blended seed compost. They have a high germination temperature so need heat and should be in a propagator. I have a heated propagator that did the trick, or you could put the propagator on or near a radiator. But dont give up and try next year, they're a brilliant plant by all accounts. It's my first year trying them but have lots of flowers and 'capes' so hopefully will have some fruit later in the summer/autumn.

Thanks redser, was hoping that wouldn't be the answer. Oh well, have another packet or 20 of other things to experiment that have that pot's name on it so

redser7

Listen I have a spare plant I was hoping to trade for something up at the allotment. You can have it if you can collect it in Donabate. They really do prefer to be grown in a greenhouse or tunnel or a warm conservatory with good light but if you have a sheltered south facing spot in the garden it 'might' do ok for you. It needs to be grown in a large pot (12 inches) of compost and will need support as they grow very big. Feed it with tomato feed. And I'd move it inside if the forecast is for wind/storms. Sorry for the detail but I just want to know it's going to a good home as I put 6 months work into it

Cardinal Richelieu

I have grown them in the past, just treated them like tomatoes. They do attract whitefly like anything and the fruit splits more easily than tomatoes with cooler temps later in the year. I ended up with my usual problem , masses of fruit and couldn't get rid of them. The main recipes seem to involve dipping them in chocolate. Nice sharp aromatic fruit do.

Supercell

redser7 wrote: »

Listen I have a spare plant I was hoping to trade for something up at the allotment. You can have it if you can collect it in Donabate. They really do prefer to be grown in a greenhouse or tunnel or a warm conservatory with good light but if you have a sheltered south facing spot in the garden it 'might' do ok for you. It needs to be grown in a large pot (12 inches) of compost and will need support as they grow very big. Feed it with tomato feed. And I'd move it inside if the forecast is for wind/storms. Sorry for the detail but I just want to know it's going to a good home as I put 6 months work into it

Thanks very much Redser, Donabate is a bit too far for me, but I really appreciate the kind offer.
I wasnt kidding when I said I have about 20+ other packets of stuff I want to try growing The Cape Gooseberry seeds left can wait for a while!

redser7

No worries