Growing Cape Gooseberry, also Golden Berry, Inca Berry

Physalis peruviana : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
                  P P P

(Best months for growing Cape Gooseberry in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 77°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 39 - 59 inches apart
  • Harvest in 14-16 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Will happily grow in a flower border but tends to sprawl over other plants.

Your comments and tips

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11 Aug 13, robin doyle (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
do you have to have two gooseberry plants to pollinate each other ? thanks
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20 Aug 13, Danielle (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Robin, Cape Gooseberries are self-pollinating, so you only require one plant. If you have the room to grow two though, I'd recommend it as they're very tasty!
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10 Aug 13, Raupechen (Australia - temperate climate)
What a lovely plant! Just wonder if anyone can spare a few (10 will be enough, love gardening but small yard) Cape Gooseberry seeds, I am happy to send over stamps or pick up from S E Melbourne area. Thanks.
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06 Aug 13, Pam Oosthuizen (South Africa - Dry summer sub-tropical climate)
Can I trim back the leggy branches after the Fruiting season?
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05 Aug 13, Elaine (Australia - temperate climate)
I have a gooseberry bush pop out of nowhere and it has a few gooseberries on it. Now I have purchased seeds and I am hoping to plant them soon. Hope they will grow well. I am in the northern beaches of NSW just up from Manly - hope it will grow well.
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05 Aug 13, Evelyn (Australia - temperate climate)
My plants have got lots of fruit developing, but there seem to be clusters of red dots on the tips of the leaves and the leaves are going yellowish. It doesn't seem to be affecting the fruit. Also cobwebs on the ends of the stems. Does anyone have any idea what my red menace is and how I should treat it? Thanks.
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18 Aug 13, Danielle Jones (Australia - temperate climate)
It sounds like your cape gooseberries have a spider mite infestation. I usually just remove the affected parts of the plant or wash the mites off (if it's warm enough for the plant to dry off quickly) but if you don't object to using chemicals, I'm sure you'd be able to find something at your local garden store. Good luck!
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01 Aug 13, Ken (Australia - temperate climate)
Cape Gooseberries have grown wild on my Central Coast NSW property for over 100 years. My grandmother made jam from them, sometimes with passionfruit. They tend to come up anywhere, the plants aren't eaten by the cattle, they don't get any fertilizer but bear well. Full sun seems to suit them here. Rats and King Parrots love them so you need to be vigilant but I don't begrudge the beautiful King Parrots taking a few.
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31 Jul 13, (USA - Zone 5a climate)
Buy a punnet of gooseberries at any grocery shop that sells them and open one. Squeeze the small pips out into a planter with prepared potting soil and water generously. You will be amazed at how fast your seeds will take root. Harvest 14-18 weeks, depending. On climate. Gooseberries like hot humid weather.
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30 Jul 13, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
After problems initially getting them established-they are now taking over the garden-presumably the recent years of unusual rainfall have helped! They are now becoming very straggly with less fruit-should they now be hard pruned and fertilised? Help! Kris
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Showing 451 - 460 of 556 comments
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Hello George Cape Gooseberries planted in the ground need little or no extra Nitrogen fertiliser otherwise they will grow too much vegetation with very little fruit. Just before or at flowering time you should add Phosphorus - I add half of the recommended amount every 2 weeks. Phosphorus increases the number of flowers. After the fruit starts to form I start adding small amounts of Potassium to the soil or watering with a liquid Potassium - the liquid Potassium is absorbed quicker. Potassium is responsible for making the fruit sweeter or with flowering plants ( roses etc.) the flowers bigger and more colourful. It is a very common mistake that Potassium makes more fruit and flowers - it's Phosphorus that does that. I have been growing Cape Gooseberries for at least 35 years this way so I know by experience and I have experimented with these fertilisers. I also grow not only the usual citrus (10 dwarf trees in pots and some in the ground), bananas, figs, but other fruit like Star Fruit, Dragon Fruit , Black Sapote and I always use the same fertilising procedure with very good results. I grow my Cape Gooseberries in the vegetable garden - 3 plants in a row with 4 x 1.8 metre stakes and thin rope wound aroud the 4 stakes to keep the plants from spreading out over the garden.

- John W

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