Gooseberry Vladil (Commander)

The high-yielding, thornless gooseberry variety Komandor (otherwise - Vladil) was bred in 1995 at the South Ural Research Institute of Fruit and Vegetable and Potato Growing by Professor Vladimir Ilyin.

The parental pair for this gooseberry was made up of African and Chelyabinsk green varieties. From the first, the Commander inherited the characteristic dark, almost black color of the fruits, from the second - high winter hardiness and resistance to a number of diseases.

Description of the bush and berries

The height of the Komandor gooseberry bush is average (up to 1.5 meters). The variety is slightly spreading, dense. Growing shoots of gooseberries are of moderate thickness (2 to 5 cm in diameter), not pubescent, slightly curved at the base. The greenish-beige color of the Commander's bark in places that are under the sun for a long time transforms into a slightly pinkish.

Important! The gooseberry of the Komandor variety is characterized by a complete absence of thorns (rare single ones can be seen in the lower part of young branches, but they are extremely thin and soft, which does not interfere with plant care and harvesting at all)

The leaves of the Komandor variety are large and medium in size, wide, dense, bright green with a slightly shiny glossy surface. On the branches, they are located alternately. At the base of the five-lobed leaf plate with medium or deep cuts, there is a small rounded notch characteristic of the gooseberry. The leaf petioles of this variety are of medium length, slightly pubescent, slightly lighter in color than the leaf blades (they may have a slight yellowish tint).

The buds of the Commander gooseberry are deflected from the shoot, in shape they resemble an oval with a slightly pointed tip.

The flowers of this variety are small and medium, in the shape of a bowl. Inflorescences are grouped in 2-3 pieces. Petals are yellow-green in color, slightly pinkish from exposure to sunlight.

The Commander berries are not very large (average weight from 5.6 to 7 g), burgundy-brown in color, with a smooth and thin skin.

The dark crimson juicy pulp of the Commander contains a small amount of small black seeds.

Characteristics

Yield

The Komandor gooseberry variety has a high yield (on average, you can collect about 3.7 kg of berries from a bush, maximum - up to 6.9 kg). However, with a large harvest, the size of the berries becomes smaller.

The taste of the Commander berries is dessert (sweet and sour), the aroma is pleasant, and the astringency is moderate. The sugar content in their composition is up to 13.1%, ascorbic acid is about 54 mg per 100 g. The tasting score of this gooseberry variety is 4.6 out of 5 points.

Drought resistance and winter hardiness

Commander (Vladil) is a drought-resistant variety, and in the event of a short-term drought, it is able to provide itself with moisture. At the same time, the regular lack of water negatively affects the fruiting and development of the plant.

High frost resistance in an advantageous way distinguishes Commander from most other thornless gooseberry varieties. He is able to withstand a snowy winter with frosts down to -25 ... -30 degrees, without the need for an artificial protective shelter. However, in modern winters with little snow and harsh, cold winds, gardeners often insure themselves by wrapping the gooseberry bushes of this variety with agrospan, or constantly spilling them with snow, bending the branches to the ground.

Disease and pest resistance

It is believed that the Commander is resistant to such common problems for other gooseberry varieties as:

  • sawfly;
  • powdery mildew;
  • viral diseases.

It is relatively less vulnerable to:

  • late blight;
  • anthracnose;
  • gooseberry moth.

At the same time, the danger to this variety of gooseberries is represented by:

  • aphid;
  • moth;
  • mites (spider, currant kidney);
  • currant glass jar;
  • currant gall midge (shoot and leaf);
  • drying out of the stems;
  • rust (goblet, columnar);
  • white spot;
  • gray rot;
  • mosaic disease.

Ripening period

Gooseberry Komandor belongs to the mid-early varieties (berries ripen from late May to late June). In mid-July (assuming a warm and sunny summer), you can usually harvest.

Advice! Gooseberries of this variety should be picked together with the stalk so as not to damage the skin.

If the gooseberry is planned to be eaten immediately or processed for the winter, it is advisable to wait until the fruit is fully ripe. Part of the Commander's harvest for more or less long-term storage is recommended to be picked in a slightly unripe form (a couple of weeks before the berries ripen completely).

Transportability

The transportation of berries of this variety is difficult, first of all, because of their delicate thin skin.

It is recommended to pick the fruits of the Commander gooseberry on dry, sunny days, in the morning or in the evening, so that there is no dew on them.

The gooseberry berries taken from the bush should be carefully sorted out, rejecting damaged and spoiled ones. Then they need to be dried for 2-3 hours, scattering in one layer on a soft cloth (newspapers) in a dry, cool place, isolated from direct sunlight. Only then can you carefully collect the berries in a container.

To store gooseberry fruits of this variety (at temperatures from 0 to +2 degrees), use:

  • small cardboard or wooden boxes (shelf life 1.5 months);
  • plastic bags (shelf life - maximum 3-4 months).

For transportation, containers with a volume of no more than 10 liters and with rigid walls are suitable. But even if all the conditions for collection and transportation are met, the Komandor berries lose their presentation very quickly.

Advantages and disadvantages

Benefits

disadvantages

Lack of thorns

Low transportability

Pleasant taste

Short shelf life

High yield

Whimsical care

Variety resistance to powdery mildew and strong immunity to viral diseases

Immunity to various types of leaf spots and a number of pests

Long enough fruiting period

Average berry sizes

Berries do not crack or crumble

 

High frost resistance

 

Growing conditions

Characteristics of the Commander gooseberry plot:

 

Okay

poorly

How to solve a problem

The soil

Light (sandy loam, loam, sod-podzolic, forest gray soil)

Acidic (pH less than 6)

Add dolomite flour (200 g) or lime (100 g) into the hole (per 1m2 of soil)

Conditions

Warmth and sunshine

Cold harsh wind, drafts

Fence young plants or plant the Commander against the wall

Priming

Loose, good moisture and air permeability

Groundwater level deeper than 1 meter

Lowlands, wetlands

Water stagnant at the landing site

Build a small embankment, the bottom of the pit before planting a plant of this variety, reinforce it with drainage (pebbles, gravel, coarse sand, ceramic shards)

In winter

Significant amount of snow

Little or no snow

Protect the Commander's bushes with covering material

Landing features

Planting a gooseberry of the Komandor variety, like other shrubs, is possible:

  • in spring - the plant will have time to adapt better, to form a developed and strong root system before the frost period;
  • in the fall - the gooseberry bush will get good hardening, it will more readily give new shoots, it will be easier to endure the cold.

The soil for the Commander must be prepared in advance (if the landing is in the spring, then this is done in the fall, if in the fall, then about a week before the expected planting date). For each gooseberry bush of this variety, a hole should be dug (about 30 cm deep and up to 60 cm wide). A nutrient mixture is laid at the bottom of it:

  • rotted manure with straw or humus (about 8-10 kg);
  • wood ash (300 g) or potash salt (40-50 g);
  • powdered lime (350 g);
  • urea (25-30 g) if the gooseberry is planted in the spring (not required in the fall).

It is recommended to buy seedlings with a closed type of root system for planting. A standard seedling of the Komandor variety (about 10 cm long) has 3 to 5 skeletal roots and well-developed kidney roots. A one-year-old gooseberry, as a rule, has a single shoot, while a two-year-old has 2-3 of them.

Before planting, the roots of plants should be immersed for 1 day in a weak solution of potassium permanganate or potassium humate.

The bush is recommended to be placed in a hole at an angle of 45 degrees in order to enable the gooseberry to form young shoots. The roots should be gently smoothed out by sprinkling with the bottom and then the top layer of soil. Next, the Commander's bush needs to be watered (about 5 liters), mulched with humus and watered again.

The distance between seedlings of this variety should be left at least one meter. If there are buildings or tall trees on the site, then the gaps can be increased to 2-3 m so that the shadow from them does not block the sunlight. According to the rules, there should be at least 2 m between the rows of gooseberry seedlings Commander.

How to plant and care for gooseberries correctly is illustrated in the video:

Care rules

Watering

The intensity of watering the Commander gooseberry depends on the weather:

  • in hot summer, this variety should be watered every other day or even every day;
  • in a cloudy and cool period - once a week.

On average, an adult plant of this variety needs about 5 liters of water at a time, a young one needs 3 liters.

Comment! There is an opinion that watering the Commander's bushes should be reduced a couple of weeks before the berries ripen, and after the harvest is harvested, continue to water in the same volume. Then the skin of the berries of this variety will not acquire a sour taste.

In dry autumn at the end of September, water-charging watering is also possible.

Support

Despite the fact that the gooseberry bushes of this variety are not very sprawling, it is still advised to install a support. Due to this, the branches (especially the lower ones) will not bend down or break under the weight of the berries in the case of a high yield.

Usually, at the beginning and at the end of a row of seedlings of this variety, two supports are installed. A strong nylon thread or wire is pulled between them, forming trellises.

Single gooseberry bushes Commander is more expedient to strengthen individually - with columns to which branches are tied.

Top dressing

In the first year after planting the gooseberry of this variety, it is appropriate to feed it with nitrogen-containing fertilizers (20 g per 1 m2 of the trunk circle). They improve the growth of the green mass of the bush.

Every year it is recommended to fertilize the Commander gooseberry with the following mixture:

  • ammonium sulfate (25g);
  • potassium sulfate (25 g);
  • superphosphate (50 g);
  • compost (half a bucket).

Immediately after flowering, and then again after two to three weeks, the plants are fed with a mullein diluted in water (1 to 5). The norm for one gooseberry bush is from 5 to 10 liters of solution.

Important! It should be remembered that all fertilizers are applied along the perimeter of the crown - in the places where the suction parts of the roots are located.

Pruning bushes

The optimal time for pruning this gooseberry variety is late autumn or early spring.

For the first time, the Commander's seedling is cut directly after planting, shortening the branches to 20-25 cm above the ground.

In the second year and further, the number of new shoots formed is reduced, leaving 4-5 of the strongest.At the age of 5-6 years old, 3-4 old and diseased shoots are removed from the gooseberry bush of this variety, leaving exactly the same number of young ones. Adult Commander bushes (over 6-7 years old) are formed in the spring, adjusting the fruiting branches, and sanitary pruning is carried out in the fall.

An adult gooseberry bush Commander normally has 10-16 uneven-aged shoots.

Important! You should not cut more than a third of the shoots in one go, otherwise you can cause significant damage to the bush.

Reproduction

You can propagate the Komandor gooseberry:

  • cuttings - cuttings are cut from young shoots in June, which are then planted in the ground;
  • division - young bushes are carefully separated from the mother plant and planted;
  • layering - a hole 15 cm deep is dug at the base of an adult plant, a young branch is placed in it without cutting off a bush, fixed and sprinkled with earth to obtain new shoots.

Preparing for winter

At the end of autumn, it is recommended to carefully dig the trunk circle in order to destroy the larvae of pests and fungal spores.

If a snowy winter is expected, it is advisable to tie the branches of the Commander's bush, carefully bending to the ground - in this case, they will not break under the weight of the snow caps.

If, on the contrary, the winter will be with little snow and harsh, it will be useful to wrap the gooseberry bushes of this variety with protective covering material - perhaps even peat or straw, covering them with a dense film. This will reduce the risk of the Commander freezing out.

Pest and disease control

The main diseases affecting the Vladil gooseberry variety:

DiseaseSymptomsWays to fightProphylaxis
Shrinking stemsCracks in the bark, fungal spores in the woundsBordeaux liquid (wound treatment)Pruning a gooseberry bush with a sterile tool
RustBumps of orange, brick, copper color on the seamy side of the leaves, on the fruitsCopper oxychloride (spraying before flowering, then after harvest)Destruction of diseased leaves; regular weeding weeds
White spot (septoria)Light gray spots on the leavesBordeaux liquid, Nitrofen, copper sulphate (processing gooseberries before blooming leaves, then after picking berries)
Gray rotBerries on the lower branches rot and fall off, leaves and shoots rotDestruction of berries, shoots, leaves affected by the diseaseRegular pruning of the gooseberry bush
Mosaic diseaseStripes, circles, and patches of pale green or yellow along the inner veins of the leaves. Leaves wither and fallNotCareful selection of planting material, destruction of diseased bushes of this variety, processing with a sterile tool

Harmful insects from which this gooseberry variety most often suffers:

Pest

Symptoms

Control methods and prevention

Aphid

Colonies of small green insects on the inside of the leaves, sucking juice from them

Spraying gooseberry leaves with soap foam, infusion of hot pepper, crushed tobacco leaves, garlic arrows, dry peels of citrus fruits. Spraying with Aktara, Karbofos, Aktellik (according to the instructions)

Moth

Gray caterpillars feeding on leaves

Collect caterpillars and egg clutches by hand. In the spring, watering the soil with boiling water (moth butterflies winter under the bushes). Spraying the leaves of the Commander with infusion of chamomile or tobacco leaves. Spraying with Aktellik, Kinmis, Iskra according to the instructions.

Currant kidney mite

Settles in buds (flower, leaf), eating them from the inside

Thorough inspection of the Commander's bushes in the spring, destruction of deformed buds. Spraying with colloidal sulfur solution. Spraying ISO according to instructions

Spider mite

It settles from the bottom of the leaf, drinking juice from it and entangling it with white threads resembling a spider's web

Spraying the leaves of the Commander with an infusion of wormwood, potato tops, garlic or onions. Use of acaricides (Bankol, Apollo, Sunmight)

Currant glass

Caterpillars in cracks in the bark, eating wood from the inside

Wood ash scattered under the plants, mustard powder, ground red pepper, tobacco dust. Insecticides to help control moth

Currant gall midge (shoot and leaf)

Small "mosquitoes" of brown color, feeding on sap of leaves and wood. Leaves and shoots dry, shoots break easily

Prevention - treatment of plants with infusion of wormwood, mustard powder, tomato tops. In case of defeat - Fufanon, Karbofos (spraying before flowering, then after harvesting)

Conclusion

Medium early gooseberries of the Komandor variety have no thorns, are frost-resistant, are famous for their high yields, a long berry picking period and a pleasant taste. At the same time, this variety is quite picky about the place of planting and the conditions of care, its fruits are small in size, it is rather difficult to transport and store them.

Testimonials

Anastasia Pavlovna Sytnik, 61 years old, Nizhny Novgorod
In my opinion, the Commander is a very worthy variety. I have six varieties of gooseberries growing, all delicious, but they eat, first of all, this one - thornless, the berries are smallish, but quite pleasant. Although there are only two bushes, there are a lot of berries that we don't eat like that, goes to compotes and jam.
Tamara Ivanovna Kalchenko, 33 years old, Voronezh
At first, this bush upset me. For four years I "sat", almost did not grow, I was already going to throw it out. And this summer, my Commander suddenly stretched out, stretched out somewhere up to 70 cm and gave out six branches. I read later that thornless gooseberry varieties grow more slowly. Placed on a trellis for convenience, now I want to wait for the harvest.
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