The besshipless gooseberry variety Komandor will delight you with black berries

Tell us what the Komandor gooseberry variety is. I got a seedling on the spontaneous market, so there was no label or information about it. I had to believe my grandmother, the seller, that a bush without thorns really is a gooseberry. And what kind of berries does he have? I have an old and very thorny bush at home, I don't know the name, but it bears fruit with greenish and very shaggy berries. Will this one be the same?

Sweet black berries with bare skin, abundantly covering a dense bush of smooth twigs .... If you thought about currants, you were wrong - this is the Commander gooseberry variety. Gardeners can breathe a sigh of relief, because this plant has absolutely no thorns on the branches. Harvesting is a pleasure: the bush does not scratch hands, the berries are large and tasty. However, the benefits of the variety do not end there. What else is remarkable about the Commander, why is it so popular and is it difficult to grow it?

The variety can still be found under the name Vladil. It consists of the first syllables of the name and surname of the breeder who bred it - Vladimir Ilyin.

Description of the variety

The Commander's parents are the Chelyabinsk and African gooseberries. The first gave him a high resistance to many diseases of culture and winter hardiness. And from the African the variety got the original black color of the fruit. The bush is quite compact, no more than 1.5 m in height. Not very thick shoots (maximum 5 cm in diameter) form a slightly spreading dense crown. However, this does not at all complicate the harvest, because there are no thorns on the branches. A couple of things may be at the base of young shoots, but they are very soft and thin.

Green gooseberry branches, which are under the sun for a long time, acquire a pink tint.

The density of the crown is complemented by large foliage, dense and wide. The leaf plate is five-bladed, with notches and a notch at the base. The color is bright green with a slight glossy sheen. The petioles are lighter, with a yellow tint and short soft pubescence.

The variety belongs to medium early, full maturity begins in the first decade of July. Berries are medium, weighing no more than 7 g, beautiful black-brown color. The skin is smooth and thin, the flesh is dark pink, juicy and sweet. The seeds are small and few.

The variety is characterized by a high yield: more than 6 kg of berries can be taken from one bush.

Gooseberry variety Komandor: growing technology

Gooseberries need to take a sunny area, protected from a draft. Planting seedlings can be carried out in spring or autumn. The plant prefers loose nutrient soil and does not tolerate stagnant water. It is advisable to lay drainage at the bottom of the hole, and mix the soil with fertilizers:

• humus;
• ash;
• if the soil is acidic - a little lime;
• urea (not needed for planting in autumn).

It is necessary to leave a distance of at least 1 m between the bushes, and to retreat from the buildings twice as much. So their shadow will not cover the sun for the plants.

The Commander is not particularly picky about leaving. The bushes need to be watered regularly and fed 2-3 times per season, alternating organic matter and mineral fertilizers. To prevent the lower branches from breaking under the weight of the berries, you need to set up posts near single plants and tie them up. When planting in rows, it is convenient to make a trellis. The bush should be cut off annually, leaving up to 5 young strong shoots, and the rest should be removed.

The variety winters well and tolerates a drop in temperature to minus 25 ° without loss. If the winters are colder and with little snow, it needs to be covered.

Growing gooseberry Commander - video