Basic rules for planting and growing grapes

According to legend, this juicy berry was among the first plants created by God on earth. From ancient times, knowledge has come down to us about how to plant grapes and take care of them, how to use their valuable nutritional and healing properties, how to prepare a magical wine that gives a person strength and energy. It is not surprising that modern gardeners still prefer these fruits, which have absorbed the energy of the earth and the sun, the colors of the ruddy dawn and velvet night, and compare their cultivation with real art.

Preparing the landing site

You can plant grapes in spring (mid-April), summer (June) or autumn (from early October until the first frost). A month and a half before that, some preparatory work should be done.

• First of all, you need to choose a suitable place - the sunny area on the south side along the wall or fence is best suited. So during the day the plant will receive enough sunlight, and at night the surface heated during the day will save it from the cold.
• Any soil is suitable for growing grapes, with the exception of salt marshes. Unacceptable for growing and a place with a close occurrence of groundwater.
• We'll have to dig a fairly large hole, 1 meter in diameter and 70 centimeters deep.
• If the ground is dense, add a drainage layer of broken brick or shingles. It is recommended to add river sand to the peat soil.
• The soil must be fed by mixing it with compost, wood ash or sufficiently rotted manure.
• It is necessary to complete the preparation of the planting pit with a fertile layer.
• Trellis are best placed from south to north, so that the grapes are illuminated by the sun all day. Pull the first wire at a height of 50 centimeters from the ground, and each next wire every 40 centimeters.

Advice

When planting grapes in sandy soil, it should be remembered that at the bottom of the pit it is worth making a so-called "castle" of clay, similar to a saucer. It will help retain moisture and nutrients

How cuttings are planted

Grapes are planted with cuttings in spring. This is a fairly common, but laborious method that requires painstaking preparatory work.

1. Cuttings are cut in the fall. First, they are placed in water for a day, then treated with a solution of vitriol, and the cut part is poured with wax. In this form, the stalk is stored until spring.
2. In the spring, they are pre-rooted in containers for seedlings or in plastic bottles, leaving them indoors.
3. When the first leaves appear on the cuttings, they should be taken out into the street - this is how the plant hardens.
4. You can plant a stalk in the ground after new shoots appear on it.
5. When planting, the soil should not overlap the lower buds.

Advice

It is worth planting cuttings until May 20, as later they can dry out due to high evaporation of moisture.

After planting, the garden bed is recommended to be thoroughly watered and mulched with wet sawdust. For rapid growth, the cutting is covered with foil for 20 days, creating greenhouse conditions for it.

How to plant seedlings in spring

Different saplings are used for growing grapes.

• Woody - one-year-old rooted seedlings with unopened buds. Dig them in the fall and store them in a cool place in moist sand before planting.
• Vegetative - young seedlings that have been grown in a pot since February and already have a young root and a green shoot.

The planting scheme is the same and will not cause problems even for novice gardeners. The only difference is in time: lignified seedlings are more hardy, and they can be planted from mid-April to mid-May. Vegetative plants are afraid of cold weather, so it is best to plant them in late May - June.

1. Two days before planting, the lignified seedling is immersed in water so that it is saturated with moisture. For better saturation, you need to open the ducts of the trunk by cutting the roots a little (by about 1 centimeter).
2. It is worth shortening the trunk of the seedling itself - two buds will be quite enough for the growing season.
3. Carefully remove the vegetative seedling from the container, making sure that the root ball does not fall apart.
4. In the center of the previously prepared hole, we make a depression (about 40 centimeters).
5. We strengthen the plant in the ground, making sure that the buds are parallel to the support - for the convenience of growing and tying the vine.
6. We cover the seedling with earth and water it abundantly - this will require 4 buckets of water.
7. We plant neighboring bushes at a distance of about 3 meters from each other.

In the first two weeks after planting, the backfill around the trunk, consisting of dry fertile soil, mulch and sand, will help protect the seedling from drying out, exposure to wind and high temperatures. Until the plant is fully acclimatized, the use of protective structures such as a cardboard box with a hole for the top of the seedling is also encouraged.

Advice

Determine the quality of the seedling by the color of the cut. It's good if the trunk turns out to be greenish, and the root is white.

Autumn planting

Many gardeners choose to plant grapes in the fall, and here's why.

• At this time of year, it is easier to find the right quality planting material.
• The seedlings do not need to be stored until spring, so the risk of damage is excluded.
• The soil is moist enough, frequent watering is not required for a young plant.
• Plants planted in the fall are less sick and grow faster, since in early spring, when the snow melts, they receive a large amount of nutrients.

The technology for growing grapes is the same as in spring. The only difficulty is to create conditions for young plants for a comfortable wintering.

1. The seedling needs to be watered well.
2. Insert a peg next to it, which will become a support for a winter shelter.
3. Mulch the soil around to retain moisture.
4. Sprinkle the plant with a thick layer of earth above the top bud.
5. Put a plastic can on the peg.
6. Sprinkle the whole structure with earth on top and cover with dry branches.

Advice

In winter, you need to take measures to keep the snow - a snowdrift will create additional heat for the plant, which will allow it to survive even the most bitter frosts.

How different types of grapes get along side by side

Many novice gardeners are afraid of cross-pollination of different grape varieties planted next to each other. In fact, their fears are unfounded. The fact is that the flowers of these plants are of only two types.

• Bisexual - those that are pollinated with their own complete pollen.
• Exclusively female, the pollen of which is not suitable for pollination (like the grape bushes "Sasha", "Talisman", "Kesha"). To start a crop, such a plant requires pollen from nearby pollinating bushes.

Thus, assorted bushes growing nearby are, to some extent, a necessity. And cross-pollination in most cases only contributes to an increase in yield and an improvement in the taste of berries.

Greenhouse grapes

In some regions of our country, the cultivation of grapes is impossible due to the harsh climatic conditions. Juicy berries in an open area simply do not have time to ripen before the onset of the first cold weather, so their cultivation loses all meaning. But restless amateur gardeners found a way out by placing grapes in a greenhouse.Early specimens are best suited for indoor cultivation: "Queen of Vineyards", "Kesha-1", "Arcadia", "Victoria", "Prometheus".

Advice

For greenhouses, choose grapes with a loose brush - dense bunches often suffer from fungus due to insufficient ventilation.

Growing grapes in a greenhouse follows the same principle as outdoors, although certain subtleties still exist.

• The best time to plant is the end of February.
• Saplings are planted 50 centimeters from the walls of the greenhouse.
• The distance between the rows should be about a meter.
• At the time of planting, the temperature in the greenhouse should be about 10 ° C, and by the time the leaves bloom - 24 ° C.
• It is advisable to provide forced ventilation in the greenhouse - air circulation will protect the plants from fungus and mold.
• When watering, do not allow waterlogging of the soil. Otherwise, the berries will crack.
• Pollination is done manually by knocking or shaking the stems.

Advice

To get a brush with large berries, thin it out when the grapes are the size of a pea. To do this, first cut the berries inside the bunch with scissors, and then the smallest ones.

Caring for grapes in the first year after planting

In order for the grapes to grow healthy and bring a good harvest, they need to pay a lot of attention in the first year of growth.

• During the period of bud swelling, the soil is loosened under the bushes, removing weeds.
• Simultaneously with the appearance of the first leaves around the bush, a layer of soil is removed to harden the plant.
• In June and August, surface roots are removed, which contributes to better development of the root system of the bush. After processing, the plant is added dropwise.
• Of the several shoots that appear in June, the strongest is left, the rest are cut off.
• They try to water young plants twice a week, at the rate of two buckets of water per bush.
• Nitrogen-containing fertilizing is applied simultaneously with watering.

Advice

Young vines are tied up when they reach half a meter. This will prevent the scions from tangling or breaking from the wind, and will also make pollination easier.

With proper care, a young grape bush begins to bear fruit after two years.

Some features of growing in different regions of Russia

Sweet and juicy grapes have always been associated with the sunny warm south, although it can grow in different latitudes.

• Despite the difficult climatic conditions, growing grapes in the middle lane, on the territory of Chuvashia, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, Kirov, Leningrad and Yaroslavl regions is quite possible. Summer in these parts is short, cool and rainy. Therefore, it is worth choosing grapes with a short ripening period, from 85 to 125 days, which will yield a harvest before the first autumn frosts. The most productive are "Ilya Muromets", "Rusven", "Lucille", "Firstborn of Kuibyshev", "Firstborn of Saratov", "Cosmonaut". "Augustine" is in particular demand - a super early frost-resistant variety with large conical bunches that are able to accumulate sugar even in rainy weather.
• Oddly enough, but grapes grow in the Trans-Urals - a region with a sharply continental climate, very cold, down to -46 ° C, in winter, short summers and sharp temperature fluctuations in spring and autumn. We are talking only about early, frost-resistant grape varieties: "Aleshenkin", "Memory of Golikova", "Li-4", "Violet Early". The Amur variety stands out for its special frost resistance, unpretentiousness, resistance to diseases and ease of care. The main thing is to properly insulate the plant in order to prevent the roots from freezing. Of the advantages of regional conditions, high snow cover, which saves the bushes in winter, and the absence of pests are noted.
• The climate of Udmurtia is characterized by hot summers and cold, snowy winters.It is advisable to plant grapes at the end of May or in summer, for which the following specimens are suitable: "Agat Donskoy", "Volzhsky", "Delight", "Zarya Severa", "Muromets". The main thing is not to make mistakes when protecting the culture during the period of return frosts.
• Even in Bashkiria, with its severe winters down to -50 ° C and rather hot, but short summers, it is possible to grow frost-resistant grape varieties with a short ripening period. The most famous is "Isabella", which can overwinter without any shelter and stands out for its high yield of unusually fragrant berries.
• Grapes are also grown in Tatarstan, and severe winters are not an obstacle for a thermophilic culture. The secrets of the harvest are in the choice of frost-resistant varieties with early ripening, as well as in the care features: when planting, you need to deepen the plant to a depth of at least 60 centimeters, and in winter, carefully cover it to protect it from freezing.

Grapes are a valuable culture that is famous not only for its taste, but also for its benefits. The plant requires constant close attention from gardeners, careful care and knowledge of the intricacies of planting and growing technology. Uncontrollably growing bushes grow strongly, interfering with each other, begin to hurt and lose productivity.

Today, not only residents of southern latitudes can feast on delicious berries. Breeders work every day to create new frost-resistant varieties with an early ripening period, which can be grown in the northern regions of our country with low temperatures, moreover, in the open field.