Growing grapes in the Moscow region - my advice on planting and care
Contents ✓
CULTIVATION OF GRAPES IN THE MOSCOW REGION
If the climate is not suitable for growing grape bushes, then it must be ... changed. And this, it turns out, is quite a feasible task!
Greetings to all lovers of summer cottages. Moreover, I do not see anything reprehensible in the word "chores", especially if they bring pleasure. Otherwise, how could explain the craving of people to work on the ground? Well, I will not bump into the lyrics, but I’ll say right away that growing grapes in the Middle Lane turned out to be a very troublesome business for me.
I was born and spent all my childhood in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. These places are called Tavria. Even the winery has a corresponding name - Tavrichesky. Everyone here has their own vineyards, and my grandparents were no exception - they grew a lot of wine varieties (white and black).
But delicious table varieties also grew in our vineyard: Muscat, Ladies fingers, raisins. Every autumn, I helped to collect grape "rolls" for making wine. And his grandfather did according to all the rules of winemaking. He fumigated 25-liter bottles with sulfur, the wine was poured several times and aged for up to a year. A total of 300-350 liters of wine were made for the winter. But then it did not interest me. I was only involved in the process of harvesting grapes and preparing, so to speak, blanks for fermentation. More than anything else, I loved grape juice, which my grandmother rolled into three-liter jars. And childhood memories are the strongest. I carried the taste of sweet grape berries throughout my life.
By coincidence of family circumstances, I moved to Moscow and have been living here for over 40 years. In 2008, I managed to buy six acres in the suburbs. She began to settle down, built a house and a bathhouse, started a vegetable garden and a garden. Of course, my first thought was to try to plant my favorite grapes, but I did not believe in success. Indeed, according to scientific data, this culture needs more than 2500 ° C in total active temperatures (or better 3000-3500 °). What kind of "beast" is this? I'll explain now.
The sum of active temperatures (abbreviated as CAT) is an indicator of the required heat supply of grape varieties during the period from the beginning of bud opening to the harvest of a ripe crop. This rate is calculated by summing the air temperatures for the entire period during which the average daily temperature does not fall below 10 °. At the same time, the boundaries of the transition of temperatures in spring and autumn should steadily exceed this bar.
So, in the Middle Lane we only get about 1800 °. What sweet grapes are there? The neighbors, however, did not share my pessimism and were enthusiastically engaged in the cultivation of grape bushes, which braided the pergolas installed on the site. They even gave me a taste of the result of their labors. So what? The berries turned out to have large bones and a thick skin. My granddaughter did not recognize such grapes. Me too.
How I was tempted to cultivate and grow grapes
But it is not for nothing that there is such an expression: "Hunting is greater than bondage." I couldn’t give up the desire to have my own delicious grapes in my garden. And finally, in 2010, I bought Isabella saplings. They took root, I began to take care of them and soon began to receive three kilograms of berries from each bush. Only one thing upset: none of my household ate them. Therefore, I cooked compote from them for my granddaughter.
And the dream of sweet Tauride grapes, glowing with amber drops in the sun, remains! And especially the articles of the winegrowers haunted me. According to these reports, people have managed to achieve success with not overly complex agricultural techniques. And they illustrated their words with beautiful photographs with very beautiful mouth-watering clusters of berries. What a calmness here!
But the main thing is that many authors praised the zoned varieties and assured that the boundaries of viticulture had significantly shifted to the north. And it was not grape wine that I already wanted, but just a hearty meal of the berries grown by my own hands.
And I took a chance again. This time in the nursery I asked for seedless varieties, early maturing and cold-resistant. I was offered raisins: black in Memory of Sharov and white Aleshenkin. I chose a sunny and calm place for landing, behind the wall of the bathhouse. I will not describe soil preparation, planting, fertilizing, spraying and even pruning. There are many good scientific papers on these topics on the Internet. I was especially impressed by the article by Svetlana Leonidovna Senkevich "Grapes: a game without rules", which dealt with the cultivation and formation of plantings. And I'd rather share my two know-hows.
GRAPES IN THE MOSCOW REGION: THE FIRST PRIME
She concerns preparation of grapes for winter in the Moscow region and its awakening in spring... So, in the fall, when the vines are ripe, I prune the lashes. In this I was helped by frequent trips to the southern provinces of France and the Crimea, where it was possible to observe in all its glory the pruning technology in the spring before the leaves bloom. The vines of fruiting and replacement were clearly visible. The master class, which was given to me by my uncle, who still lives in the village of Kuchugury near the Dnieper Plains, where the film "The Elusive Avengers" was once filmed, was not in vain either. My uncle continues my grandfather's business and now grows more than 40 varieties of grapes.
So, there is one very important nuance; there are differences in pruning grapes in the south and in the Middle lane.
In the first case, in the spring, one long vine (with 8-9 buds) is left on the bush for fruiting and one short (with 3-4 buds) for the replacement lash. And then 5-6 large bunches are collected from this bush. In the northern regions, as experience has shown, plants do not need to be pruned so much. Yes, and there are no large vineyards in these parts, so what kind of harvest can be harvested from two or three bushes? Our grapes are cut in October, leaving 3-4 vines for fruiting and one for replacement. Moreover, many gardeners do not cut anything at all, as they grow grapes for wine.
I prune every year because I want to get sweet berries to eat. I cover the bushes in a dry way: I lay the vines on the ground and cover them with raspberry scraps and fallen leaves. I no longer use the material for this - I'm afraid of spring damping. But I spray it with copper sulfate. Well, then the snow reliably covers my grapes with its blanket, also protecting it from frost.
At the end of April (not earlier!) I remove the shelter and again spray the bushes with Bordeaux liquid - this is mildew prevention. And then I do this: I spill the earth with hot water (70-80 °) and cover the vines with a white non-woven material, and the earth itself with a film. The fact is that the awakening of grapes begins from the roots, and the earth in our area thaws slowly. So I save the planting from stress. Ask if I am exaggerating? No! Judge for yourself: at the beginning of May, the vines of my bushes already have 2-3 leaves, and on the neighboring grapes, which are never covered or spilled in the spring with warm water, the buds only begin to swell by the end of the month.
GRAPES IN THE MOSCOW REGION: THE SECOND PRIDUMKA
At the end of May, I remove the shelter from the bushes and ... create a special microclimate for the grapes. Purpose: to deceive the cold summer near Moscow. I put long sticks near the bushes and stretch the reinforced film. It turns out a kind of hut with open sides (photo 1). Why don't I close them? And so that the grape flowers can be pollinated by insects without interference. But what did I achieve by setting up a hut with a draft?
Instead of answering, I will ask another question: what are grapes afraid of? Firstly, the lack of heat and, secondly, the humidity of the air, which contributes to the defeat of the foliage by the mildew fungal disease.
But for this reason, the grapes do not like watering during ripening.
I also minimized these two harmful factors with the help of my hut.
Moreover, in our area there is a downright excess of rain.
But I work with vines during the summer quite traditionally. I remove all secondary shoots on fruiting branches. After tying the bunches, I pinch the shoots above the leaves second from them (photo 2). Several times I spray the plantings with a solution of biofungicide and a couple of times (but until mid-July) I spill the roots with nitrophosphate and potassium humate. As a result, I feast on delicious sweet grapes in September. I do not freeze anything and do not make juices: you cannot make a lot of blanks from two bushes. But a whole month of pleasure is guaranteed to me (photos 3 and 4). I have to fight a little with wasps, which are trying to eat my crop, but there is only one advice here - to remove ripe brushes from the vine in time. I will add that fresh sweet grapes are very useful and - they do not greatly affect blood sugar.
Conclusion: if you really want to, you can change the weather in the house, and bring vivid childhood memories to life. I want to say a huge thank you to my grandfather and uncle for the useful knowledge and skills in growing grapes. Their labors were not in vain. Here's another way to learn how to grow sweet watermelons! Well, I will gain experience.
Reference by topic: Grapes in the suburbs - professional care tips
GRAPES FOR MOSCOW REGION AND THE MIDDLE STRIP - VIDEO
© Author: Elena SILINA Moscow region
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- How to root chubuki grapes - my experience and tips
- 4 compulsory works in the vineyard in October
- Growing grapes in Altai - planting and care, tips and reviews
- The load on the bush of grapes - the right calculation from a professional
- Winter-hardy grapes - varieties, photo, name and description (Bryansk)
- Opening grapes after wintering - what to do first?
- Reforming of grapes
- How to help grapes survive the winter. Top dressing shelter and increased frost resistance.
- The best neighbors for grapes
- How to fertilize grapes? Instructions from k.s.h. Sciences!
Subscribe to updates in our groups and share.
Let's be friends!