Catalonia is a fairly new hybrid grape variety, developed by renowned breeder Alexander Burdak. The popularity of the hybrid is gaining momentum, so you should carefully look at it now, having studied its advantages and disadvantages, especially planting and growing.

Grade characteristics

The author of the creation of a hybrid variety Catalonia combined such varieties as the Talisman and the Burgundy mantle of Kraynov, borrowing his taste qualities from the first, and his external characteristics from the second.

Check out the Talisman grape variety.

A distinctive feature of this species is the ability to bear fruit from the first year of cultivation. However, the first harvest will not be plentiful, only a few clusters. But over time, fruitfulness will increase significantly.

Description and appearance

This culture is early, and under favorable weather conditions, for example, in the southern latitudes, maturation occurs after only 90 days. On average, harvesting occurs in late July or early August. The color of the grapes is red-purple, which can progress to blue-black with prolonged ripening on the bush. The berries are oval, the same size. Their mass can reach 12-15 g, when they maximally gained sugar content and poured juice.

Each berry has a thick spring (wax) coating, giving it an even more attractive look. The length of such large berries can reach 3.5 cm with a width of 2–2.5 cm. Bunches on average have a mass of 500-600 g, however, mature bushes can yield when each cluster weighs up to 1 kg. A second crop can be formed at the stepsons, bringing a crop of a slightly smaller volume. Grapes have a bright, sweet taste.

The berries have a dense, crisp, juicy pulp with lots of fructose. There is an aftertaste of sweet cherry, with a slight astringency. The pulp of the grapes is dense and fleshy, covered with a dense skin. However, it cannot be said that the latter has a rigid structure. Pollination of bisexual flowers goes well, the phenomenon of peeling does not occur when the crop leaves small-caliber. The grape bush has a powerful structure, the shoots ripen along its entire length.

Important! The maximum load on one bush of Catalonia is 40 eyes, formations that unite the kidneys and provide their nutrition.

Each of the shoots can withstand several clusters, which is quite a significant burden, so a large yield should be expected after a few years after planting a bush, when its vines are much stronger. The cuttings of Catalonia are well rooted, resulting in the formation of a strong rhizome, which contributes to the good ripening of the vine. By warming the stems and rhizome, a bush of this variety can calmly tolerate frosts with a decrease in temperature to -23 ° C.

Appointment

The author of this breeding variety classifies it as a table species, endowing it with juicy and vivid taste characteristics.

Did you know? Grapes are rich in biologically active substances, since it contains about 150 elements, and the calorie content of the product is only 65 kcal per 100 g.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Hybrid Catalonia has many advantages and the most significant of them are as follows:
• the variety is unpretentious to growing conditions and does not require special care;
• has a very attractive appearance;
• brings a good harvest: large fleshy clusters with large berries;
• It has an interesting flavor combination;
• precocious;
• frost resistant;
• the appearance and taste of grapes do not deteriorate as a result of a long stay on the vine;
• resistant to common diseases;
• convenient in transportation, does not lose appearance;
• freshly harvested is well stored;
• cuttings take root and root well, possessing powerful growth force;
• Has biting shoots, which there is practically no need to tie up;
• all berries in the bunch ripen at the same time.

• The disadvantages include the following characteristics:
• in the first year of fruiting, the crop is rather modest, not more than 1-2 grapes;
• the variety is sensitive to humidity conditions, so you should be careful with watering, avoiding overmoistening of the soil, and you also need to provide shelter for bushes in the event of prolonged rains;
• it is necessary to control the composition of the soil in which this hybrid is planned to be grown;
• susceptibility to diseases such as mold and chlorosis.

How to plant grapes

Planting of grapes should begin, first of all, with the right choice of place. Much depends on this factor: the growth and development of the vine, its fertility.

For Catalonia it is better to choose a place:

• sunny;
• smooth, without pits and hills;
• hidden from drafts and strong gusts of wind;
• on the south or northwest side.

You should also take care of the correct soil, which should have the following characteristics:

• friability;
• fertility
• good water throughput;
• medium acidity.

The optimal period for the landing of Catalonia is the time from mid-March to its end. If there is a likelihood of late warming and prolonged frosts - autumn sleeping seedlings are planted and planted cuttings.

You will be interested to learn how to grow grapes from seed.

In warmer times, in late spring, seedlings that have grown stronger at home are placed in open ground. Rooting cuttings are also successfully carried out in October.

Selection of seedlings

It is best to engage in the selection of seedlings immediately after harvest, in mid-autumn.

First of all, it is necessary to carefully examine them, excluding:

• breaks;
• folds;
• exfoliation of the bark;
• signs of disease;
• gray-brown color.

A good seedling should have a light, brown-green color. It should have developed white roots.

Site preparation

After choosing the optimal site and high-quality soil, it is necessary to start preparing the site. If on the site where the grapes will grow, there is a possibility of raising groundwater, then, first of all, it is necessary to take care of a good drainage layer under the future vineyard in order to protect its root system from excessive moisture. Then the drainage layer is covered with a soil mixture. Before planting seedlings create holes with a diameter and depth of 80–90 cm.

Learn how to grow grapes in a greenhouse.

To do this, prepare the following components:

• humus;
• turf land;
• garden soil;
• nitrogen, phosphorus, potash fertilizers.

Landing technology

The process of planting grape cuttings is as follows:

1. A quality seedling is first soaked in water for a couple of days, and then placed for disinfection in a solution of potassium permanganate. The concentration of the disinfectant should be low so as not to damage the delicate roots.
2. After the formation of the hole described above, it is filled with nutrient soil.
3. On a mound of soil set a seedling. Its roots must be carefully distributed on the knoll to avoid the possibility of injuring them in the future.
4. The roots are covered with the same nutrient mixture to the level of 2/3 of the seedlings.
5. After that, the land is watered abundantly so that the soil is a little compacted.
6. At the end of the planting, many experts recommend mulching the seedling, covering its root zone with straw, sawdust, dry leaves, humus.

Did you know? Sugar content of grapes is provided by glucose and fructose, which together occupy 14–25% of the composition of ripe berries and ensure good absorption of sugar by the body and its entry into the blood.

Cultivation and care

Catalonia belongs to those grape varieties that do not cause their owners much trouble.

Care for this hybrid should be as follows:

• regular watering;
• the use of fertilizers to create a more fertile soil, which provides good bush growth and greater productivity;
• pruning a bush with a view to its formation;
• horizontal garter in order to ensure the same growth conditions for grape shoots of the first year.

Watering and fertilizer

Catalonia needs to be watered regularly, especially during the growing season - the time when the bush grows intensively, the crop forms and sings. The period of special attention to watering can be called spring, as well as periods of prolonged absence of rain. In dry times, the vineyard must be watered abundantly and the soil should be mulched.

Important! The degree of watering should be controlled in order to avoid excessive moisture and, as a result, the death of the rhizome of the bush.

To obtain a good crop, the soil composition must be rich, for which you can use such simple fertilizers as manure and humus. Catalonia for the good development of the bush also requires phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen in the form of mineral fertilizers, which are applied regularly under the bush. Before the start of the growing season, it is recommended to use nitrogen fertilizing, which will help in the formation of leaves, berries and peduncles.

Trimming and shaping a bush

Cut vine bushes in order to eliminate damaged and diseased processes.

Among the defects it is worth noting:

• vines and stems with peeling bark;
• thinned stems;
• vines, the color of which differs from their characteristic.

For the correct formation of the vineyard, it is necessary to control the length of the vines, which should not exceed 5-7 pcs. By the number of buds. Such pruning is carried out annually and contributes to an increase in yield. Pruning of Catalonia is carried out before the onset of frost, in late autumn. This time coincides with the period of leaf fall.

Important! You can not prune the vineyard in the spring, as this can greatly weaken the plant and harm the bush and future harvest.

For the correct formation of the bush from the moment when it was just planted, you can use pegs to which young seedlings are tied. It is important to prevent the vine from touching the ground level and to provide the ability to bind grown cuttings over time.

Soil weeding

Loosening of the upper soil layers is an important point that provides high-quality aeration, nitrification and improving the quality of the mineral composition of the soil. In addition, during weeding, it is necessary to exclude the presence of weeds and possible pests. As a rule, regular weeding should be done in the spring, summer and autumn.

How to care in winter

Even before the first frost arrives, preparation for wintering begins with pruning the bush.

Read also about how to properly feed grapes in the fall.

After this, it is worth taking care of preserving the vineyard in the winter:

1. If Catalonia grows in the southern region, then for the winter you can not hide it. However, it is worth considering that in the event of a small amount of snow falling, the roots of the plant can still freeze and it is advisable to cover them.
2. If the grapes grow in the middle or northern latitudes - the rhizome, especially young bushes, it is recommended to warm.

To shelter the shoots, which are only a couple of years old, you can use coniferous branches, on which they lay the vines taken from the supports, and then the bushes are covered with non-woven material. At the same time, it is worth checking the possibility of air access, providing slots for ventilation.

To create a covering structure, you can also use:

• brushwood;
• wooden shields;
• plastic wrap;
• corrugated cardboard.

Young growth is revealed with the advent of spring and the first warm days.

Diseases and pests

Since Catalonia is a hybrid grape, its creator made a lot of efforts to make the variety resistant to many of the plants, diseases and pests.

Find out why the grapes on the bush wither.

So, an adult bush is resistant to diseases such as:

• mildew (downy mildew);
• oidium (powdery mildew or ashtray);
• gray rot.

However, for good growth and yield, it is necessary to create optimal growing conditions, since planting in the marshy places of young vines of Catalonia can lead to the appearance of gray rot, to combat which it is necessary to use fungicides.

Growing this variety, you need to know that it is susceptible to such diseases:

1. Anthracnose (bird's eye). Its causative agent is a mold fungus of the genus Fusaria. The disease is characterized by wilting leaves, clusters and shoots, the death of the bush is possible. You can recognize the ailment by the appearance of uneven, dry spots with red plaque, outwardly similar to ulcers, on the body of the plant. Copper and fungicides (Ridomil, Skor, Acrobat) are used for prophylaxis and elimination.
   

2. Chlorosis This disease is manifested by yellowing of the leaves, slow growth and development of the vine, the death of the ovaries as a result of impaired ability to produce chlorophyll. To correct this condition, the following measures are used: replacing alkali with potassium sulfate and iron sulfate as a top dressing, improving drainage to avoid stagnation of water in the soil.
   

3. Bacterial cancer . This is a fatal ailment for the plant, which threatens the spread of bacteria to garden tools and planting material. The diseased plant is uprooted and carefully inspected soil in order to remove all roots from it. After this, it is necessary to disinfect the soil and garden tools.
   

The variety is not susceptible to insects, wasps will not bother the bushes, as the grapes have a dense skin that protects it reliably. A dangerous pest for Catalonia is a felt mite that feeds on the sap of the plant and lives on the back of the leaf. It secretes salivary fluid, which transforms into a fluffy coating. To combat it, acaricides (Apollo, Envidor) and sulfur preparations are used.

Read more about why grapes dry and how to deal with it.

The recently created hybrid Catalonia is already loved by many winegrowers due to its taste, very early ripening, resistance to many diseases and the ability to easily transport the crop. These main advantages of the variety qualitatively distinguish it from others and give a good prospect of development and popularity.

Video: Catalonia grape variety