A successful grape harvest largely depends on whether it was planted correctly. The article contains information about the benefits and rules of planting grape seedlings in the spring.

Advantages and disadvantages of spring grape planting

Grapes are planted in autumn or spring.

• Spring planting has several advantages:
• the best adaptation before the onset of winter;
• early entry into the fruiting phase of some varieties (a year earlier than when planting in the fall);
• rapid growth of the root system and aboveground organs;
• the ability to more easily determine a good landing date.

• However, when planting seedlings in the spring, you can encounter negative phenomena:
• lack of moisture for the plant;
• frequent development of diseases and attack of harmful insects with too early or late planting;
• limited range of seedlings;
• a large amount of poor-quality planting material - frostbitten or overdried.

How to plant grapes with seedlings in spring?

In order to successfully plant seedlings, it is necessary to do this at the right time, choose the right place, purchase and prepare high-quality planting material, and prepare the soil.

Landing time

The exact time for grape planting in spring depends on the cultivation region and weather conditions. Seedlings are placed in the soil when the daytime temperature does not fall below + 15 ° C, and the earth warmed up to + 10 ° C to a depth of 10 cm. In different regions, such conditions can be observed from late March to early June.

Also, the planting period depends on which seedlings it is planned to plant - young or already lignified. Young specimens with green leaves should be placed in the ground from May 20 to June 15.

Old wood-covered specimens with a well-formed root system are recommended to be planted from mid-April to mid-May. Did you know? According to scientists, viticulture originated in the Middle East. And the ancient remains of grapes, which archaeologists attributed to 6000 BC. e., excavated on the territory of modern Georgia and Turkey.

Site selection

Vine bushes need a lot of light for growth and development. Therefore, for planting, you should choose a well-lit area, which does not fall shadow. The recommended side is south or southwest of the building.

A plot with a close occurrence of groundwater for the cultivation of grapes is not suitable. In such a place, he will not grow. Groundwater should be no closer than 2–2.5 m to the soil surface.

The soil on which the vine bushes grow best is loamy, sandy loam, clay. Different grape varieties need their composition and soil structure. Some of them grow well on the slopes. Others are not bad “reconciled” with growth in sandy soil.

The choice of seedlings when buying

It is advisable to purchase seedlings in specialized stores or in famous nurseries. It is necessary to take annual specimens that have 3-4 strong roots, a well-developed apical bud, a height of 12 cm and a diameter of 0.3-0.4 cm. Read more when to plant grapes. Attention should be paid to such aspects:

1. The root cut should be light, not dark.
2. The volume of green mass should not exceed the volume of roots.
3. The leaves should be smooth, without yellow blotches.
   

Preparatory work

After buying seedlings and choosing a plot for cultivating the grapes, the soil and planting material must be prepared for planting a month before the expected date.

Seedling preparation

If you use your own seedlings, they need to be taken 3-4 weeks before the planting date from the storage location.

Next, with the planting material, the following manipulations must be performed:

1. Carefully inspect the roots and trim damaged, rotten, all lateral. Center cut to 25 cm.
2. Proceed to germination - place the seedlings in containers with a moist substrate: sand, peat.
3. After that, begin hardening of plants - keep them 3-4 hours a day in shaded and sunny places alternately.

We advise you to read about the best methods and schemes for the formation of grapes. Before boarding, proceed as follows:

1. Place the seedlings completely in water at room temperature for 48 hours.
2. If possible, they are treated with root growth stimulants, for example, Kornevin, Gererauksin.
3. Cut side shoots, leaving 2-3 of the strongest, which shorten up to 3-4 buds.

Soil preparation

Landing site preparation is carried out 3-4 weeks before the expected date in several ways:

• scrap;
• trench;
• pitted.

The technology for implementing the scrap method is as follows:

1. Scrap metal to be placed in the ground at 0.5 m in depth.
2. Using rotations in different directions make a funnel.

The method is suitable for areas where loose, fertile soils occur. Bushes planted "under the scrap" enter fruiting at the age of three.

a - before backfilling with earth; b - after backfilling with earth

With the trench method, they act like this:

1. They dig a long trench with a depth and width of 0.8–1 m.
2. Crushed stone or gravel is laid at the bottom, which is sprinkled with soil.
3. Seedlings are placed in a trench, observing a distance of 1-1.5 m.

It is interesting to know: how to grow grapes from seed.

This method is applicable on large plantations for growing a large number of bushes. With it, it is easier to shelter grapes for the winter. Bushes enter fruiting the next year after planting.

The patching method is used in small areas. He is the most popular. It consists in the fact that under each seedling they dig a separate landing pit. The recommended depth and width of the pits is 80 cm. A drainage layer should be laid at the bottom of the pit. On the side, install a drainage tube with a diameter of 5–10 cm and a length of 1 m, deepening it into gravel by 5–10 cm. It is necessary for watering and ventilating the roots.

Whatever way the recesses are made for planting, the soil needs to be fertilized.

So, 1/3 of the pit must be filled with the following composition:

• humus (2 buckets);
• ordinary soil (5 buckets);
• wood ash (0.5 buckets);
• superphosphate (200 g);
• ammonium nitrate (50 g);
• potassium salt (200 g).

Immediately after filling the pit, water it abundantly.

Landing rules

The technology of planting seedlings is as follows:

1. Make a deepening of 35–40 cm at the bottom.
2. Pour a small hill in its center.
3. Place a seedling on a hill.
4. Spread the root system.
5. Cover the ground so that the root neck is flush with the edges of the pit.
6. Establish a support.
7. Pour a hill about 15–20 cm high.
8. Pour about 40 liters of water under each seedling.
9. Cover plantings with film or non-woven material.

Depending on the planted variety between the pits, a distance of 80 cm to 1.5 m must be observed. A gap of 2–2.5 m is left between the rows.

Important! When growing on the same site of different varieties, it is necessary to group them by maturity and frost resistance.

Grape care after planting

Care for planted grapes involves the following procedures:

• watering;
• soil care;
• top dressing;
• pruning
• preventive spraying against diseases and harmful insects.

In regions with cold winters, shelter of bushes in late autumn will be required.

It is recommended to moisten grape bushes once every 3-4 weeks. In periods of prolonged lack of rainfall, they are watered additionally. Watering is carried out with heated water.

Soil care consists of mulching, loosening and weeding. The first 2 procedures are performed after moisturizing. Mulching allows you to save moisture and protect the trunk area from the dominance of parasitic plants. Loosening helps to improve the moisture and air conductivity of the earth, so that nutrients pass better to the roots. Weed control is carried out as necessary.

It is important to feed grape bushes throughout the season. It will take up to 5 dressings. In the first three, nitrogen must be present, in the rest - phosphorus and potassium.

Each grower makes the most suitable fertilizer application schedule for him, choosing the means with which it is easier for him to work. Before the start of the growing season, a complex fertilizer is applied, or a mixture of superphosphate (20 g), potassium salt (5 g) and ammonium nitrate (10 g).

In the flowering phase, boric acid (5 g) is added to the last mixture or organics are used: mullein (2 kg / 5 l, insist for 2-3 days, dilute with water to 12 l before application), bird droppings (50 g / 10 l, insist 2-5 days).

Calimagnesia (10 g) with ammonium nitrate (20 g) diluted in water (10 l) is added to the next top dressing. 10–20 days before the planned harvest, the application of phosphorus and potassium-containing fertilizers, for example, superphosphate (20 g) with potassium fertilizer without chlorine (20 g), diluted in 10 l of water, is recommended.

Important! Fertilizing should be carried out according to the schedule and in compliance with the dosages. The lack or excess of trace elements makes grapes weak and susceptible to damage by viruses, bacteria, fungi and harmful insects. Regular pruning has a positive effect on the development and fruiting of grapes. This procedure stimulates the growth of young shoots, affects the increase in the number of clusters. Every year in early spring, grape shoots are pruned for 6-8 eyes. Also remove old, dead, sick, damaged vines. In the fall, the vines are pruned when they proliferate. 3 vines are left on the left and right sides, the remaining shoots are removed.

They cover the grapes after the first frost with earth, shields of wood, slate, coniferous spruce branches.

Depending on the variety, preventive spraying is required for grapes from those diseases to which it is susceptible. On average, 3 treatments are performed. In order to prevent illnesses in the vineyard, in the spring, after the shoots reach a height of 10 cm, they are treated with Bordeaux liquid, copper chloride and colloidal sulfur. Before flowers appear on the vines, you should resort to the drug "Strobe" or another systemic fungicide. After the bushes have faded, they are again sprayed with the mixture, as in the first treatment.

To prevent insect infestations, insecticides are used, for example, Actellik, Tiovit Jet. With rodents fighting "Storm", "Tricot", "Blockade". Against phylloxera and nematodes apply spraying "Actellik", "Fozalon".

Did you know? Ancient Egyptian writings contained notes regarding the technology for cultivating dark grapes.

Is it possible to grow grapes from cuttings in spring?

In spring, you can plant grapes with the help of cuttings.

Do this as follows:

1. Cuttings 45 cm long are cut 14 days before the flowering of the mother bush.
2. The bottom cut is cut at an oblique angle.
3. Cut off all the bottom sheets.
4. Place the cuttings in a container with warm water for 2 days.
5. A day before planting, the cut site is treated with the Epin preparation.
6. Plant 1-2 cuttings in a prepared and fertilized pit so that the lower kidney goes 5 cm into the ground.
   

Planting grape seedlings is easy to implement in the spring. This procedure has several advantages. In order to take rich harvests soon, it is necessary to determine the grape variety, planting dates, choose a good place, prepare planting material and soil.