Many gardeners are not indifferent to the grapes, but it is often afraid to start it on the site because of the well-known solarness of culture. Everyone knows that grape vine is often sick, not a frost-resistant and needs constant care. Rarely, who can afford such a capricious pet, however, thanks to this picture, Amur grapes deserves special attention. In contrast to the classic whimsical varieties, it is well withstanding the study winters, needs minimal care and at the same time brings an abundant harvest. In this article, we will consider in detail the grapes of Amur grapes and tell about the peculiarities of its cultivation.
Features of grade Amur grapes
Amur grape is one of the oldest varieties, and so far no one with accuracy could not figure out how and when exactly he appeared in the Amur region. During its long history, this variety is practically not changed and has always demonstrated excellent ability to adapt to changing climatic conditions indefinitely. He survives well and bears fruit in all regions of Russia, and in the wild, it is possible to meet virtually anywhere. In this wild Amur grapes can grow up to 30 meters in length, which indicates its endurance. In addition, the brand is very fruitful and therefore serve as an excellent material for breeding and became the ancestor of many popular hybrids, such as "Triumph", "Skif" and "Talisman".
As for the morphological features of plants, the shape of its bunches of cylindrical or slightly tapered with loosely arranged berries. At length it can reach 15 cm. Small berries are black with a bluish tint covered with fairly dense skin, allowing the grapes brings great transportation. Under strong light detected skinned flesh sweet or sour taste - depending on the conditions under which the ripened grapes. This variety can be eaten fresh, make him juice, wine, fruit, dried fruit, vinegar and tartaric acid. However, this culture does not grow on an industrial scale, giving preference to more fruitful forms of breeding.
Amur grape belongs to the middle-classes. Bushes very abundant flowering, since about 80% of all its fertile shoots, and each of them can be formed to three clusters. According to average estimates of 1 ha of vineyards will harvest 60-80 centners, collecting that you can start at the beginning of autumn. If you plan on planting Amur grape on a smaller scale and will be properly and timely to carry out pruning and shaping of the bush, maturation would arise early, as clusters of will accrue to more sun, and therefore the harvest can be moved to the middle-end of August.
Advantages of the Amur grape:
- High frost - the variety is almost not afraid of frosts to -40 ° C. It is this quality was the reason that it is actively used for breeding. Moreover, even ripening crops are not afraid of the first autumn frosts, and its taste of them only increased - berries are sweeter.
- The variety is resistant to defeat the spread of diseases and pests of grapes.
- Fast crop maturation (faster than many varieties), so it is possible to commit to the collection before frosts.
- Fat rose on berries makes grapes suitable for transportation.
- Versatile application: and for food, and for the preparation of derivatives.
- High increments of bushes compared to other hybrid forms - up to 2.5 m per year.
- The plant peers well, quickly coming up in any climatic conditions.
- Suitable for landscaping the territory and the formation of live elevations.
The most obvious shortcomings of the variety can be attributed to the extraordinary strength of the bush, which causes a lot of difficulties when collecting the harvest and many clusters remain unacceptable - not to get to them. To increase in size and increase yield, the bush requires a constant severe trimming. However, none of these complaints makes special problems if you look at numerous advantages.
Varieta forms of amur grapes
The breeders of the souls do not make in the Amur grapes and admire his endurance, and therefore it is hybridized in every way, crossing with European varieties. Gourmets can hardly hit the taste qualities of small leathery berries of a classic variety, but scientists managed to derive such forms that would be as cold-resistant as the original, but at the same time they gave larger and delicious fruits.
Brief description of the forms of Amur grapes:
- Amursky breakthrough is one of the very first forms derived by genetic pathway from the "clean" Amur grapes. The plant is fruitless not worse than European fellows, the berries are much larger than that of the progenitor, but the change in size led to the weakening of dark pigmentation. Based on this, it is possible to put forward the assumption that in the near future white amur grapes can be bred. Amur breakthrough can be grown to eat, manufacture natural juices and winemaking. The latter are obtained very high quality, and winemakers are very much appreciated for a well-cooked fragrance and a thin sweet taste. The seedling quickly grows into a powerful richly fruitful bush and is multiplied not only in a vegetative, but also seed.
- Amur triumph is another form, not inferior to the fruction of the previous one. Different with a short vegetation period and early ripening.
- Amethyst, agate and nonzero are technical varieties and are grown for winemaking and fastening.
- Victoria - a dining room early grade. It is distinguished by stability to typical "grape" diseases. The berries of a saturated raspberry color of the oblong shape form large clusters.
- Liepajas Dzintars is a very early table grade with delicious large berries of amber color and a characteristic muscat aroma. Also distinguished by resistance to diseases.
Also, we should not forget that, thanks to the rapid growth and thick decorative foliage with carved edges, grapes can be successfully entered into the landscape, making a live fence from it.
Instructions for the cultivation of amur grapes
By and large, grapes take root almost anywhere (with the exception of highly shaded areas), but if you intend to get a rich and tasty harvest, you need to properly choose a place for permanent residence and regularly care for the plant. It can be said even more - if it is competent to choose a place and to make some fertilizers in a timely manner, you can harvest with minimal strength and time spending.
The seedlings of the Amur grapes will quickly fit and develop in large vines on a sunny and a windless plot located on the south side of the garden. It is best to plant plants at the wall of a residential building, a garage or fence. The land must be light and well drained. If a minimum bias is observed on the site, plan the Amur grapes on a south or southwestern slope, building the ranks in the direction from the south to the north. If the site is smooth, and the southern walls do not have a free space at all, you can create a special place for growing grapes in the form of a solid fence with a height of 2 m, oriented from the east to the west. Also, if you have always dreamed of a gazebo, I served grapes, but all the hands did not reach, here you have a great opportunity to get such. Alternatively, you can create a screen or a dense live rim from a root or vine.
Landing amur grapes
From the characteristics of the soil will be directly dependent on the way of planting Amur grapes. There are several options, for example, on sandy soils, seedlings are recommended to plunge into trenches. To do this, you need to dug the passing groove at 30-50 cm wide and 20-30 cm deep. So that the walls do not appear, strengthen them with slate, boards or stones. Such testers will serve faithfully for more than one year, saving your strength and time when painting and preparing plants to winter. For the winter, grape vines simply laid in these trenches and sprinkled with soil. This method will suit less frost-resistant hybrid forms of amur grapes.
If the site stands on a poorly heated loam or clay, and besides, underground waters are closer to the surface, it is recommended to plant Amur grapes on the ridge. For each seedling age 1-2 years old, you need to dig a hole 50-60 cm deep and the same diameter, put on the bottom of 20-25 cm of clay or brick crumb to form a good drainage and take an extra moisture from the roots. However, if you chose a raised area, you can not mess with drainage, because the water there will simply be able to stimulate. Next, over the drainage pillow, you need to pour an earthen mixture in equal parts, the soil, large river sand, humid and riding peat. After pouring into each recess 2 tbsp. l. Comprehensive feeding and 2-3 spades of ash to reduce the acidity of the soil. Before boarding a seedlock, you need to pour a pretty, remove from the temporary pot and, without breaking the earthen com, put in the waters of the hole in the pit. It remains to sprinkle the roots of the earth, once again, how to pour and form a small hollyk around the root cake. Each sapling must be tied to a peg so that he does not overturn the wind before rooting.
Useful advice: To simplify life, for watering and fertilizer, install plastic 2 l bottles with cropped races between seedlings. If you are growing a dining form, as the bottle is growing, you can replace asbestos-cement pipes, if the technical (wine) - bottles can be removed at all in 2-3 years so that the root system develops independently and leave deeper into the ground (the deeper the roots, the more tastier wine).
Some experienced gardeners-northerners do not recommend planting young seedlings for permanent residence in open soil in the first year. In the spring, they half up the young grapes in the temporary tanks in the ground, and fall out and transferred to the room in the fall. You really plant them only late in the spring of next year, and such plants earlier begin to be fruit. Do not plant vines spontaneously. If you grow several varietal forms, group them, because each will have a different landing interval and ripening time. Between the seedlings of technical grapes should be left around 80-100 cm, between the dining rooms - not less than 150 cm, and between the rows to withstand 2-2.5 m.
Care for amur grapes
The plant is characterized by vertical polarity, so it should be horizontally tied up with a fruit-colored arrow on the carriages - with this condition, all single shoots will develop equally. Vertical garter provides accelerated growth of shoots only from the upper eyes, while from the bottom they grow very slowly or do not develop at all.
Do not get drunk with watering. The first couple of years watering young grapes necessarily regardless of the variety, but a week before flowering, watering should be discontinued, since excess of moisture will lead to a shower of flowers and significantly slow down the ripening of the crop. If you do not want to provoke the appearance of disease, water the bushes under the root, not sprinkling. It is best to arrange drainage channels or put the bottles as described above. Grapes do not like wet land or wet leaves, so if you have the opportunity, make a visor over bushes.
In the first 2-3 years, grapes should be loosened and fertilized so that he brought you a rich harvest. As for trimming, it should be forgotten for a year after landing. But in the future, the bush should be laid in a timely manner, pinch, remove young shoots and interfering leaves. Such techniques will allow to ensure the maximum nutrition to be fruitful arrows and form a bush. The rustling is called the removal of silence shoots, and it is necessary to do this after the growing of the mustaches and inflorescences, however, to the obsession of them at the base. It is necessary to break from the bottom of the bush, moving for the weeds and shoots. Several powerful healthy shoots must be left to update the bush in the future.
So that the grapes do not grow strongly in length, it is necessary to periodically pinch its top. So vital energy and nutrients will be directed not to growth, but on the formation of a crop. Capture Amur grapes need 2-3 days before the start of flowering.
Growing grapes will inevitably be thickened by shoots 2 and 3 orders (stepsings), which can lead to a decrease in yield. Steying should be deleted, but it is not radically done, because during the formation of the bush they are needed to maintain the right metabolism. You only need to delete the youngest shoots that did not have time to wait. The rest you just need to trim along the tops, leaving at each no more than 4 leaves. For a couple of weeks before the ripening of berries, it is necessary to remove the leaves that obscure the borders from sunlight, then they quickly fit sweet juice. But here it is not necessary to get involved - repel no more than 5 pieces near each clusted, so as not to break the food.
Conduct trimming every year after feeding foliage, otherwise the vine will grow strongly, and the berries will become small and sour. It is also recommended to feed the feeder. It is best to make fertilizers like this: dig in a meter from landing a trench of 60 cm deep and put a distance to the manure at the rate of 7 kg / 1 m² of landings and wood ash 100 g / 1 m². Next to fall asleep all the earth and a little tamper. So fertilizers reached the roots of plants as quickly as possible.
In October-November, the vine must be put on the ground to avoid accidental damage, cover the agropol and throw coniferous branches. However, the frost-resistant forms of Amur grapes will not necessarily inspect, they will quite comfortably feel just under the snow. In the spring, the shelter needs to be removed not immediately, so that the bright sun does not burn the vine. Wait for steadily warm weather and expand the plant after sunset, and even better on a cloudy day.
To prevent possible mushroom diseases that are most often manifested after wintering, treat the vine "Oxychom" or "Ham". It is not necessary to do this, especially for the hardy amursky grapes, but sometimes it is better to be restrained.
Care for amur grapes should be regular, but if you make a habit of it, it does not deliver special troubles, and all your efforts are rewarded in autumn rich and tasty harvest.