Planting grapes in autumn

Many gardeners consider autumn to be an ideal time for planting many garden crops, in particular grapes. Their opinion is due to the fact that grapes planted in autumn in open ground develops better, begins to bear fruit in the second year. Grapes can be planted in the fall with both cuttings and seedlings. Each method of propagation has its own nuances, following which will lead to a high-yielding vineyard.

Benefits of Autumn Planting

There is an opinion that during the autumn planting of grapes, seedlings or cuttings do not have time to take root before the onset of frost and may die. Yes, there is definitely such a risk. However, if you plant the plants at the right time and reliably cover the young bushes for the winter, these problems can be avoided. At the same time, experts say that planting grapes in the fall has a number of obvious advantages, such as:

1. With autumn planting, you do not need to rack your brains on how to store cuttings or seedlings until spring. It is known that without certain created conditions for storage, planting material can rot or be damaged by pests, become incapable.
2. In autumn, prices for seedlings of garden crops fall significantly, so you can buy more seedlings than in spring.
3. With proper planting, grape plants become more hardy, stress-resistant, frost-resistant by spring. Increases immunity to disease.
4. Grape bush faster in spring enters the vegetation stage. This is facilitated by a balanced distribution of nutrients in the earth.
5. The soil is well moistened due to melting snow, which means that the root system will not suffer from a lack of water.

In addition to the advantages of autumn grape planting, there are some disadvantages that a summer resident needs to know about and be prepared for possible problems.

So:

• planting material must be high quality. Doubtful seedlings and cuttings are unlikely to take root well;
• to understand whether the plant has taken root, it will be possible only in the spring;
• risk of freezing, especially in the northern regions.

Landing time

The main thing during the autumn work is to correctly set the dates for planting certain crops. If the grapes are planted later than the set date, then he simply will not have time to take root in the new conditions and most likely will not survive until spring days. Planting dates are set depending on the climate of the region. Planting of grapes in autumn in the middle lane, as well as in the North, is carried out from mid-August to the end of September, otherwise the grapes will not have time to settle in with their own root system before the onset of cold weather. In the southern regions, it is permissible to plant seedlings before the third decade of October, since usually cold comes to these territories no earlier than December.

Features of autumn planting

For successful survival, it is worth choosing only healthy and strong seedlings and cuttings. When choosing, you need to pay to the root system - it must be a closed type. A young annual shoot with a ripened lignified growth and developed rhizome will be better rooted.

In autumn, the main part of the land on the garden plot is getting ready for rest: the entire crop has already been harvested, and the fertilized crops have been removed from the garden. If grapes are planted in the fall, then they plant it mainly on the rest of the earth. This means that in the summer, nothing is planted on the site where the vineyard will be located, allowing the land to be saturated with fertilizers introduced in the summer and enriched with useful microorganisms.

And one more nuance: planting pits must be harvested in advance so that all the nutrients added to the soil can be evenly distributed in the soil layers and begin to enter the plant immediately after planting.

The best varieties for autumn planting

It is better to give preference to local varieties adapted to the climatic characteristics of the region. Autumn planting is well tolerated by frost-resistant varieties with early ripening. For the middle strip and the south, mid-season varieties are suitable. Grapes ripening in the late stages are preferably planted in early spring.

The most popular grape varieties:

• early: Early White, Fantasy, Julia, Muscat Azos;
• mid-season: Winner, Hellas, Romance, Marinka.

Rules for planting grapes

Grape plants are demanding on soil fertility, the right site in the garden, a reliable shelter. If all the necessary factors are not taken into account, the seedling will not take root before the start of winter and will die before the snow cover lays. Planting grapes in the fall must be taken with all responsibility.

Choosing the right place

The vineyard is arranged on a sunny, leveled plot on the south side of the house or fence. Here, cold winds will not interfere with the plant, and the sun's rays will contribute to the harmonious development of plants.

Soil requirements

The soil for this southern culture must be fertile. Grapes grow well on light loam, do not tolerate soil with a high alkaline reaction. If the soil in the plot is dense, clayy, then it is necessary to lay out a multi-centimeter drainage layer of broken brick or gravel. Too acidic soil is preliminarily reduced, lowering the pH level to 5-6 values. With a large amount of peat, river sand is added to the soil mixture.

It is also important that the groundwater is deeply laid, at least 1.5 meters. This requirement is due to highly developed roots, which grow to a length of two meters. If they are constantly in the water, they will quickly rot and the plant will die.

Landing pit preparation

 

 

Planting of grape bushes is carried out in deep holes or long wide trenches. The depth of the pit should be at least 80 centimeters. Width - 70-80 centimeters. Pits dig at a distance of a meter from each other. Such a large distance is due to the fact that the root system of grapes is very developed and it needs a lot of free space for nutrition. The bottom of the pit is covered with drainage. Top gravel (or other material used as drainage) is covered with 2-3 buckets of humus together with a generous portion of mineral fertilizers (potassium salt, superphosphate, ash).

Organics and minerals are mixed, sprinkled with a thick layer of fertile soil. This is necessary so that the roots do not have direct contact with fertilizers.

Planting grapes in autumn with seedlings

Grape seedlings are planted in the same way as all fruit and berry bushes. The whole process takes several minutes, but it depends on the correct planting whether the planted bushes survive or die. So, how to plant grapes:

1. A mound of fertile land is poured into the center of a pre-prepared hole. It is important that the ground is well warmed up and slightly moistened.
2. The roots of the seedlings, if they have dried, prune a little. To stimulate better survival, the roots are dipped in a clay-dung mash.
3. Seedlings are installed strictly vertically directly on the mound. The roots are carefully straightened and guided along the slopes of the embankment so that their ends are not bent up anywhere.
4. Note! The depth of planting a seedling is such that 2-3 ripe eyes are 5 centimeters below the surface of the earth.
5. The eyes on the plants should be directed towards the trellis.
6. The plant is covered with soil. Note this bush is slightly shaken so that the earth “subsides” in more dense layers.
7. The hole is not completely filled with earth. To the edges should be 10-15 centimeters. The surface is tamped and watered with warm water, spending 20 liters of water for each seedling.
8. After the seedlings are planted, they are covered with a film, creating the effect of a greenhouse. Incisions are made on the film so that fresh air enters the plant. In a few days, the film can be removed.

How to install a support

A grape seedling must be tied to a support. This must be done immediately after planting. Depending on the degree of growth of shoots and the growth of the whole bush, in general, strong metal stakes are installed with a length of one and a half to three meters. Stakes reliably drive into the ground along the edge of the hole. If the vineyard consists of several bushes, it is preferable to make a trellis and already to it to make a garter of vines. Every two meters along the ridge, stakes are installed, between which at equal distances parallel to the ground they pull a wire. The first wire layer is pulled at a height of 40 centimeters from the surface of the earth. The next row goes through another 40 centimeters. Tapestries can be not only vertical, but also horizontal. They are used in the case of growing tall varieties. Then the wire is pulled over the pipes installed at equal intervals, which serve as supports. Wire rows are made in the form of a grid, on which long flexible shoots are laid. During ripening, the clusters will hang from the trellis, facilitating their collection.

How to plant grapes with cuttings (chubuk) in the fall

In the southern regions in the autumn, summer residents plant grape cuttings harvested during the autumn pruning of the fruiting bush. Landing is carried out in mid-October.

As chubuki, strong annual fully ripened shoots with smooth, juicy wood with a diameter of 1-1.5 centimeters are suitable. Each branch should have 3-4 kidneys. Cuttings are cleaned from leaflets and stepsons, the antennae are cut off.

Shallow longitudinal cuts are made in the lower part of the cuttings. These places are shed by a root stimulant (Kornevin).

Cuttings are planted in a long narrow trench with a depth of 20 centimeters. The distance between the chubuk is 15-20 centimeters. The ground for cuttings should be enriched with minerals. Loose moistened soil is supplied with potash and phosphorus fertilizers, as well as organic. Chubuki placed in a pit under a slight slope, directing the end to the south. The cuttings are covered with earth, the top of the bed is covered with a film.

The cuttings grown in this way will have a well-developed root system by spring. With the arrival of constant heat, they will be transplanted to a permanent place of residence.By next fall, the cuttings will be a meter-long bush with two or three strong shoots.

Do I need to shelter seedlings for the winter

Saplings planted in the fall require shelter, no matter what region you live in. With the advent of steady colds, the ground under young bushes is mulched so that the frost does not harm the fragile roots. Dry grass, sawdust, hay, straw, humus or peat can act as mulch.

There are many options for winter sheltering grapes. You can, for example, wrap a small bush (already attached to a support) with breathable material. Or build a small wooden frame, which is then covered with agrofiber. An improvised frame support can also serve as spruce spruce branches, which are covered with dense warm material on top.

If you do not want to bother with making the frame, you can cover the vineyard with roofing material. Rigid waterproof fiber can be folded in the form of a tent ("house") and installed above the plant. Such a shelter is guaranteed not to break the plant and will serve as a reliable protection of grapes from the winter cold.

Professional Tips

Many years of experience growers will tell how to plant grapes in autumn seedlings and what nuances are worth paying attention to.

Advice:

1. When planting, you need to focus on the kidney from which the vine grows. That it should be underground.
2. In regions with long frosty winters, where the soil warms up slowly, grape seedlings cannot be buried too much. In such cases, landing pits are made no deeper than 40 centimeters.
3. It is important to open the grape bush in time in the spring, before it mates under the thickness of the covering layer. You need to open the grapes gradually, first exposing the place at the base of the bush, and then only freeing all the other parts of the bush.
4. When the first, even minor frosts occur, cuttings planted in the fall can die. Therefore, it is recommended to fill them with a thick layer of sawdust or straw.
5. It is worthwhile to carefully monitor that the grape bush does not enter the vegetation stage in the winter. If leaves began to appear on it, all irrigation should be stopped, and the plant should be sprayed with a potassium solution.

Conclusion

When and how to plant grapes, each gardener decides for himself. However, it is worth taking into account the fact that grapes are a whimsical culture, and without certain knowledge and agricultural techniques it cannot be grown. Autumn planting of seedlings requires the summer resident to observe a number of rules that will contribute to the rapid rooting of plants and the development of strong and healthy grape bushes, which will soon please a good harvest.