Proper watering and fertilizing of grapes is the key to abundant harvests

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Nutrients (root feeding of grapes) under the bush should be laid when planting. A shovel of wood ash or 400 g of double superphosphate is poured into the bottom of the planting pit with a diameter and depth of 80 cm, herbal compost is added with a layer of 15 cm. For the root system of a grape bush, two opposite conditions must be taken into account. First: the roots do not need to be buried more than 30-40 cm. Then they will warm up in time in the spring and will not delay the development of the vine. Second: the roots must have a large supply of moisture, which is possible only at great depths. Therefore, for watering and applying liquid top dressing to the grapes, you need to prepare as follows: a ring is placed on the bottom of the pit from a special perforated drainage pipe with a diameter of 10 cm and a length of 2.5 m. One end of the pipe is closed tightly. A plastic tube 10 cm in diameter and 50-60 cm long is inserted into the other end, which goes to the surface of the earth. Drainage is arranged around the pipe from a layer of coarse gravel, crushed stone or expanded clay with a thickness of 10 cm. Rods, fragments of slate are laid on the drainage layer so that the drainage does not float with earth. The pipe is in a fabric cover, which prevents the holes from being clogged with soil. The appointment of a complex drainagethe device is clear: watering and fertilizing the grapes will be brought to deep roots, which stimulates the growth of the bush. The upper "dew" roots of the plant in the absence of watering from above will be weak, which will reduce the likelihood of weakening the plant in winter. Also, air will flow through the pipe over a large area. A layer of earth of 20 cm is poured into the pit and a seedling is placed on it. Fill the hole to the top with earth. It is important to straighten all the roots and send them in depth.

Correct watering

Grapes are watered abundantly 2-3 times during the summer. The first time - at the beginning of the growing season before the eyes open. It will be great if the first watering is done with melt water. The next abundant watering is before the start of staining the berries. If the weather is too dry, then you can water well during the growth of the berries. Do not water the grapes during the flowering period, this will cause the flowers to fall off. Watering is stopped 3 weeks before harvesting, so that the skin on ripening berries does not burst from excessive moisture, and the vine has time to coarsen (ripen). In autumn, water-charging irrigation is carried out, abundantly and deeply wetting the soil. Watering is combined with top dressing.

Feeding grapes

If organic matter and mineral fertilizers are applied under grape seedlings, the planting pit is filled with fertile soil, then for several years they will only need regular liquid top dressing. From organic fertilizers: slurry solution, chicken manure solution, wood ash. Previously, mullein or chicken manure is fermented for 10 days in a barrel, then the slurry is diluted with water inratio of 1:10 and pour the solution into the drainage well, a bucket for each bush. This fertilizer containing nitrogen is used from spring to mid-summer.

Top dressing of grapes with ashes is carried out in spring and autumn. In spring, ash is introduced into the soil around the bush. It is necessary to make holes for this with a depth of 20-30 cm, fill them with ashes and cover them with earth. From above, sprinkle the soil abundantly with ash and mulch. For one adult bush, 2 kg of ash is enough. In autumn, during water-charging irrigation, 4 buckets of water are poured under the bush, and 300 g of ash is dissolved in the fifth and poured under the grapes. It is good to carry out foliar top dressing with ash. To do this, dissolve the ash in water in a ratio of 1: 2 and leave for 2 days, stirring occasionally. Drain the settled water, filter and add 2 volumes of water to the solution. Spray the leaves on both sides. This top dressing will also protect against fungal diseases of grapes. Mineral fertilizers are applied in the form of a solution during irrigation and only in drainage wells. Spring top dressing: nitrogen 20 g, phosphorus 30 g and potassium 15 g per bucket of water under each bush. After the flowering of the grapes and before the start of the ripening of the bunches, mineral dressings of the grapes are made: 10 g of potassium s alt, 145 g of ammonium nitrate and 25 g of superphosphate are dissolved in a bucket of water, the solution is poured into the drainage tube. To feed the plant with calcium, lime is needed - 150 g per bush. In autumn, apply to the soil to a depth of 20 cm, in spring - to a depth of 5 cm.