Girlish grapes: autumnal reproduction by cuttings

The maiden grape belongs to the grape family.

This perennial shrub often resembles a tree vine.

In the summer, the leaves of the maiden grapes are constantly green, and in the fall, almost before the onset of frost, they turn bright purple with bright blue berries that grow on red stalks.

But not everyone knows how to propagate it correctly.

Annually girlish grapes grow by 3 meters. The length of the vine can reach 30 meters. He has the ability to climb, without any problems, on any flat surface, be it a rock or a house.

The maiden grape gives dense foliage. It does not require additional support, as the plant is attached to the wall thanks to its disc-shaped suction cups. This frost-resistant shrub easily tolerates frost up to -24 degrees.

There are several ways of breeding girlish grapes, but the simplest and easiest is reproduction by cuttings. In this case, seedlings take root almost always.

First you need to prepare the cuttings

For the autumn planting, cuttings begin to be harvested and cut in spring or summer from branches, on which leaves are clearly visible. Also cuttings are harvested from shoots that are painted in the same color, they must be healthy.

Gardeners know a little secret, when bending, the cuttings should crackle a little. Thick cuttings are also not suitable. Cut the twig cleaned from antennae and stepchildren. Cuts make 2 cm below the leaf.

The length of the cut cuttings should be about 20-30 cm and have at least 4 ripe buds.

Then twigs put in a glass of water before the onset of the roots. With the advent of the roots of the grapes can be planted in a prepared place.

Selection of cuttings for planting

Cuttings for planting can be prepared by yourself, but you can buy one. When choosing a grape seedling, you need to pay attention to the presence or absence of mechanical damage, they should not be.

When choosing a grape variety, you should pay attention to the fact that some varieties with a female type of flower should be planted only near pollinatorsotherwise there is no point in waiting for the harvest.Seedlings should be well developed.

Buy girlish grapes better in containers. You can not buy grapes with weak shoots and lumps of earth on the root system.

Preparing the soil for planting

The girlish grape, in fact, is considered not a very demanding plant to the soil. And it can grow almost everywhere, on either side of the hedge, as if it were north, south, east, or west. True, from the western and northern parts of the garden the leaves grow small in size and they do not change color until the first frosts appear.

But, still the best place to grow grapes is the sunny side.

Good grape growth requires careful soil preparation. It should start in advance, so that the earth is slightly compacted and saturated with moisture. The earth is dug up to a depth of 60-80 cm, while you need move soil layers, i.e. the upper layer is interchanged with the lower layer.

After deep digging begin to dig up the landing pits.

The girlish grape grows on any kind of soil. On heavy chernozems and clay soils, for good breathability, broken bricks and crushed stones fall asleep to the bottom of the pit, and the upper layer is mixed with river sand.This type of soil is recommended. fertilize and phosphorus.

Sandy soils are poor in humus, and they are also endowed with fewer nutrients, including nitrogen. Stone materials do not contribute, since this type of soil is well breathable.

Sandy soils are considered the most favorable soils for planting and growing girlish grapes, they are very well breathable, so to speak, endowed with aeration.

Sandy soils contain little humus, and before planting they need additional application of organic fertilizers: peat, compost or humus. In addition to organics, they also make mineral fertilizers, including superphosphate.

Go to landing

Planting girl grapes is recommended in the fall, as the autumn planting allows the grapes to increase the growing season, so that, in turn, comes the early development of plants, but subject to favorable temperature conditions.

Planting in the fall is also good because you don’t need to look for a place to store grapes. Autumn girlish grapes it is best to land in September or October, later it is not necessary, as the plant can not settle down.

Girlish grapes are not planted near the sewers, as falling leaves in the autumn period can clog the entire flow. It can be planted on the balcony, in dry weather, the grapes must be watered. Also, this variety needs to be protected from frost.

Too long vine saplings can be planted obliquely, but the planting depth must be maintained.

The girlish grapes are not planted on the plastered walls, as the plaster may fall off under the weight of the plant. The best place for landing will be concrete and brick walls, wooden fences, garages, sheds, gazebos. Under the leaves the wooden walls will not rot.

Girlish grapes are best planted in the lighted area, because he loves a lot of light, but at the same time, and rather shade-tolerant, can grow in partial shade. Drafts and cold winds are completely inappropriate.

Grapes better planted on cultivated soils. When planting it is not necessary to use any tricks or special agrotechnical techniques.But, the earth is necessarily digging up, and a few weeks before planting you need to prepare a hole.

The standard dimensions of the landing pit are 50 cm in width and in depth, but you should still pay attention to the size of the root system.

Drainage is made at the bottom of the pit, broken bricks, sand, crushed stone fall asleep. The sand layer should be about 20 cm.

A plant planted in a pit prepared in this way does not need feeding in the first two years.

Then the soil mix, which consists of leafy earth, compost and sand, is poured into it, and the entire hole is poured to the top. The root neck of the grapes must remain at ground level.

To find out the exact depth of planting grapes use a regular stick on which to mark 40 cm, and lower into the pit. Grapes are planted on a small mound made in advance.

But, you need to take into account a little nuance. On the seedlings of the maiden grape buds are located on the left and right, it must be planted in the ground so that the buds are along the trellis in the same plane. This must be done in order to make them easy to tie up over time.

Planted grape cuttings are added and watered with 4 buckets of water. After all, for a quick interrelation of the root system with the soil, abundant watering is needed, and the plant will be accepted sooner.

The girlish grape, to protect the root system from freezing, many gardeners recommend planting at a depth of more than 50 cm, and on sandy soils - more than 60 cm. Indeed, in fact, most of the roots are located at a depth of 40 cm.

The soil is more fertile on the surface, it warms up well, and here the roots of grapes develop best. Watering takes less water, and fertilizing decreases the amount of mineral fertilizer.

Girlish grapes can be planted and not at great depths, only 40 cm.

Grapes are planted at a distance of 30 cm from the line of the row, so that the support does not interfere with his shelter. Form elongated sleeves. They provide an opportunity to create a reserve of perennial wood, you can avoid gaps. Long sleeves easily bend down to the ground. Saplings of girlish grapes are planted at a distance of 50 centimeters from each other.

Departure after landing

To care for girlish grapes is pretty easy. it infrequent watering in drought and trimming unnecessary weaving.But in order for the grapes to grow lush and be well-groomed handsome, it needs more careful care and requires the creation of comfortable growth conditions.

In the summer, weeds are removed, which appear from time to time, loosen the ground and, when exposed to the ground, fall asleep to its roots. Pristvolny circle mulch with peat, compost or humus. Mulch in the autumn period immediately buried in the soil.

During the period of sleep, in the spring, grapes should be cut off the frozen tips of the branches, remove dried, damaged shoots, as well as those that grew outside the border.

Saplings of girlish grapes after planting grow very slowly, because the plant spends all its strength on the formation of the root system. Starting from the age of three, grapes grow to almost 3 meters in one season. Shoots have antennae, because thanks to them it is retained on any surface.

After landing, in the early years, form the skeleton of a grape bushso that it visually acquires the shape we need. Garden pruners at the meter height cut the main shoots. And shoots that grow from the side, given the right direction by tying up to lignification.

After the formation of the skeleton of the girl's grapes, they annually make sanitary pruning, i.e., weak and damaged shoots are pruned. Remove those shoots that impede the qualitative growth of the crown.

Since the vine grows very fast, you can not skip pruning. Otherwise, you can get a tight weave of the shoots, and bring them into a more natural look can only be using full trim.

Watered girlish grapes moderately, only three or four times. For each bush use one bucket of water (10 liters). In the summer heat watered more often. In June, the grapes need, in addition to watering, in top dressing. Nitroammofosku is applied, and in the period of active growth - complex fertilizers are applied.