Setting up a successful vineyard on your own plot requires the gardener to have a certain amount of knowledge on this topic. It is important to study not only the basic agrotechnical measures, but also information about what year after planting the grapes are capable of bearing fruit. This will allow you to avoid many mistakes in the desire to get an early harvest and taste the first juicy berries already in the 2-3rd year.
Fruiting start time
When growing unirrigated grapes on an industrial scale, the bushes are not allowed to bear fruit until they are four years old.It is believed that only by this time the plant is able to produce a harvest without compromising the health and quality of the berries. The bush must have time to build up a sufficient volume of root mass before it begins to bear fruit. After pruning, the plant takes on a shape suitable for the given climatic and soil conditions.
The first four years of proper formation of bushes allow you to subsequently spend a minimum amount of time caring for the vineyard. This is especially important for non-irrigated plantings of large farms. When the grapes begin to bear fruit, the bushes already have powerful roots up to 2-3 meters deep and a developed above-ground part of the bush.
On your own plot, you can get the first bunches 1-2 years earlier. Regular watering and fertilizing remove most of the load from the plant in extracting moisture and nutrients. The main task for the gardener after planting is to have time to grow a strong, mature vine during the season. This will determine in what year the grapes will be ready to produce the first inflorescences and fruits.
Using some agricultural techniques, you can stimulate the growth and development of the bush.
Factors affecting fruiting
With proper care, you can taste the first grapes already in the 2-3rd year after planting. But sometimes the gardener cannot achieve a harvest even in the 5-6th year. The ability of bushes to bear fruit depends on many conditions.
Time
Vegetating cuttings with exposed dried roots, planted in late spring, will suffer for a long time; the vine most likely will not have time to ripen and will not survive the winter. Even with ideal care, you should not expect fruit from such grapes in the coming years.
Purchased seedlings must be taken with the root closed.If this is an autumn planting, then it is recommended to pay attention to the condition of the vine; this summer's growth should be mature (not green), and at least 6-7 mm thick. Such a seedling, well protected from the cold, will survive the winter well and can bloom the next season.
In spring, grapes are planted in several ways:
- dormant cuttings in early spring before sap flow begins;
- already awakened vegetative cuttings (seedlings) in late May - early June;
- 2-3 year old seedlings before sap flow begins.
When planted using the first method, the plant takes root easier, suffers less, but most likely will not have time to produce sufficient growth to bear fruit the next year.
The second method involves planting cuttings at the end of February in plastic bottles in a warm place. By the beginning of May, the cuttings will grow up to 50 cm. When planting, carefully handle the plant without disturbing the earthen coma. Such a seedling, if well cared for next year, will most likely produce its first inflorescences. In this case, you can leave one small inflorescence on the strongest shoot and try the first berries.
2-3 year old cuttings do not always take root well, but with proper care they bear fruit the next year. In the year of planting, the inflorescences must be removed so as not to weaken the plant.
Place
The grapes are very demanding of sunlight and do not tolerate cool lowlands and the foot of the slopes. In a shaded, humid place, the grapes will quickly grow green mass; the vine will not ripen until the end of the season, will be fragile and thin, and will most likely freeze in winter. Such a vineyard may not bear fruit even in the 5-6th year. An area open on the south side, protected on the north side by buildings or trees, is suitable.
Trimming
When forming young bushes, it should be taken into account that the inflorescences are formed from the middle buds of last year's growth. Pruning too short can prevent the grapes from producing fruit in the early years. But lack of pruning can delay fruiting indefinitely. The plant spends too much energy on “unpromising” weak shoots.
Top dressing
The ripening of the vine largely depends on the amount of nutrients supplied during the growing season. Excess nitrogen stimulates large growth, but the vine “fattens”, becomes fragile and green, and flower buds form poorly.
A lack of potassium stops the development of shoots, the plant lags behind in growth, and the inflorescences fall off. The lack of organic components in the soil directly affects the taste and quality of the future harvest. On poor soils without the addition of humus and compost, grape bushes take a long time to build up their root mass and may not bear fruit for up to 5-6 years.
Rules of care
Before planting grapes you need to prepare the soil to a depth of 100 cm. The entire layer is removed, a large volume of humus and compost is added, mixed and loosened. Heavy clay soils are additionally diluted with sand. Each bush is allocated at least 2 m in a row. When choosing a location, it should be taken into account that it is not advisable to plant grapes next to large trees. They actively absorb moisture and nutrients around them. Along the perimeter of the vineyard, at a distance of 4-5 m, you can plant perennial shrubs (currants, gooseberries), it will protect the plants from the wind and retain snow.
Before fruiting, young bushes are watered 4-5 times per season, helping the plants survive the driest times.By the end of summer, abundant watering can stimulate the active growth of shoots that will not have time to ripen before the end of the season. It is necessary to ensure that a layer of soil of at least 1 meter is soaked. Surface moisture stimulates the development of roots in the upper layer of soil, which dries out first, and the plant becomes dependent on frequent watering.
To protect the vineyard soil from drying out and cracking, it is mulched with a thick layer of dry grass or straw.
In late autumn or early spring, humus is added to the digging in large quantities. During the first half of summer, instead of mineral fertilizers, you can water the grapes with mullein solution. In the second half, it is better to switch to feeding with bird droppings. Foliar fertilizing with potassium fertilizers according to the instructions is useful. It is undesirable to completely replace organic fertilizers with mineral fertilizers; the taste and quality of the berries greatly depends on the “humus” component of the soil.
Pruning of young bushes in order to speed up fruiting is done minimally. Remove excess and weak shoots so that the plant does not waste energy on them. One of the largest shoots is lightly pruned, leaving the middle part of the vine with the buds of the inflorescences. The second shoot is cut “on the sleeve”. Under favorable conditions, such grapes can bloom in the second year after planting.
In the first fruiting season, only one small inflorescence is left for sampling berries. If you do not remove the excess ovary, the plant will spend all its energy on ripening the fruits, this year’s vine will not ripen, and the bush will freeze in winter. In autumn, the bushes are carefully covered; the first and second winters after planting are the most critical. Young vines often freeze, which can delay fruiting for at least one season.
Early Harvest Methods
Planting three-year-old seedlings with proper care will allow you to get an early harvest the next year. Growing seedlings in a bottle from February accelerates the formation and ripening of a full-fledged vine, capable of bearing fruit in the second year.
Unlike growing grapes on an industrial scale, you don’t have to subject young plants to very short pruning on your own plot and allow them to bloom in the 2-3rd year. Regular watering and fertilizing stimulate accelerated growth of the root system and ripening of the vine, in contrast to non-irrigated vineyards of large farms. This allows you to get the harvest 1-2 years earlier.
