How and when to feed grapes to get a good harvest
In order to grow a sullen southern culture of grapes in the middle belt, it must be fertilized and do it regularly. Regular application of organics alone will not save the vine, as a variety of fertilizers are necessary for an abundance of fructose.
The saddest thing is that even those gardeners who regularly fertilize their grapes with mineral complexes are damaging their plantings. Of course, they do this for no other reason than because not everyone can calculate how much fertilizer grapes need for a full life.
How much fertilizer does a grape need?
How to understand how much nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and micronutrients a wine vine needs in summer? To calculate it is not so easy, but quite realistic.
First of all, you need to remember that one kilogram of grapes on average contains 6.5 g of nitrogen, 10 g of calcium, 4 g of magnesium, 2 g of phosphorus, 19 mg of zinc, 17 mg of boron, 7 mg 7 mg, contains copper, etc. How many kilograms of grapes were harvested from the bush and multiply the rates by this amount. Have you harvested 10 kilograms? Multiply by 10. The resulting figure will tell you how much nutrients the bushes have taken into the ground during the season. This is a nuance, in this way you can only calculate the economic distance, that is, for fruiting.
There is also the biological export of roots, leaves, twigs and shoots. These costs must also be compensated, but it is impossible to calculate them accurately.
Excess nitrogen in the soil can cause potassium and phosphorus deficiencies in grapes, even if these fertilizers have already been applied.
When to fertilize grapes
Most bobcat fertilizers are applied at the rate of 1 square meter. For the novice gardener, however, it is not at all clear where the area where the roots of the grapes end and look, and therefore how many meters around the vine need to be fertilized.
An adult grape bush is an average of 6 square meters.
It is clear that young bushes take up less space, and the dose of fertilizer for them should be reduced.
Root feeding of grapes
Root feeding of grapes is carried out three times a season. Ideally, if you have drainage or underground drip irrigation systems that provide nutrient solution to the roots of bushes. If not, then dig at a distance of 50-60 cm from the trunk on the edge of the bush grooves 25-30 cm deep (1 spade bayonet) and apply fertilizer on them.
The first fertilization is carried out with mineral fertilizers in the period of bud swelling. It contains:
- 90 g of urea;
- 60 g of superphosphate;
- 30 g of potassium sulfate.
Each fertilizer is dissolved separately in water, then dissolved in a container and bring the volume of liquid to 40 liters.
Mineral nitrogen fertilizer can be replaced by a bucket of 10% mulch solution or a 5% solution of poultry manure.
The second fertilizer is applied before flowering. It is prepared on the basis of the same preparations, but their amount on the bush changes slightly. So, you will need:
- 120 g of ammonium nitrate;
- 160 g of superphosphate;
- 80 g of potassium sulfate.
All this is also loosened separately, mixed and applied under the roots.
After all, the third root dressing of grapes is not necessary for everyone, but only for those gardeners who live in a region with a short summer. It is designed to accelerate the ripening of berries, spread the vine and release the plant for the winter, so that it does not contain nitrogen.
For optimum results, it is necessary to apply under the bush:
- 60 g of superphosphate;
- 30 g of potassium sulfate;
- solution of microelements (Master, Akvarin, PlantaFol, Novofert, Kemira) in accordance with the instructions.
Feeding grapes
Do not think that foliar feeding is small and does nothing for the bushes. In fact, with their help, grapes can “absorb” even more than the roots, if you prepare the solution correctly and do not miss the treatment.
You do not know how to feed grapes on the leaves? We will tell you!
The first foliar feeding is carried out before flowering. To do this, you need to prepare a 10 l solution of the following ingredients:
- 40 g of urea;
- 100 g of superphosphate;
- 50g potassium sulfate;
- 5 g of boric acid.
Each component is diluted separately, then solutions are poured into a container, diluted with water to 10 liters, strained and the resulting mixture is sprayed on the vine bushes.
The second feeding with the same composition is carried out immediately after flowering. You can also add a ready-made solution of microelements.
The third feeding is carried out at the beginning of berry ripening. It consists of 100 g of superphosphate and 50 potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water.
The last leaf dressing is carried out directly on the berries. However, it contains only natural components, which also serve as natural fungicides and help prevent diseases. It can be an infusion of wood ash, a solution of humus potassium or iodine, diluted whey and other elements.
Admittedly, feeding grapes can take up a lot of effort and time for the gardener. But in return, it can give them healthy, actively growing and fertile vines, which will become a real pride of their site.
When and what to feed grapes? Here is what Nikolay Kurdyumov advises
Feeding grapes is a delicate matter. It has its own preferences and quite strict nutritional restrictions. In detail about how much and what kind of fertilizers he needs during the season, Nikolay Kurdyumov tells in his book “The newest encyclopedia of grape growing”. This excerpt is devoted to the basic principles of fertilizer use in the vineyard, knowing which you can create a competent system yourself and never make it unnecessary or redundant.
When and what to fertilize grapes that should produce large berries?
In short – for the main
According to Nikolai Kurdyumov, the main thing in nourishing grapes is not to go overboard with nitrogen and not to go overboard with potassium. Potassium in grapes is as much as nitrogen and phosphorus. It is the main vitamin of life of grapes, the source of normal development, immunity stimulator and winter hardening.
Nitrogen is like for alcohol vodka: grapes eat it in excess, lack sleep and hooliganism, and then become loose, lose fertility, lose resistance to disease and winter hardiness. Crushed or diluted organics and ashes are a “healthy lifestyle” for grapes.
Expected organics and ash are two staples on the seasonal menu for grapes
For adult plants, only liquid feedings
If dry fertilizers can be used when preparing the mine, the adult bushes should be fed only with their solutions: nutrients are less lost and easier to absorb. The most effective time of fertilization – a few weeks before flowering and two weeks after it. For liquid fertilization of a mature bush, 30-50 g of complex fertilizer is enough. It is applied with watering: either dissolved in water and watered, or poured into holes and watered.
The most effective fertilizing a few weeks before and two weeks after flowering.
In general, the application of fertilizer is easiest to collapse into watering. Fertilizing at every watering – once a month – is also sufficient on sandy clay, but on chernozem it becomes “fat – the end of grapes for slaughter”. Nitrogen – only in May! And on bad soils – already in June. The rest is potassium and phosphorus (brown “Crystal”, “Aquarine. Fruit”). When bushes turn yellow from chlorosis, they can be cured by dissolving 5 g of zinc salt and 30-40 g of iron vitriol and pouring it under the bushes.
Blight supplements are not so much a way to feed the bush as they are a way to quickly correct the defect or give it an effective boost. They are good in that they are almost never harmful: five grams of fertilizer will not overfeed the bush! The chelate is absorbed by the leaf immediately, and the result is visible in just a few days. Feeding before flowering is just such a case. It is much easier to apply foliar fertilizer (teardrop caps) under the leaves and at the same time add something against diseases a few days before the opening of the buds.
Leaf feeding can be combined with a disease treatment
If the bushes are full of health, you don’t need to feed them. If you have the courage to want better, adding fertilizer can provide considerable relief during standard protective treatments. Typically, 20-g sachets are just enough to dissolve in a bucket of water and spray the bushes. How much solution is required for treatment? Enough to moisten the leaves.
Nutrient sprays are also effective for chlorosis. Here you need to add a teaspoon of iron sulfate and half a spoon of zinc salt to a bucket of water.
Nutrient sprays are effective for chlorosis.
About nutrient deficiencies
Finally, a few words about deficiencies. Many craftsmen reliably determine the lack of certain nutrients by the external signs of leaves and discs. This is the highlight of the agrochemical experience. Obviously: It is necessary to describe these signs in detail here – but the reader will forgive me if I do not do so. First of all, I have no idea how this intricate visual picture can be described in words. Even pictures don’t help, because the symptoms change over time. The various deficits often resemble each other. I very much doubt that such descriptions in the literature apply in practice. Does the confused giver get into the books? No, he brings the damaged leaf to the connoisseur!
It is better to show a damaged leaf to a connoisseur. It is simply impossible to identify a defect on your own. I am sure that there is a way to learn to distinguish the disorders on a plant – to observe them with your own eyes, in different places and for more than one year. But most importantly, is this so necessary for a layman? Defects are mostly an industrial problem. They arise from soil degradation or improper use of mineral fertilizers. In dachas, garden soil is usually quite nutritious. The real problems of our shrubs are neglect, disease and phylloxera. And deficiency is an extremely rare phenomenon. And if you use organics properly, they just can’t be!
In “The Newest Encyclopedia of Growing Grapes”, available in the official online store of the publishing house, Nikolay Kurdyumov shares his own experience in growing this crop and the best practices of the most successful winemakers from different regions of our country. The chapters of the book are devoted to competent planning of a vineyard, the choice of a variety and the correct planting of seedlings, shaping of bushes and pruning, watering and fertilizing, fighting diseases and other important activities.
