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Amur grapes have recently been overgrown with legends about its healing power and are spreading more and more. A powerful wild-growing grape liana came to the European territory of Russia in the middle of the 19th century. Breeders, noticing the frost resistance of the vine - up to -400C, started working with him.
Amur grapes are popular for several reasons.
- Almost all parts of the plant have beneficial healing properties;
- Rich in antioxidants, among them resveratrol, which remove heavy metals and toxins from the body;
- Cultural grape varieties easily take root on the rootstock of the Far Eastern vine;
- The scenic vine has won the hearts of many gardeners because of its ability to grow quickly, respond little to smoke or exhaust emissions, and create beautiful corners in industrial areas, not to mention parks and courtyards.
Description of the variety
The vine of wild Amur grapes can grow up to 20 m in length in its homeland, but in the European part of Russia it reaches more than 10 m. The leaves are large, up to 25 cm, of various shapes: whole-edged, three-lobed, less often five-lobed, deeply cut. It blooms in July, attracts bees with its delicate aroma. Small rounded berries ripen in September, the weight of the bunches is 20-60 g. The taste is sour, there are sweet and sour, sugar - up to 10-12%.
Most vines of Amur grapes are dioecious plants, but there are also bisexual plants. On male specimens of bushes, flowers on a large (10 cm long and 2 wide) brush, which looks like an elegant down jacket, appear earlier. Female flowers stand out with a well-defined ovary. Pollination occurs with the help of insects and wind. The total yield of one vine ranges from 1.5 to 6-10 kg.
Propagation of grapes
Amur grape vines become impenetrable thickets not only because of their strong growth, but also because they are easily propagated by seeds and layering. Bushes grown from seeds can vary in their characteristics, which is what breeders use. Propagation by cuttings, which guarantees the purity of the Amur liana species, is slightly different than that of cultivated grapes. Lignified cuttings do not take root well. And the green ones are the opposite. The vine begins to bear fruit from 6 or 8 years old.
Plant vegetation begins at a temperature of +50 C, in the middle lane - from the beginning or mid-May. Shoots stop growing in August. For four to five months, the vine grows stronger and at rest is not afraid when it is covered with snow, since its development has long ended. Amur grapes take root well in the latitude of St. Petersburg. And in the snowless winter, the root of the Far Eastern vine is preserved. Therefore, this grape variety serves as an excellent rootstock for other cultivated vines.
Landing features
The wild liana of Amur grapes prefers acidic soils and does not tolerate the presence of lime in the soil. It develops well on drained soils if strongly acidic high-moor peat is put in the bush hole. It should be distinguished that the vines of varietal plants love slightly acidic or neutral soils.
- Large holes must be prepared earlier;
- They add up to 300 g of superphosphate and 100 g of potassium sulfate;
- Fill with compost and humus;
- Establish a solid support.
This grape variety is not planted under the house and not far from fruit trees due to its ability to quickly twine around any support.
If there is no pollinator vine, the berries will be seedless, like raisins. But this only applies to wild vines. Saplings of various hybrid varieties, bred on its basis, in general, will remain sterile.
Vine care
The next two years after planting, the grapes are fed with nitrogen fertilizers in the spring, complex fertilizers in the summer and potassium-phosphorus fertilizers in the fall. The vine of the Amur grape variety is moisture-loving, the annual precipitation rate in its homeland is 700 mm. Therefore, watering is the main component in caring for this plant. Under natural conditions, the vine is located on the edges, along the river banks, on the southern slopes of the mountains. When growing Amur liana at home, you need to select sunny areas.
The vigorous Amur grapes need to be formed annually. It is recommended to grow the vine with a tall stem, from which perennial branches extend, and from them - sleeves that are cut off every season. Thickening should not be allowed, pruning is done on green shoots that can be rooted. If young cuttings of a wild vine are rooted, they tolerate winter well.
Planting Amur liana in shady places threatens to be affected by powdery mildew of grapes. Even I.V. Michurin selected varieties of Far Eastern grapes that are resistant to phylloxera.
Wild Vine Offspring
Now in Russia they are grown varieties of winter-hardy vinescreated after crossing wild Amur grapes with cultivated bushes: Korinka Michurina, Northern Black, Far Eastern, Buyur, Arctic and others. Northern viticulture also uses the results of intraspecific hybridization of Far Eastern grapes: a series of varieties Amur Potapenko, Amethystovy, Neretinsky, Odin (Amur breakthrough), Triumph. A success in the work was the receipt of bisexual varieties. These are Amursky Potapenko 1 and Aleshkovsky grapes.
The vine of the Amur Triumph grape has a promising future. Early ripening of dark pink berries in bunches up to 1 kg, fast growing cycle, disease resistance make it a favorite of vineyards located in harsh climates.
Another success of breeders is the breeding of varieties of vines with light berries. Amur white grapes are a dream come true in the Zolotoy Potapenko variety. The berries have a very good sugar content - 25%.
Viticulture in the metropolitan area
In the suburbs, the Amur grape vine is easily grown. A meandering liana develops more than 10 m. This handsome grape in a purple-gold mantle, with a lush veil winds through the trees and summer cottages. Does not succumb to diseases, unlike cultivated varieties of southern vines. Leaves appear in the second decade of May, when it gets warm above +60 C. It blooms at the end of June; shoots stop growing in July - early August. The berries are harvested from the beginning of September, without delay on the vine - they can crumble.
Not everyone wants to take care of delicate southern varieties, carefully covering the bushes for the winter. And the vines come to the rescue, the ancestor of which was the Far Eastern liana. Among the non-covering varieties for the Moscow Region, Agat Donskoy, Moskovsky White, Muscat Far East, New Russian, Sputnik, Alpha and others are popular. Still, growers mulch the soil around the bushes, because snowless frosty winters are not uncommon in these parts.
Siberian vineyards
Primorskaya and Far Eastern fruit and berry experimental stations made this strange phrase a few decades ago come true. Now many varieties, bred with the participation of the material of the wild-growing Amur vine, are cultivated by Siberian winegrowers. High-yielding, with high-quality berries, the serpentines of fruit vines of the Amurskiy 1, Cheryomushka Sibirskaya, Cherny Bessemyanny Zimostoykiy, Taezhny, Vaskovskiy No. 5, Bely Supershearny, Kozlovskiy and many others varieties are distributed in Siberian gardens.
Watch a video about growing grapes in Siberia
please write to me if anyone can do it.
I really want Amur grapes on my site. They say it is very winter-hardy. Can anyone have a surplus please share. Yes, and a lot more I would like. Good people))) from the fact that we, in Khakassia, do not.