Growing Grapes Near St. Petersburg

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

In memory of Vladimir Nikolaevich Silnov

According to the ripening rate for the conditions of St. Petersburg, only super-early, very early and early varieties can be used. Separately, it is worth noting non-covering grape varieties that are not afraid of strong freezing of the vine and soil.

The cultivation of grapes in the Leningrad Region has its own nuances, since the summer in the Leningrad Region is cool and short, and the sum of active temperatures is very low. Growing outdoors is especially difficult. Outside greenhouses, you can grow only over-early, or non-covering grape varieties. But the harvest will ripen only in September.

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As a rule, frosts in summer do not occur for only 2 and a half months, while all non-covering varieties require at least 3-4 months of a frost-free period. For this reason, in May, they must be covered with spunbond (or other covering material) from recurrent frosts, so as not to destroy the newly awakened buds.

Ultra-early varieties must be covered for the winter, just like roses: they are closed either with black film or roofing material. Non-covering varieties can simply be folded on the ground on spruce branches or boards.

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In some years, in the open field it is very difficult to get a crop with a high sugar content, since in the Leningrad region the sum of active temperatures is very small and if the year is not too warm, then the crop will not have time to fully ripen. Therefore, I grow grapes both in the open field and in closed - in greenhouses with a removable roof for the winter and in barrels. Indoors, both very early and early varieties ripen.

The yield varies: in the open field - 3-5 kilograms per bush, in the closed ground the yield is several times higher: Early varieties - from 10-15 kilograms to 20, and later, high-yield varieties give up to 50-60 kilograms per bush.

Growing grapes in greenhouses

I am a supporter of growing grapes here (in the Leningrad region) in closed ground with a removable roof so that in winter the bushes are covered with snow. For growing grapes in greenhouses, I use a four-arm system. At the same time, I plant the bushes after one and a half - two meters and let two shoots in one direction along the trellis and two in the other.

All other shoots are cut off. At the same time, grape pruning is carried out in the fall at the rate of 5-6 buds per sleeve, and in the spring we move on to 3 buds on each sleeve and 12 shoots. A tighter planting will result in shading.

Strongly vigorous varieties are best grown either outdoors or in greenhouses. In greenhouses, you can plant varieties that require a large area of nutrition and the amount of active temperatures, these mainly include raisins and all large-fruited varieties. Suitable for growing in greenhouses are such varieties as F1475, Karinka Russian, Reline Pink Sidless, Pink, Russian amber, Super extra, Timur, Very early elegant, Augustine, Flame, White Muscat, Rodina, Russian Early, Success Moscow, Ainset Sidless, Rusbol, Rusball improved (Elf), Lyubava, Kodryanka, Laura, Matryoshka, Neptune, Memory of Dombkovskaya, Mars, Kishmish unique and others.

Strongly growing varieties (they are very fruitful, but ripen later - in September), you can start up to 16-20 shoots, but the distance between the bushes should be at least 2 meters. The most productive, provided that they are grown in a greenhouse, are the following varieties: Ilya Muromets, Rusven, Supago, Lyusil, Pervenets Kuibysheva, Pervenets Saratova, Cosmonaut and many other varieties: Lyubava, Strashensky, Muromets.

Growing grapes in the open field

It often happens that it rains until the end of January and the buds can be covered with ice at the first frost. If the kidney is covered with ice, then it dies (suffocates and vomits). If the vine is folded on some kind of litter, for example, on needles, the buds will not dry out, since the buds covered with snow will not freeze up.

Indoors, our grapes do not suffer from rain and dampness. We have a lot of rain in the Leningrad Region. In 2011 and 2012, from mid-July, it rained constantly and in the open field the grapes were always wet, because of this, the ripening of the vine lagged behind and the sum of active temperatures was not enough to obtain a high-quality grape harvest.

Growing grapes in barrels

There is another option for growing grapes - in barrels. The subtlety of growing grapes in barrels is that in winter the grapes in barrels are in a buried state, just in an open place on the site.

In mid-April, the barrel needs to be removed and brought into the greenhouse and the barrel, standing above the ground, begins to warm up quickly and already in early May the grapes in the barrels begin to bloom. It turns out a big backlog, at the beginning of June, after the frost stops, I take the barrels outside and put them on the south side of the buildings, where the grapes in barrels continue to grow actively and by the end of June acquire their size. In early July, over-early varieties ripen.

Barrels for the winter in mid-October, buried in the floor in a horizontal position at a distance of a meter from each other, are covered with slate from above. The barrels are sprinkled with earth from the sides. The vine is pruned into 5-6 buds and, when raised above the ground, the vine hibernates well, without damping out and freezing of the buds.

In barrels, grapes can grow up to 8-10 years old, but from 3 years old it will be necessary to feed the barrels with complex fertilizers and add soil. After 8-10 years, these barrels can be cut and the bush can be planted in open ground, where it will still grow and bear fruit for 10-12 years.

The most suitable barrels for growing grapes with a capacity of 65 liters (for 50 liters of soil). It is easy to find second-hand similar barrels on sale. Before planting, it is imperative to make a hole in the bottom of the barrels so that there is no stagnation of water. It is good to make 40-50 holes with a diameter of 10 mm, and pour expanded clay, slag, and broken brick on the bottom of the barrel. The remaining volume of the barrel should be filled with fertile soil: 2-3 year old humus with sand or peat.

There is still one subtlety in the second half of summer, starting from July, the barrel must be shaded so that the barrels do not overheat in the sun, otherwise the root system will grow intensively to the detriment of berry filling and sugar collection. Barrels should be watered once a week.

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In a barrel, you can plant such varieties as: Dimon, Golbena nou, Zilga, Golden Potapenko, Cosmonaut, Platovsky, Crystal, Black superearly, White Delight, Madeleine Selenium, you can also grow wine varieties: Saperavi Smolensky, Minsk 8-17, Russian early and many other not very tall varieties.

You can plant grapes throughout the season: from late May to late September.

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Vladimir Nikolaevich Silnov