Correct planting of grape seedlings in the fall: when and how best to plant

Are you also of the opinion that grapes are a very valuable cultivated plant, which, with skillful planting in the fall and further competent cultivation, will be able to give the first harvest in 3 years?

So, if you have a desire to plant this perennial berry bush on your personal plot in the fall, check out the important points and nuances of planting grape seedlings in the fall.

When to plant grapes in autumn, in what month: optimal timing

As for the approximate dates for planting grapes in the fall, for example, in the Middle Belt (Moscow region), grape bushes can be planted somewhere from late September to early October, while in warmer and southern regions not earlier than the second half of October-November.

Remember! The vine on the seedling must be fully ripe, and she can do this only by the end of September-beginning of October. It is also desirable that the leaves of the seedling fall off naturally (after leaf fall), or you can remove them yourself.

If you plant a seedling too early, then in the event of a prolonged warm autumn, it is likely that its buds will awaken and re-vegetation will begin. As a result, the buds will not survive the inevitable frost and will die, and the bush itself will experience severe stress, which will further negatively affect the development of the plant.

Thus, the best time to plant grapes in autumn is when the air temperature will drop below +10 degrees (the average daily will be around +8 .. + 10).

Naturally, it is undesirable to plant too late: you need to have time to plant 2-3 weeks before the onset of the expected stable frosts, i.e. before the freezing of the soil.

According to the lunar calendar in 2020

Choose the optimal date for planting seedlings can help you moon calendar.

So, favorable days for planting grapes in the fall in 2020, according to the lunar calendar, are:

• in September - 19-26;
• in October - 3-13, 18-21.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to get to the dacha on the indicated days, so the main thing is not to land on dates that are not suitable for the lunar calendar (the days of the Full Moon and New Moon, as well as the period when the Moon is in Aquarius, since this is a barren and dry sign - italicized).

Unfavorable days, according to the lunar calendar, for 2020 for the autumn planting of grape seedlings, the following dates are:

• in August -3, 4-5, 19, 31;
• in September -1, 2, 17, 27-28.
• in October - 2, 16,24-26, 31
• in November - 15,20-22, 30.

According to the lunar calendar, from the magazine "1000 Tips for Summer Residents".

When is the best time to plant grapes - in autumn or spring

It is possible to plant grape seedlings in open ground during the entire warm period, from spring to autumn. There is no difference. The main thing is that the seedling is strong and ripe. However, much more often the grapes are planted in the spring (in May).

By the way! About the spring planting of grapes you can read here.

Unlike spring planting, in the fall, it is advisable to plant grape seedlings that already have a developed root system (in other words, cuttings are not suitable for planting, they still need to germinate). Only such seedlings will have time to take root well in the fall and leave into winter, taking root in a new place.

Advice! More details about growing grapes from cuttings read in this article.

Advantages and disadvantages of autumn planting

The following advantages of planting grapes in autumn are distinguished:

• In the autumn, the market abounds with a huge selection of high quality and healthy seedlings. In the spring, those seedlings that were not sold out last fall can also be sold. However, it is rather difficult to store them, so the risk of purchasing low-quality planting material increases.

Note! Normal seedlings grown this year from cuttings, as a rule, are sold in autumn, only from the second half of September-October, and in spring - from March to April.

• In autumn, the soil is most prepared for planting. The land is well moistened, thanks to natural precipitation (of course, if the fall is normal, i.e. rainy and moderately cool), and you do not have to prepare the planting hole in advance.

After spring planting, the loose soil in the pit begins to thicken over time, which can only damage the roots of the seedlings that have grown. But with the autumn planting, the roots of the seedling begin to grow strongly only in the spring, by which time the soil is already quite dense.

• The seedlings planted in the autumn have time to take root and leave in the winter fully prepared, so to speak, "having settled down".In the spring, they begin to grow much earlier than seedlings, planted last spring.
• In the fall, more time is corny, because in the spring you need to plant so much. This is especially true for garden crops, including those grown through seedlings.

In addition to the advantages of planting grapes in autumn, of course, there are some dangers, namely:

• If autumn is warm for a long time, there is a possibility of untimely awakening of the buds of the seedling. The awakened buds simply will not survive the inevitable frost and will die, and the bush itself will experience severe stress, which will further negatively affect the development of the bush.

Moreover, it will definitely happen if you plant a seedling too early.

• A sharp onset of frost, due to the arrival of which the plant simply cannot take root in a new place.
• Of course, there is a certain likelihood of a seedling freezing out in winter, including due to insufficient or improper cover.

By the way! The site has a separate article about how to properly cover in grapes for the winter (including young ones).

How to plant grapes in the fall: features and step-by-step instructions

How to pick a good grape variety

Note! If you have not yet decided what kind of grapes you want to plant, then the site has a number of detailed review articles about the most popular and best grape varieties:

• General article on the best grape varieties.
• The best table varieties.
• Wine varieties.
• Earliest varieties.
• Black (blue) varieties of table and wine grapes.
• Pink varieties of table and technical.
• White varieties - top of the best dessert and wine.

Choosing a quality seedling

Quality annual a grape seedling must meet the following requirements:

• Be zoned, i.e. local. Therefore, if you are not a resident of the South, then the southern seedlings will most likely die in the first winter.
• Have good developed root system - from 3 to 5-6 young roots (with a diameter of at least 2-3 mm at the base).

Ideally, if the length of the aboveground part (growth) is about 10-15 cm (3-5 buds), and its thickness (vines) is 5-12 mm (on average - 1 cm at the base), the rootstock (stem) is 20 -40 cm (the distance between the growth and the heel roots), and the heel roots - at least 10-20 cm (as a rule, they are even 30-40).

Relevant for a grafted seedling. With a self-rooted seedling, a little different.

• It is highly desirable that there were no leaves on the aerial part or you should cut them off yourself.

An exception is containerized seedlings. It is not necessary to tear off the leaves on them.

• Pay attention to the vine: when planting in autumn she must be matured.
• Of course, when buying, you should carefully examine the seedling. for bark damage, cracks, wounds, build-ups, or mold.

How to prepare a seedling for planting

Before planting a grape seedling in open ground, it is advisable to carry out pre-planting preparation and processing 1-2 days before planting, since planting (transplanting) is a huge stress for a grape plant. The preparation of grape seedlings includes the following activities:

• For a start, it is recommended a little cut off the top (top) - check the condition of the seedling. In the cut area, the seedling should be light green. This will indicate the healthy state of the seedling (you can plant).
• Then slightly the lower main or heel roots are cut (1-2 cm). Again, if the color is light coffee (whitish-yellow), then everything is in order - the roots are alive.

Interesting! Some growers do only this operation to prune roots, only refreshing their tips.

• Then you need to cut the roots, leaving no more than 15-20 cm (some leave even less - up to 10 cm), so that they begin to branch better in the future.

By the way! There is one rather radical method, when the roots are taken into a fist and everything that remains below is removed.

If you leave too long roots, then when planting, you will definitely bend them up and the seedling will not take root.

Another tip! If the heel roots are already well developed, then those that are higher (middle lateral roots) can be completely removed.

• Then the seedling placed in water at room temperature for soaking for 12-24 hours (for example, at night).
• Some summer residents additionally (i.e. first in water, and then in a growth stimulator) soaked in water with the addition of root growth stimulants for another 12-24 hours (for example, Kornevin or Heteroauxin, Potassium humate, honey solution - 1 tbsp. spoon of honey in a bucket of water).
• And already directly just before landing seedling roots desirable dip in a clay mug.

Important! Even if the one-year-old seedlings are planted the next day after they are removed from the school (grown from cuttings), it is still recommended to soak them and dip them in a talker.

Video: how to prepare a grape seedling for planting

Suitable place for landing

Before you start planting seedlings, you should decide on the optimal place for growing grapes.

It is best to choose a well-lit area, since for successful cultivation of vines an abundance of sunlight is required.

In addition, you should not place the seedling on the north side: the plant does not like strong and piercing (drying) winds. It is a bad idea to plant grapes in a low area or where the soil is swampy (snow accumulates in spring).

Also, close proximity to other fruit crops is not recommended, since grapes can crush them.

In short, the best option for grapes is south or south-west side, fenced off from the north side by a house, garage, bathhouse, barn or fence.

In this case, you need to retreat from the building by 0.5-1 meters.

Important! Ground water should not be closer than 1.5-2 meters to the root system of the bush.

The soil for grapes you need fertile, looseso that moisture and air pass well, in other words, it should be moisture and breathable.

If your soil is not entirely suitable, then in this case it is necessary to prepare the planting pit as carefully as possible, filling it with fertile soil and fertilizers.

Planting pit preparation

Important! Prepare the planting pit follows 1-1.5 months before the planned planting date (that is, in August-September). This is required so that the entire fertile mixture settles, and the fertilizers nourish the earth and do not burn the young roots of the seedling in the future.

A planting hole for planting a grape seedling is dug to a depth of 60-80 cm and to the same width (that is, for example, 60x60x60), or according to the scheme shown in the picture below.

Advice! However, if you have sand, then you need to plant deeper. If the black soil is smaller. If you have heavy clay, then the depth of the pit should be 10-15 cm below the clay level.

If your soil is clayey, then it is recommended to additionally lay out drainage layer (pour a layer of crushed stone or expanded clay) and plant a grape seedling according to the following scheme:

Advice! When digging a hole Leave the top fertile soil layer aside (nearby): you still need it, but the lower one is no longer needed (although it will be possible to spud the seedling with it after hiding for the winter).

By the way! Some growers additionally insert a tube into the landing holeso that nutrient moisture immediately gets to the roots, but this method of planting has recently been practiced less and less.

You can read more about this in this article. about the rules and methods of watering grapes.

A logical question: “What is such a large pit for?»

If your land is clean sand or "reinforced concrete" (stones / clay / sandstone), then what will you grow in such a "fertile and loose" soil?

In other words, for the successful cultivation of grapes, you must create a kind of pantry of fertilizers (fertile soil) for the bush, which will last for 2-3 years without additional fertilizing.

Advice! About, how to feed mature grapes in spring, summer and autumn, You can find out from this article.

After you have dug the planting hole, it should be filled with fertile soil, which can be laid out in layers:

• 1 layer (20-30 cm) - a thoroughly mixed batch of humus or compost (2-3 buckets), superphosphate (200-300 grams), potassium sulfate (200-300 grams) or wood ash (1-1.5 kg) and top fertile soil (chernozem) or leafy soil (3-4 buckets).
• 2nd layer (10 cm) - a layer of fresh garden fertile soil (black soil).

If you plant right away, then this layer is simply necessary, otherwise the root system can get severe burns.

• Tamp the soil well to speed up the shrinkage, and then fill the hole with water (2-3 buckets).
• When the water is absorbed, you can plant a seedling, although, in general, it is much better to do this in a month or at least a couple of 2 weeks.

Note! You cannot plant two seedlings at once in one hole: they will oppress each other and you will not get a double increase in the yield, on the contrary.

By the way! Distance between seedlings grapes should be about 2.5-3 m, and between the rows - the same 2.5-3 m, and even better - even 3.5 m.

Direct planting of a seedling

So, you can plant grapes outdoors in the fall, according to the following step-by-step instructions:

• At the bottom of the pre-prepared and filled planting pit, a small mound (bump) is poured from fertile garden soil (relevant only for seedlings with an open root system, container with an earthen clod are planted on flat ground).
• A pre-prepared seedling (soaked and with cut roots) is installed on it (on a mound), while all the roots are neatly straightened down so that they in no case are bent and do not look up.

The heel (heel roots) should be located at a depth (from the soil surface) of the order of 30-50 cm.

• Top fertile soil (by 10-20 cm) is poured onto the roots from above without any fertilizers. At the same time, you should have a sufficiently deep hole (10-20 cm to the surface of the earth).
• The hole is filled with 1-2 buckets of water.
• That's it, the seedling is planted.

Important! If upon landing container seedling grapes (i.e. with a closed root system) you violated his earthy lumpthen you need tear off all the leaves, otherwise the seedling may not take root. If the clod of earth is completely preserved, then you do not need to cut it off.

And one more the nuance of planting seedlings in containers: they need to be planted in such a way that the upper level of the coma coincides with the lower level of the hole, approximately 30-50 cm deep, that is, the same 10-20 cm should remain to the surface of the earth.

Note! If you plant grafted seedling, in no case should the place of his vaccination be buried. Otherwise, the roots of the scion will appear, and it will move to them.

Video: autumn planting of grape seedlings

An alternative method of planting a seedling

Some gardeners recommend filling the grapes almost completely, leaving no deep 10-20 centimeter holes. In this case, the hole should be well shed before planting the seedling, i.e. plant already in a slurry, in which the roots themselves will gradually straighten out well (in this case, the seedling does not even need to be dipped in a clay mash beforehand). Although, if you want to be completely sure that they will point downwards, you can slightly pull the seedling upwards.

However! It is worth warning right away that it is much easier to cover a bush with sleeves below ground level, as it is more convenient to water a young bush in a hole.

This method is shown in the following video about the autumn planting of grape seedlings:

Grape care after autumn planting

If you correctly observed the timing of the autumn planting of grapes, and before the frost you will have warm weather for some time, there will be little rain, then an extremely important event should be held to care for the seedling during this period, namely water it several times, pouring 1-2 buckets... If the weather is damp (it rains), then you do not need to moisten additionally.

Advice! If you planted a seedling too early or for some other reason, it started to release leaves, then you need immediately stop all watering and spray with potash fertilizer (ideally potassium monophosphate).

To keep the seedling from freezing, it must be carefully prepared for the winter, namely, properly covered for the winter, before shortening the aboveground part:

• Cut off the seedling, leaving 3-5 buds-eyes (it is imperative to cut it to the woody part, in no case should an unripe vine be left to winter).

In the future, you will need shape your vines correctly, that they gave the maximum yield. You can read about this in our detailed article, which describes in detail all the nuances of the formation and pruning of grapes in the fall.

• To cover the seedling for the winter, as an option, you can put a cut plastic bottle on top of it.

Important! Cover should be done only at low temperatures (i.e. below zero) so that the eyes do not come out.

This is done so that the seedling does not come into contact with the ground and does not catch any fungal disease.

• Cover the hole with earth from above together with the bottle so that there is up to 5-10 cm of soil above it.

Note! The most important component in caring for grapes after planting in the fall is its the right shelter for the winter.

You can read in detail how to do this. in this material.

And in early spring, when the snow melts, you will definitely need take shelter on time (bottle) off the grapes and dig it up, making a hole again.

In the future, to obtain rich harvests, it will be necessary to carry out competent care of the grapes throughout the season:

• Take good care of the spring, namely: feed, prune, tie up, start spraying against diseases and pests (there will be several, at least 4).
• Spend green operations: Mint - pinch the tops, pinch.
• Water properly.

• To fight with real and downy mildew — oidium and mildew, gray rot, anthracnose and felt mite (grape itch).
• Also you might want it inoculate.
• In autumn you can propagate your grapes by cuttings, namely prepare in the fall, keep them properly in winterso that grow future good seedlings from them (germinate in spring and plant in open ground).
• Besides, properly prepare for winter, namely to conduct autumn pruning, eradication of diseases and pests, shelter for the winter.

Popular mistakes when planting grapes in autumn

Of course, experienced winegrowers, taught by their own bitter experience, as a rule, no longer make annoying mistakes. But a novice winegrower will definitely do something wrong, so we bring to your attention the most common mistakes that can be made when planting grapes in autumn:

• Purchase of a low-quality seedling, in which the vine is still green (not ripe) or the roots are excessively dried (the seedling was not stored correctly).
• Wrong choice of planting site (for example, you cannot plant in the shade or lowlands).
• Neglecting the preparation of the landing pit or its incorrect filling.
• Planting too early, when the soil has not yet cooled down, and the first frost is still too far away (more than a month and a half).
• Illiterate planting: too deep or too low planting of the seedling.
• Complete absence or improper shelter for the winter.

Only the correct planting will allow your grapes to successfully settle down in a new place and start producing good yields in the future.

Thus, now you know that the autumn planting of a grape bush is not the most difficult event.But in order for the seedling to take root well and in a couple of years to start delighting with excellent harvests, you need, at least, to choose a suitable place, properly prepare the planting pit and plant it (the seedling) correctly. Good luck!

Video: planting grape seedlings in a permanent place in the fall