Burning grapes
Content:
a Grape is a popular horticultural crop. It allows you to simultaneously get a harvest of sweet fruits and give your garden plot a decorative effect. As the climbing shoots of this culture successfully climb up the supports, creating picturesque vertical thickets. If grapes perform their decorative function without any special problems and efforts on the part of the owner of the site, then a variety of factors often impede the receipt of a bountiful harvest. One of the most common problems is the peas of grapes. What is pea berries in grapes?
As the name of this phenomenon suggests, it consists in a catastrophic decrease in the size of the berries, which resemble more peas than grapes. This article will list the main causes of grape peas, as well as factors that will minimize the risk of this problem.
Potting grapes: the reasons causing this phenomenon
Before looking for a solution to a problem, you should determine the cause of its occurrence. This will allow you to choose the most effective remedy for grape peas. The most common causes of grape peeling include:
- failure of the process of pollination of grapes;
- unfavorable climatic and weather conditions;
- improper formation of vines;
- lack of nutrients in the soil;
- erroneous choice of a variety without taking into account its characteristics.
All of the reasons listed below will be discussed in more detail.
Disorders of the pollination process and processing of grapes during the pea period
Burning grapes: photo
Early signs of grape peeling can be found if you make it a rule to regularly inspect the bushes during their flowering period.
Insufficient development of the vegetative reproductive organs of the plant should be a cause for concern. In this case, the pistils and stamens will be too short. This means that natural pollination will not be successful. And this will lead to shedding of flowers and pea berries.
The way out of this situation will be the procedure of artificial pollination. Which should be carried out immediately. For this, it is necessary to have some information regarding the structure of the organs of reproduction of grapes.
The first thing to know is that grape inflorescences are male, female and bisexual. For artificial pollination, only bisexual inflorescences are suitable. It is necessary to cut off the already blossoming flower and by "dusting" pollinate the inflorescences in need of this.
The procedure requires great care, since it is quite easy to damage the flowers. The optimal time for artificial pollination is morning. From about 7 to 9 o'clock, after the dew on the petals has dried.
A dry day should be chosen for these purposes. The first pollination procedure is carried out at the moment the first inflorescences appear. The second and third - when the mass flowering of grape bushes begins.
Another method of artificial pollination involves the use of a rabbit fur puff, secured to a small wooden stick or spatula. The fur should be shortened thoroughly.
With the help of such a device, pollination is carried out in the same way as in the previous case. Some flowers are "powdered" with pollen from others, bisexual. It is possible to determine whether the procedure of artificial pollination has been successful by the brown color that the stigmas of pollinated flowers acquire.
This method is very popular among the owners of large vineyards. And also in the process of pollination of entire plantations.
How to process grapes from peas?
It is also possible to involve intermediaries in pollination, which are traditionally bees. To do this, they need to be lured into the vineyard. This is quite easy to do with baits.
These can be containers with sweet infusion, placed throughout the vineyard. Preparing the infusion is very simple. It is enough to dissolve sugar (300 g), honey (1 drop is enough) in 1 liter of water and add grape inflorescences, and then leave for a day.
The infusion is poured into containers, which in the morning are set near the grape bushes and covered with moss. In this case, the bees will flock to the flowers, and not to the infusion itself.
Also honey plants can act as bait for bees. They need to be planted around vine beds.
Weather factor
The ideal conditions for successful pollination are dry and hot weather with low air humidity. The optimum temperature is from 15 to 30 degrees. If all these factors are present in the summer, pollination will be successful, which will allow the grapes to produce a bountiful harvest of large berries.
If at the beginning of summer the weather was cool for a long time. There were frequent rains, and fogs were also observed, the pollen of the flowers will be washed away. Pollination will not occur, the grapes will remain small and green.
Heat and drought are no less dangerous for the pollination process. Pollen overdried in the sun cannot stay on the inflorescence.
The way out of this situation will be the already familiar method of artificial pollination.
Insufficient pruning
It is normal for a grape seedling to be peeled. As it matures, the bush will form larger fruits. It is not worth worrying about finding small berries on a young plant.
It is important to take care of the redistribution of food in favor of strong shoots that can yield a harvest. Therefore, it is recommended to regularly remove weak branches. After all, they take away nutrients from the more viable parts of the plant.
For this purpose, it is necessary to carry out a systematic examination of grape bushes in order to identify weakened shoots and bunches with too small berries. They should be removed.
Experienced gardeners are advised to leave one bunch on each lash at all. This will allow her to get the full amount of nutrients and form large berries.
Lateral shoots, called stepchildren, are also subject to removal. They also pull on themselves useful substances necessary for the ripening of fruits. Pruning stepchildren will increase the green mass, which will speed up the process of photosynthesis and have a beneficial effect on the quality of the crop.
You can increase productivity by ringing shoots. It allows nutrients to be directed to old shoots. As a result of the ringing procedure, voluminous clusters with large berries will form on the grape bushes.
Turning grapes: what to do. Irrigation and fertilization
Another reason for the peas of grapes lies in irrigation irregularities. And also in the lack of nutrients in the soil. It is impossible to neglect the agrotechnical recommendations prescribing a certain frequency of application of foliar dressing of grapes from peas at certain periods of plant development.
Otherwise, the plants will be nutritionally deficient. This will negatively affect the pollination process. And later - on the ripening of the bunches.
It is important to adjust the fertilization mode taking into account weather conditions. On cold days, the process of their assimilation by grape bushes slows down and does not fully occur.
To avoid mistakes in the care of grape plantings will allow compliance with simple rules:
- the degree of soil moisture should be regularly checked in order to establish the need for watering in time;
- drying out of the soil must be avoided;
- it is important to regularly loosen the land around the vines. This will saturate the soil with oxygen and help distribute moisture and nutrients more evenly.
During dry periods, the grapes need more frequent watering. On average, during the summer, about 8 irrigation procedures are carried out for vines.
Variety selection
The study of all the features of the variety selected for cultivation on your site is an important condition for obtaining a good harvest. As a rule, information about the propensity for peas is present in the description of a particular grape variety. It is not recommended to neglect it, no matter how much you want to plant this particular variety in your garden.
It is not recommended to rely on increased care of grape plantings. Most likely, in the case of an unsuccessful choice of a plant variety, its cultivation will not be crowned with success. It is worth weakening efforts to care for the problem variety. Since he will react with peas of his fruits and nullify all the efforts of the gardener.
There are a number of hybrid varieties that are resistant to adverse weather conditions. That allows them to develop safely even in cases where the environment affects this process not in the best way.
These include grape varieties "Arcadia», «Augustine"," Pleven ". It is enough to comply with the general growing condition for grapes. Plant in an open, sunny area with good air circulation for a bountiful harvest of sweet berries.
The problem of peas, though, is quite common. Nevertheless, it is quite easy to solve, provided that agrotechnical recommendations for the care of grapes are observed. Studying the causes of this problem will make it possible to identify it in time and take measures to overcome it.