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Amur grapes have recently become overgrown with legends about its healing power and are spreading more and more widely. A powerful wild-growing grape vine came to the European territory of Our Country in the middle of the 40th century. Breeders, noticing the frost resistance of the vine – up to -XNUMX0C, started working with him.
Amur grapes are popular for several reasons.
- Almost all parts of the plant have beneficial medicinal properties;
- Rich in antioxidants, including resveratrol, which removes heavy metals and toxins from the body;
- Cultivated varieties of grapes easily take root on the rootstock of the Far Eastern vine;
- The picturesque liana has won the hearts of many landscapers because of its ability to grow quickly, react little to smoke or exhaust gases, and create beautiful corners in industrial areas, not to mention parks and courtyards.
Variety description
The vine of wild Amur grapes can grow up to 20 m in length in its homeland, but in the European part of Our Country 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. Blooms in July, attracts bees with a delicate aroma. Small rounded berries ripen in September, the weight of the bunches is 20-60 g. They taste sour, there are sweet and sour, sugar – up to 10-12%.
Most Amur grape vines are dioecious plants, but there are also bisexual ones. 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 distinct ovary. Pollination occurs with the help of insects and wind. The total yield of one vine ranges from 1.5 to 6-10 kg.
Reproduction of grapes
The vines of Amur grapes 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. Greens are the opposite. The vine begins to bear fruit at the age of 6 or 8.
Plant vegetation begins at a temperature of +50 C, in the middle lane – from the beginning or middle of May. Shoots stop growing in August. In four or 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 perfectly at the latitude of St. Petersburg. And in a snowless winter, the root of the Far Eastern vine is preserved. Therefore, this grape variety serves as an excellent stock for other cultivated vines.
Features of landing
The wild-growing 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 placed in the hole for the bush. It should be distinguished that the vines of varietal plants love slightly acidic or neutral soils.
- Large holes should 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 base.
This grape variety is not planted under the house and not far from fruit trees because of its ability to quickly wrap around any support.
If there is no pollinator vine, the berries will be seedless, like raisins. But this only applies to the wild vine. Seedlings of different hybrid varieties bred on its basis will generally remain barren.
Vine care
The next two years after planting, the grapes are fed with nitrogen fertilizers in the spring, complex fertilizers and potassium-phosphorus fertilizers in the fall in the summer. The vine of the Amur grape variety is moisture-loving, the annual rainfall 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 banks of rivers, on the southern slopes of the mountains. Growing Amur liana at home, you need to select sunny areas.
Vigorous Amur grapes need annual formation. It is recommended to grow a vine with a high trunk, from which perennial branches depart, and from them – sleeves that are cut off every season. Thickening should not be allowed, pruning is done along green shoots that can be rooted. If the young cuttings of the wild vine are rooted, they tolerate the winter well.
Planting Amur liana in shady places threatens to be defeated by powdery mildew of grapes. More I.V. Michurin selected varieties of Far Eastern grapes resistant to phylloxera.
Offspring of a wild vine
Now in Our Country varieties of winter-hardy vines are grown, created after crossing wild-growing Amur grapes with cultivated bushes: Korinka Michurina, Northern Black, Far East, Buytur, Arctic and others. Northern viticulture also uses the results of intraspecific hybridization of Far Eastern grapes: a series of varieties Amur Potapenko, Ametistovy, Neretinsky, Odin (Amursky Proryv), Triumph. Success in the work was the production of bisexual varieties. These are grapes Amur Potapenko 1 and Aleshkovsky.
The vine of the Amur Triumph grape variety 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 – a dream that came true in the Golden Potapenko variety. The berries have a very good sugar content – 25%.
Viticulture in the metropolitan area
In the Moscow region, the Amur grape vine is easily grown. A winding liana develops more than 10 m. This handsome grape in a purple-gold mantle, winds its way through trees and summer cottages with a lush veil. Does not succumb to diseases, unlike cultivated varieties of southern vines. Leaves appear in the second decade of May, when the temperature rises above +60 C. Blossoms at the end of June, shoots stop growing in July – early August. Berries are harvested from the beginning of September, without delay on the vine – they can crumble.
Not everyone wants to take care of the delicate southern varieties, carefully covering the bushes for the winter. And vines come to the rescue, the ancestor of which was the Far Eastern liana. Among non-covering varieties for the Moscow region, Agat Donskoy, Moscow White, Muscat Far East, New , Sputnik, Alpha and others are popular. But still, growers mulch the soil around the bushes, because snowless frosty winters are not uncommon in these parts.
Siberian vineyards
Primorskaya and Far East fruit and berry experimental stations made this strange phrase come true a few decades ago. Now many varieties bred with the participation of wild-growing Amur vine material are cultivated by winegrowers in Siberia. High-yielding, with high-quality berries, serpentines of fruit vines of the varieties Amursky 1, Cheryomushka Sibirskaya, Black Seedless Winter-hardy, Taiga, Vaskovsky No. 5, White Superranniy, Kozlovsky and many others are distributed by Siberian gardens.
Watch a video about growing grapes in Siberia
