Grape Cardinal

A delicious, healthy and exquisite dessert is grape berries: shiny, juicy, as if radiating from the inside from the sunlight accumulated by them. One of the most popular table varieties is the Cardinal grape. It seems that these grapes have collected the best signs that are expected from the fruits of a generous southern vine – external attractiveness and unsurpassed taste. This is exactly what its creators, Californian breeders, aspired to in the distant 30s of the last century. Two decades later, domestic scientists began to work on a promising vine in order to develop more winter-hardy bushes.

Knowing the history of the creation of the Cardinal grape variety, it is strange to understand that he is by no means an Italian guest. Its bright, picturesque vines and leaves are strongly associated with the landscapes of the Apennine Peninsula. Despite the care that must be taken to surround the grapes of this variety, in the south of Our Country it still occupies a worthy place among the table vines. Still, the original form of Cardinal grapes is inimitable and worth the increased attention of winegrowers.

Features and characteristics of the variety

A specific property of the massive clusters of black Cardinal is early ripening. Grapes reach ripeness 110-120 days after the start of the growing season, usually in mid-August. The heat-loving vine is characterized by strong and rapid growth under favorable conditions – up to 3 m. The bark of the Cardinal grape variety has a characteristic bright brown color, darker at the nodes. Large, five-lobed, serrated leaves are light green in spring, then acquire a rich dark shade. The flowers of this variety are bisexual, well pollinated.

Cylinder-conical grape clusters are large – up to 25 cm, wide – up to 15 cm. Loose, on a long stem, which easily comes off the vine, with an average weight of 400 g. On old bushes, the yield is more significant than on young ones. One shoot can produce two bunches of 0,5 kg each. When tasting, the fruits of the Cardinal variety were rated 8-9 points. They are transportable, stored up to 3 months.

Dark purple or purple-red berries – a difference in description due to the mineral composition of the soil – large, oval, sometimes more rounded, covered with a noticeable wax coating. Sometimes they have a beveled top with a groove. The weight of one berry is 6-10 g with sizes up to 1,5-3 cm. The skin is dense, but it is easy to bite through. The flesh is fleshy, light, pleasant to the taste, with noble notes of nutmeg. Berries of Cardinal grapes are sweet, with a slight sourness: the content of sugar to acid is 2:1. The sugar index in the berries of this variety is up to 18,0 g per 100 ml.

Advantages and disadvantages of early ripening grapes

When choosing a grape variety for your garden, everyone thinks about the merits of the bush and decides whether the resulting harvest is worth the labor.

• Grapes of the Cardinal variety have an advantage in early ripeness and large-fruitedness;
• Berries have high sugar content and amazing taste;
• With good care, high yields are guaranteed;
• Berries are suitable for transportation and are stored for a long time.

There are also negative touches.

• Low winter hardiness up to -20⁰C. In the conditions of the middle lane, it needs special careful care;
• The Cardinal vine is prone to the rapid spread of disease. In autumn, its tops are often affected by mildew, oidium, bacterial cancer, so prevention is necessary;
• In rainy weather, the berries may become covered with gray rot;
• Berries on bunches ripen unfriendly. To solve the problem, it is necessary to carry out timely treatment with iron sulphate.

Spraying enriches the plant with iron. Shoots grow more often and become more powerful, respectively, the yield increases. The berries will be large and healthy, without peas.

Planting and caring for vines

The grape variety Cardinal is well propagated by grafting and layering. If the stock root is powerful, the berries will be larger. Propagated by cuttings in the spring, using cut shoots. Autumn planting is preferable, care consists in careful shelter for the winter. You should seriously approach the choice of a place for a seedling of Cardinal grapes. It can only be a southerly direction, sunny, with good soil. A bush of this variety prefers chernozems, but also grows on other soils.

• Grape bushes are moisture-loving, but watering needs to be regulated: excess moisture leads to cracking and rotting of the berries. Timely drainage will come to the rescue. The vine needs moisture when buds and ovaries appear;
• In autumn and spring, mandatory mulching of Cardinal grape bushes with compost or humus. Complex fertilizers are applied before and after flowering;
• In view of the instability to diseases, a valuable vine must be treated with fungicides (colloidal sulfur, Ridomil and others);
• The vine of this variety tolerates short pruning normally. Three to six eyes are left on the shoot;
• In late autumn, before frost, Cardinal grape bushes are carefully covered with mulch, straw, and hay.

California guest family

In many countries, on the basis of early ripe Cardinal grapes, masterpieces of table varieties have been created and continue to be created. In Our Country, he has acquired numerous relatives, thanks to the efforts of breeders, scientists and amateurs. First of all, they worked on promoting the valuable tasty berry to the north. The well-known and popular vines of Arcadia, Anapa Cardinal, Crimean Cardinal, Hope, Sofia, Transfiguration, Monarch and others have been bred.

Many of the new varieties are based on Cardinal material and frost-resistant Criuleni grapes. This vine from Moldova with pink berries can withstand frosts down to -28⁰ With no cover and is resistant to rot, phylloxera and spider mites. The bred varieties triumphantly march through amateur vineyards under the name Cardinal: sustainable, AZOS and Lux. They were born at the Anapa Zonal Experimental Station (AZOS), where 16 hybrids were grown on the basis of the “American”.

selective vines

Clusters of Steady Cardinal weigh up to 900 g, berries are dark pink, with a slight taste of nutmeg. Withstands frosts down to -22⁰ S. Cardinal Crimean is distinguished by the earliest ripening period – up to 100 days. But its pink berries with a clear nutmeg flavor per kilogram bunch received a reduced tasting score of 8,1.

The grape berries of the Cardinal AZOS or Lux variety (the bush has a double name) have a color ranging from dark pink or red-blue to dark, the weight of the bunch is stable – 0,5 kg, very often – up to 1 kg. For the table variety, the sugar content is significant, here it is increased to 22 percent. Accordingly, during the tasting received 8,7 points. In vigorous, high-yielding bushes, both resistance to fungal diseases and frost resistance are increased – up to -22⁰ C.

Hybrid forms of grapes are the future. Thanks to painstaking selection, lovers are already growing this table grape in the Volga region. And, it is quite possible that in the XNUMXst century, its clusters – a source of endorphins, hormones of joy – will appear in the gardens of the Southern Urals and Siberia.

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