Nikolay Sergeev - a former navigator of the Air Force. He took up gardening after retirement, at 40. Nikolay Sergeev grows grapes for about two decades. And he does this not somewhere in the south, but in the Urals. The place where Sergeyev grows grapes is Yuzhnouralsk.
He created his system for preparing seedlings, planting, growing and harvesting. Nikolay Sergeyev generously shares his knowledge and experience with everyone.
He advises which varieties are best grown in risky farming areas. After all, often beginning gardeners, using the recommendations of friends or other sources, try to grow a vine and get a crop. But they fail.
How does he grow grapes?
Sergeev admits that of the first five bushes planted twenty years ago, only one disappeared. The rest feel great and bear fruit.
In 2001, Sergeyev began to share experiences and cuttings with gardeners in many countries of the world. Of particular interest is its northern border of the distribution of its varieties. In his book Home Vineyard, Nikolai Sergeyev says that the berries have time to ripen already at 64 degrees north latitude. This is the Perm Territory, the city of Krasnovishersk.
Sergeev not only creates new grape varieties. He holds All-Russian congresses of gardeners, where wine growers from different regions and countries come to share their experiences. He also makes films about his methods of growing grapes.
In the fall of 2010, Sergeyev had almost one and a half hundred varieties. But now he grows not only grapes. Sergeev cultivates hazelnuts, peaches, apricots. Now he pays more attention to them. He says that every person should be engaged in 7 years. Then, having reached a possible level of mastery, he begins to make mistakes. So, you need to take on something else.
Landing place
It is possible to determine whether the place for planting grapes is chosen correctly by the way it grows and develops. But replanting a large bush is dangerous. He will take root for a long time, get sick.
A landing place is looking for the sunniest, open. It grows well on the slopes, except for the northern ones. After all, there the earth warms up much later. Therefore, the flowering time is delayed, and after it the ripening of grapes (for a month).
The slope angle should be equal to the latitude of the area where it is grown. Then the amount of light and heat from the sun will be maximum.
Vine placement
Sergeyev grapes are placed in seven rows. The vine is located so that none of them covers the other, as if the sun does not turn during the day. To do this, he advises placing bushes from north to south. A deviation of 45 degrees is allowed.
Grapes grow well on a flat surface. Do not plant it in a lowland. Cold air and excess moisture are always collected there, from which the roots rot or freeze.
Sergeev advises to plant grapes on the south side of walls, fences, buildings. But you need to do this south of the Moscow-Vladivostok highway in 2 meters. In the more northern regions, you need to do this even further, up to 3 meters. The rays of the sun will reflect off the wall and warm the area around.
Sergeyev grapes protect from cold gusts of wind. For this, he advises the use of polycarbonate sheets. It is supported by pipe racks, fittings installed at a distance of 1 m from each other so that the wind does not bend the sheet.
You can plant a bush on the south side of the tree. He will climb up to the crown, where he will warm up well. The only drawback of this method is that it will be difficult to harvest.
But Amur varieties need to be planted precisely on the north side of the tree. Lighting should be scattered so that the temperature of the soil near the roots does not exceed 26 degrees. Otherwise, they will stop growing, and at 30 degrees they will begin to die.
Do not plant grapes in a geopathic place. True, it can most often be determined only by trial and error.
A good idea is to place the grapes on a horizontal trellis, which will allow you to use less space in the garden.
The soil
Grapes grow well on sandy soils. They warm up well. Moisture does not linger there, the roots do not rot. It grows best in soil, which consists of earth, coarse river sand and humus. There you need to make crushed stone, expanded clay. An interesting point is the addition of bones (not meat and bone meal) containing phosphorus. From it, the berries become sweeter.
Dolomite serves as a supplier of calcium, wood ash - potassium.
Buckwheat husk makes the soil more loose.
Sergeyev does not advise taking soil from under the stumps due to the presence of bacteria, loams containing salts, due to which a crust forms on the soil after rain.
Do not take the soil in the store. Often it is brought from greenhouses, contains many bacteria and microorganisms, poisons.
Planting
How to plant Sergeyev grapes? Planting depends on climatic conditions, soil and seedling size. On fertile loose soils that do not freeze in winter, you can make a hole with a crowbar and plant a stalk there. But only one that has 6 eyes. If there are 2-3 of them, then it is better to plant under a shovel.
Dig a hole to the north, if there are a lot of bushes - a trench. The shape of the pit is a cube with a side of 1 m.
Between the bushes leave from 3 to 4 m, between rows - from 2 to 4 m.
If the soil in the garden is very poor, then you can make high ridges. To do this, the prepared soil is poured above ground level in the garden. Under it have a drainage of stones, bricks.
Pits are prepared 2-3 months before planting. You can pour plenty of water over the prepared mixture so that it settles down and plant grapes.
Seedlings
Seedlings receive:
- Chinese layering, digging in a sleeve;
- in containers consisting of two bottles. Upper without cover so that air does not stagnate. After the first leaf appears, the shelter is removed.
- directly into the soil, digging the forelock set at an angle completely.
Before planting, the Chubuki are soaked in snow water until they drown. This means that they have completely restored their condition.
Such seedlings are ready for planting in the second year, until the moment when the buds begin to develop. But the soil should warm up to 15 degrees.
Care
The sapling is watered, the soil around it is loosened, weeds are removed.
In biennial and older bushes, extra shoots grown from the ground are removed. Break off the leaves half a meter from the ground. Remove extra shoots that grew from one kidney.
At the end of August, the tops of the shoots are cut off, on which the crowns have straightened (the ends have straightened) so that the vine wintered better.
Remove the stepsons.
In late summer, the berries begin to darken. Sergeev advises picking off leaves that can obscure them. But it's too early to do this, so that the sun's rays do not burn the fruits.
If the soil is properly prepared during planting, then fertilizing the bush is not necessary.
Wintering
How does Sergeyev (Yuzhnouralsk) grape prepare for winter? It is better to create high beds for it. To do this, he builds the side parts of the structure from wood. He puts the vine there and covers it with polycarbonate on top.