Girl's grape belongs to the genus of plants from the same family and is also called virgin grape. The genus includes about 10 species, which are mainly found in Asian and North American countries. The Latin name Parthenocissus consists of two words meaning “virgin” and “ivy”. It happened because of one feature of the plant - it is able to set fruits without the participation of pollinators. Three types of girl’s grapes are used in landscape design as decorative leaves. Since the 17th century, it has been actively used as a decoration for arbors and verandas, to create hedges and decorate various buildings. Often, girl’s grapes can be seen on the fences, but it should be borne in mind that this plant can eventually destroy even the strongest structure. If the Virginian grape does not find a support for which it can cling, it begins to grow as a groundcover.
Girl's grape: plant description
Parthenocissus is not a wild relative of cultivated grape varieties; it is a completely different species. Representatives of this species most often look like deciduous or evergreen vines. Their leaves are located on long petioles; they can be palmate or trilobate. In the spring and summer, they are dark green in color, but in the beginning of autumn they begin to acquire a reddish hue, which looks very nice. Because this plant is often used to decorate gazebos and buildings.
Liana shoots can reach a length of up to 20 m. They quickly develop, fixing on a support with the help of antennae. Inflorescences of girl's grapes are corymbose, they are in the axils of leaves or opposite to them. Each flower in the inflorescence is bisexual, staminate. Ripe fruits are small dark berries.
Advantages and disadvantages
Girl's grapes are very common in landscape design due to their high decorativeness, ease of care and frost resistance. It is able to grow on almost any soil, even in insufficiently fertile areas, since it does not need a particularly large area for nutrition. Even growing in one place for many years, it reproduces easily and does not require fertilizer application. Another feature is the ability of girl's grapes to deal with dampness around the foundation of the building, to protect buildings from dust and winds, as well as from excessive overheating.
The disadvantages of the plant include the ability to destroy and clog drain pipes, if the shoots catch on them and germinate inward. The root system of grapes is able to capture vast territories, preventing other plants from developing, as well as destroying the foundations of buildings. There is a lack of decorative properties: in the spring, shoots remain non-leafy for a long time. But the advantages of this unpretentious and undemanding plant often overshadow all of the above features.
Girl's grapes in Siberia: planting and seed care
Thanks to cold resistance, girl’s grapes can be grown in open ground even in the Urals and in various regions of Siberia. It is easily propagated and undemanding to the composition of the soil. There are several ways to grow this vine on your site. The easiest way to propagate girl’s grapes in Siberia, planting and care for which does not require special skills, is sowing seeds. This procedure is most often performed in spring or summer, but in this case, the seeds will need cold stratification.
You can soak the planting material in cold water until it swells, and then place it in a wiring crate filled with moistened sand. The container is placed in a cool place, for example, in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator or in the cellar, where the seeds should be kept at a temperature not exceeding +5 ÂşC for two months. During autumn sowing, planting material does not need to be kept in the cold for so long, it is enough to soak it in cool water for 4 days. Then the seeds are sown in the ground, and in winter they undergo stratification in a natural way. In spring, friendly shoots appear.
Choosing a place to land
Often you can find girl's grapes in Siberia. Planting and caring for it do not require special skills, because this plant is very common in parks, squares and gardens. For active growth, he does not need special conditions, but the decorative properties largely depend on how well the place of his landing is illuminated. If there is enough sunlight, then the foliage is painted in brighter shades than when grown in the shade. With good lighting, the liana develops more actively and quickly fills with itself the entire visible space. The features of planting and caring for girl's grapes in Siberia are not particularly different from other regions. It is undesirable to plant it in windy places, since the plant does not tolerate cold drafts and slowly develops. The proximity of drainpipes and electrical wires can lead to the fact that strong shoots of the plant will destroy and spoil them. The ideal place for planting will be the plastered walls of brick, concrete or wood, as well as arbors or sheds.
Selection of soil for planting
Growing girl’s grapes in Siberia, planting and care for which usually does not cause difficulties for gardeners, begins with the selection of soil, although any type can suit this unpretentious look. But loamy and neutral soils with a slightly acidic or slightly alkaline reaction are considered the best. Sowing of seeds is carried out in loose, airy soil, seeding them to a depth of 1 cm.
Proper watering
It is easy enough to grow girl’s grapes in Siberia, the secrets of planting and caring for it are simple and come down to infrequent watering during periods of drought, pruning of shoots and the removal of weeds. Weak and sick specimens require a more careful attitude. In summer, especially in dry periods, it is advisable to regularly, but not too abundantly water the seedlings in order to prevent damage to the root system and loss of foliage. At normal temperature, watering plants for the entire season is enough 3-4 times. Each seedling will need approximately 10 liters of water. But there is no need to overmoisten the plants: repeated watering is carried out when the top layer of the soil dries out a little. It is advisable to weed weeds, as they absorb the nutrients that are needed by maiden grapes for full development and fruiting. In order for the shoots to branch better and the plant become more magnificent, the shoots are pruned in spring or autumn.
Formation Features
Planting and caring for a girl’s grape in Siberia in the garden is a business accessible even to a novice summer resident. After planting, the seedlings are in a weakened state and need additional support until they grow a tendril that can fix on a rough surface: a wall, a fence or on neighboring plants. Photos of girl's grapes in Siberia, planting and care of which is much easier than it seems, are often found on gardener forums. It is difficult to choose the best option among them. Experienced summer residents believe that it is best to tie the grapes to a long pole, positioning it so that the shoots are directed in the right direction. If the gardener wants to cover some vast area or plot with openwork foliage, it is advisable to plant several plants at once nearby. The distance between them should be approximately 1 m.
Proper top dressing
The girl’s grapes in Siberia, the planting and care of which are quite simple, periodically require feeding. Before the active development of shoots begins, nitroammophoska is introduced under the root of each plant, and then in the middle of summer it is fed with complex fertilizer for garden plants. It is advisable to loosen the near- stem circle regularly , sprinkling bare roots on the ground. Mulching the periostemal circle with compost or humus provides additional protection against drying out of the substrate and helps get rid of weeds. This procedure greatly simplifies the planting and care of girl's grapes in Siberia. In late autumn, the earth around the plants is dug up together with mulch and a new layer is added up to a thickness of 6 cm.
How to transplant girl's grapes
Planting and caring for girl’s grapes in Siberia most often does not cause difficulties, but sometimes the selected place is unsuitable for the plant, and it needs to be transplanted. The complexity of this event depends on how long the seedling has been on the site. If after landing quite a bit of time has passed, then there is less chance of damaging the horse system. The young plant will take root better, but there have been cases of movement and adult specimens even at the age of five. Planting and caring for a girl’s grape in Siberia can be complicated if the root system of the seedling is damaged during this procedure. You can use oilcloth or a piece of cloth to drag a plant from one place to another. With minor damage to the earthen coma, if the new site is suitable for the girl’s grape, it will quickly recover and start growing.
Before transplanting, you should prepare the landing pit in advance: it is desirable that it be the same size as the previous one, but deeper. At the bottom, it is better to put a good layer of drainage from broken brick, crushed stone or broken ceramic tiles. Its thickness should be at least 15 cm. River sand should be poured over the drainage, and then mixed in two parts of leafy soil and humus with one part of sand and fill the hole with this mixture to the middle. After 2 weeks, the land will settle. When this happens, the girl’s grapes are scooped up together with an earthen lump, trying not to damage it, dragged to a new place and shortened shoots to facilitate the transplant process. You can dust the earthen lump with an root formation enhancer or growth stimulator. Then the plant is placed in a pit and covered with soil, leaving the root neck flush with the ground. Then they compact the soil around, forming a near-stem circle, water it abundantly, and, if necessary, add soil.
How to prune girl's grapes
After the seedling has taken root in a new place, it can begin to form in order to get a neat and decorative plant. To do this, use a garden pruner. With its help, still non-lignified shoots are cut, asking them the right direction and fixing them on a support. After the skeletal branches are fully formed, it is recommended to carry out sanitary pruning regularly: patients and dry shoots are removed, cutting them off over a healthy kidney. If this treatment is not carried out, girl's grapes will quickly grow and turn into an untidy and tangled bush.
Disease and Pest Prevention
Girl's grapes are quite resistant to most diseases. Occasionally, it can become infected with fungal infections. This occurs when waterlogged soil or improper care. Treatment for diseases of girl’s grapes, planting and care for beginners in Siberia do not contain any difficulties. If a disease is detected, affected shoots and leaves should be removed, watering stopped and the bush treated with a broad-spectrum fungicide. When infected with pests, plants are sprayed with insecticides.
How to propagate girl's grapes
There are no special secrets of the propagation of girl’s grapes in Siberia, the planting and care of which is already described above. The seed method is considered the simplest, but you can also use the vegetative method, cutting off the cuttings from the plant. They are easiest to harvest after forming pruning of girl's grapes. But to cut branches is permissible throughout the growing season. An escape with 3-5 kidneys will suffice. The optimum thickness is about a pencil. The cuttings should be planted in prepared pits, deepening them into two buds. The landing site is regularly abundantly watered until the shoots start to grow - this will mean that they have successfully taken root. This is a fairly simple way to propagate girl’s grapes in Siberia; planting and caring for young plants is no different from ordinary seedlings. It is only necessary to protect them from direct sunlight and increase watering during periods of drought.
Other breeding methods
You can propagate girl's grapes by layering or root offspring. For the first option, the whips are pressed to the ground with brackets or hooks and sprinkled on top with soil, focusing on the location of the kidneys. If you regularly water the shoots, roots will soon appear from the buds. Girl's grapes in Siberia, planting and gardening which is not particularly difficult, can be propagated quickly enough in this way. Another method is propagation by root offspring. The root shoots are dug up and separated from the mother bush, the sections are sprinkled with crushed coal and transplanted to a new place for growing. This usually takes about two years, after which the plants are transplanted to a permanent place. The root neck is placed at the same level during planting without deepening.
Planting and caring for girl’s grapes in Siberia in winter also do not cause problems for beginner gardeners. It is enough to put fresh mulch under the plant in the fall and make litter and shelter from the spruce branches so that the bush successfully wintered. The only thing that needs to be monitored is that there should be no mopping up. Otherwise, growing this plant is usually not a hassle.