A Detailed Guide to Horse-Milk Grape Cultivation Techniques and Precautions

The horse-milk grape gets its name because its shape resembles a mare's teat. Horse-milk grapes have thin skins and no seeds, and a gentle bite fills your mouth with sweetness. Horse-milk grapes are among the sweetest of all, their sweetness on the tongue bringing a trace of coolness. If picked straight from the field, it will certainly deliver a fresh sensation to the taste buds at the very first moment, so how should horse-milk grapes be planted? Let us learn together.

How to Plant Horse-Milk Grapes

1. Choose a suitable plot and strong, healthy seedlings. Horse-milk grapes are highly adaptable to soil and can be planted in sandy soil, sandy loam, loam, gravelly soil, lightly saline-alkaline soil and other soils.

2. Prepare the land and fertilize carefully to improve planting quality. After the plot is selected, plowed and leveled, dig holes according to the planned row and plant spacing, with an upper diameter of 80 cm and a bottom diameter of 40 cm. Before planting, prune the seedling's root system and branch tips appropriately; retain as much of the root system as possible, and promptly soak the roots in "Tree Guardian General" to sterilize and disinfect. Apply 30-40 kg of organic fertilizer and 0.5 kg of urea per hole, spread them evenly over the bottom of the hole, then backfill with 10 cm of soil. Plant 1 grape seedling per hole, and after filling and compacting the soil, irrigate thoroughly once. Spray 800-fold diluted New High-Lipid Film to prevent pathogen infection, improve resistance to natural disasters, and shorten the seedling recovery period. After the water seeps in, cover the hole level with soil at the appropriate time.

3. Strengthen post-planting management. About 7 days after planting, mound soil at the appropriate time to protect against cold and conserve moisture; the mound is generally about 30 cm thick. Spray Tree Guardian to keep warm and prevent freezing, helping the seedlings overwinter safely. After the late frost the following year, remove the cold-protection soil mounds at the appropriate time and water moderately once. Before budding, prune back to leave 2-3 buds. After budding, remove excess buds and pinch the tips of secondary shoots. When the main shoot grows to 50 cm long, pinch the tip. After that, shift to normal field management.

Horse-Milk Grape Cultivation Techniques and Precautions

I. Cultivation Techniques

1. Selecting cuttings: Horse-milk grapes have strong growth vigor and very good flower bud differentiation on the canes. It is advisable to select canes with upright leaves, dark green leaf color and high photosynthetic efficiency. They can be propagated by cuttings or grafting.

2. Preparing the nursery site: For young tree management, use a "high, wide, drooping T-shaped trellis," which is also suitable for pergola cultivation. Before planting, dig trenches and apply sufficient base fertilizer. Arrange the row and plant spacing and plant out; after planting, water thoroughly to settle the roots and cover with plastic film.

3. Seedling-stage management: First, remove buds and set shoots. After budding, remove double buds, multiple-head buds and overly weak buds. Pay special attention to achieving a reasonable balance of various nutrients such as NPK to ensure a balanced nutrient supply.

4. Strengthening flowers and fruit: Before flower buds appear, spray "Strong Fruit Pedicel Spirit" at the appropriate time, once every 15-20 days, for 3 consecutive sprays, which can effectively thicken the fruit (flower) pedicel.

II. Precautions

In winter, to prevent potted horse-milk grapes from freezing damage and drying out, overwintering management measures should be taken. The following protective measures can be chosen according to local conditions: after winter pruning of potted horse-milk grapes, remove the pot stand, water thoroughly, dig a trench or pit and bury them, with a burial depth of 30-50 cm from the ground surface; they can also be placed in a hallway or on a balcony and covered for the winter. No matter where they are placed, check the potting soil, keep it moist, and the temperature is best kept at 0-5°C.

Pest Control

1. Dormant period to bud-break period. During dormancy, clean the orchard, prune out dead branches, mummified fruit and the like, sweep up fallen leaves and burn or deeply bury them in a centralized manner to reduce overwintering sources of disease. At bud break, spray once with 3°Be lime sulfur plus 0.2%-0.3% organosilicon agricultural adjuvant to eliminate overwintering disease sources.

2. New shoot growth period to before flowering. Spray 1:0.5:200 Bordeaux mixture, mainly to control black pox and gray mold damaging young leaves, tender shoots, inflorescences and the like.

3. After flower drop to the early fruit-coloring stage. After flower drop, spray 1-2 times with 3000-fold fenvalerate liquid to control larvae of the horse-milk grape clearwing moth damaging tender shoots. Every 10-15 days, alternately spray 1:0.5:200 Bordeaux mixture or 1000-fold 70% thiophanate-methyl liquid; triazole fungicides and strobilurin fungicides can also be used to prevent black pox, white rot, anthracnose and the like. When there is more rainy, low-temperature weather in the early growth stage, if downy mildew occurs on the leaves, 800-fold 25% metalaxyl liquid can also be sprayed; in the early stage of disease occurrence, dimethomorph can be used for control. If leafhoppers cause damage around the flowering period, 2000-fold 25% imidacloprid liquid can be sprayed for control. In mid-to-late June, when the berries are the size of soybeans, bagging is carried out to control fruit diseases and pests.

4. Fruit coloring stage to fruit ripening stage. Use manual capture to control hawk moth larvae. Spray 1:1:200 Bordeaux mixture to control downy mildew, anthracnose, gray mold, white rot and the like.

5. Fruit harvest period to dormant period. When second-generation hawk moth larvae cause damage, 3000-fold fenvalerate liquid can be sprayed. When there is more rainy weather in autumn, focus on controlling downy mildew, and 1:1:200 Bordeaux mixture can be sprayed.

Harvesting Methods for Horse-Milk Grapes

Support the bottom of the horse-milk grape with one hand, and use scissors with the other hand to cut off the stalk of the horse-milk grape, avoiding damage to the fruit tree. Post-harvest handling: after harvesting, horse-milk grapes are sorted, removing diseased berries, insect-damaged berries, damaged berries and small berries, small clusters and the like, and packed into boxes according to grade.

Horse-milk grapes are very rich in nutritional value and are a strongly tonic fruit. Horse-milk grape juice has been praised by scientists as "plant milk," so it is deeply loved by growers, and many growers are beginning to get eager about horse-milk grapes. How mouth-watering a mu of fields full of fragrant horse-milk grapes would be.