A Detailed Guide to Summer Black Grape Cultivation Techniques and Management Methods

Summer is the season of abundant grapes, and Summer Black has the highest sugar content of all grapes. Its sweetness is moderate, so it does not feel cloying, and it has no seeds, which is why it is a variety many people love to buy. Today, the editor will learn with everyone the key points of growing Summer Black grapes.

Summer Black Grape Cultivation Techniques

1. Soil selection. Black Tip grapes can grow normally in slightly acidic, neutral and slightly alkaline loam soils. Neutral and slightly alkaline sandy loam with loose texture and good drainage is most suitable.

2. Vine training. For the secondary shoots that emerge, 1-2 can be retained as fruiting mother branches, and the rest should be heavily pinched, leaving only 1-2 leaves. Each new shoot should retain one cluster of fruit, and one week before flowering, when thinning flowers, remove the secondary cluster and the tip of the cluster. After fruit set, thin out the small, misshapen berries. It is recommended to apply a callus and antiseptic membrane to the pruning cuts to promote wound healing.

3. Water and fertilizer management. After the current-year seedlings survive, regular light fertilizer should be applied frequently, and it is recommended to add New High Lipid Membrane to enhance fertilizer use efficiency.

4. Disease control. For the less resistant black pox disease and downy mildew, prevention should be carried out early. Targeted drugs such as carbendazim, thiram, phosethyl-Al, ridomil and thiophanate can be used in rotation to avoid developing drug resistance.

5. Cold protection. After harvesting the fruit, spray the whole orchard with Tree Guardian General to repel pests and diseases overwintering, protect against cold and help the tree body overwinter safely.

Key Points for Growing Summer Black Grapes

1. Trellis selection. Trellis cultivation with natural fan-shaped pruning is advocated, with row spacing of 1.7 m, plant spacing of 0.8 m, and 500 plants per 667 sq m. In areas requiring soil mounding for cold protection, row spacing can be 2 m, plant spacing 0.8 m, and 420 plants per 667 sq m. In places with a lot of rain, the distance between the first wire above ground and the ground should be more than 80 cm to prevent rain-splashed mud and sand from contaminating the fruit surface. This trellis type is conducive to fully utilizing land, wind and light, and is especially beneficial for early high yield. Under general management, the yield per 667 sq m in the second year can reach more than 2000 kg.

2. Cluster trimming and berry thinning. It is recommended that for any double clusters, one be removed. If the fruit cluster is too long, pinch off 1/5-1/4 of the cluster tip 10 days before flowering. On average, each fruiting branch should retain only 1 fruit cluster. In actual operation, strong branches at the upper end of the trellis may retain 2 clusters as appropriate, new shoots of medium vigor should retain 1 cluster, and weak branches and training branches should retain no fruit clusters. Summer Black berries are tightly set, so berry thinning is recommended.

3. Berry enlargement treatment. That is, 15 days after petal fall, use a 45-50 mg/kg gibberellin solution to dip or spray the fruit clusters, and repeat once after 12-15 days. Alternatively, when the berries are as large as soybeans, use a 45 mg/kg gibberellin solution, with each 1-1.5 kg mixed with 10 ml of forchlorfenuron and Gaoshou to spray or dip the fruit clusters, once only.

4. Fruit bagging. Bagging Summer Black grapes has many benefits: preventing disease, preventing insect pests, preventing bird damage, preventing pollution, ensuring yield and ensuring quality. The berries produced are not only attractive in appearance but also good in taste.

5. Water and fertilizer management. When establishing the orchard by planting, apply 5000 kg of organic fertilizer per 667 sq m. After that, every other year, expand outward along one side of the planting ditch and open a ditch to apply organic fertilizer once, applying 4000-5000 kg per 667 sq m. In spring, a quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer can be applied once to promote bud break and encourage large fruit clusters. For the enlargement fertilizer, apply a high-nitrogen three-element fertilizer once. Before the fruit ripens, apply a potassium fertilizer once.

6. Scientific winter pruning. Summer Black grapes have good flower bud differentiation, a high sprouting rate and a high fruiting branch rate. Therefore, for general tree vigor, short-cane pruning should be the main method, and medium-cane pruning can be used for strong branches.

Advantages of Summer Black Grapes

1. Strong stress resistance and tolerance to storage and transport. Summer Black grows similarly to Kyoho. Summer Black has thick skin and is not easily broken by squeezing during transport. It has high sugar content and tolerates storage and transport better than ordinary varieties. After the fruit matures, it can remain on the tree for more than 60 days without cracking, berry drop or color change.

2. Strong productivity. Summer Black has good and stable flower bud differentiation, with a bud eye sprouting rate above 85%. Each fruiting new shoot averages 1.5 fruit clusters. If the orchard is established in the first year, it can begin production in the second year, with a maximum yield per 667 sq m of up to 2250 kg.

3. Extremely early ripening, easy coloring and high sugar content. Summer Black takes 100-105 days from bud break to full fruit ripening. Combined with spraying acidic pesticides, spray 3-5 times with foliar fertilizer containing medium and trace elements. After the fruit begins to soften, spray once more with grape early-ripening, sugar-increasing and coloring agent. After Summer Black berries soften, they quickly color, and the coloring is fast and uniform. Summer Black has a maximum sweetness of 24 degrees, and many people call Summer Black “super sweet grape”.

Solutions for Rotten Fruit Clusters in Summer Black Grapes

Cut off the severely diseased fruit clusters and carry them out of the field for disposal. For lightly diseased fruit clusters, first cut off the diseased parts, then soak the fruit clusters with 20% difenoconazole microemulsion and 22.2% imazalil emulsifiable concentrate. Spray the whole orchard once with a mixture of 40% flusilazole emulsifiable concentrate and 20% difenoconazole microemulsion. Clear ditches to ensure the orchard does not accumulate water after rain, manage the load reasonably, and in principle retain no more than one fruit cluster per fruiting shoot, strengthen tree vigor, and apply foliar fertilizer together with pesticide spraying.

It turns out that growing Summer Black grapes requires attention to so many factors. After reading all this, everyone must have a deeper understanding of how to grow Summer Black grapes. I hope the cultivation methods introduced by the editor can be helpful to everyone, so that all can grow delicious and high-yielding Summer Black grapes.