How much does a Summer Black grape vine cost per plant, and how do you grow it?

Summer Black grape, also called Black Summer or Summer Black seedless black grape, is an excellent grape variety with strong disease resistance, good productivity, early maturity, good storage tolerance and excellent taste. It usually ripens and comes to market in late July. Let's take a look below at how much a Summer Black grape vine costs per plant and how to grow it.

1. How much does a Summer Black grape vine cost per plant?

The Summer Black grape plant grows vigorously, with a bud burst rate of 85%. The shoot formation rate is 95%, and each fruiting shoot bears an average of 1.5 inflorescences. Shoots sprouting from latent buds have strong fruiting capacity and high productivity. The price of a Summer Black grape vine is roughly a few yuan to a dozen yuan per plant, because height, ground diameter, purchase quantity and so on all affect the price of the vines.

2. How do you grow Summer Black grape vines?

1. Orchard establishment and planting

When choosing a vineyard site, you should choose flat, open terrain; in some mountainous and hilly areas, the terrain must be improved to ensure good drainage conditions.

As for soil, choose soil with a relatively high organic matter content, loose texture, and good water permeability and water retention.

In the autumn of the year before planting, deep-plow the soil, then dig planting trenches at a row spacing of 3m, with the trenches running north-south. The planting trenches are 0.8m wide and 1m deep; fertilize inside the trenches, applying 4000kg of decomposed manure per mu, plus 50kg of urea, 50kg of superphosphate and 10kg of micronutrient fertilizer. After fertilizing, backfill with soil and irrigate the planting trenches so the soil settles naturally; once the water has drained, level the trenches.

In spring, before the grapes sprout, select high-quality seedlings and plant them at a spacing of 0.8~1m. The planting depth of the seedlings should be level with their depth in the nursery; planting too deep or too shallow is not conducive to seedling growth. After planting, water thoroughly once and cover with plastic film to keep warm and prevent weeds.

2. Training and pruning

Trellis choice: Summer Black is best suited to excellent trellis types such as the high V-shaped trellis, small flat trellis and T-shaped trellis.

Winter pruning: generally carried out 2 weeks after leaf fall. The pruning method mostly uses short-spur pruning, that is, at the fruiting position, only 2~3 buds are left on the current year's shoots and cut back, and all other shoots are removed. The principle of pruning is to stay as close to the trunk as possible to prevent the fruiting position from moving outward. When pruning, remove diseased and dead shoots, weak shoots and overly dense shoots, and keep shoots that are appropriately positioned and grow vigorously.

Summer pruning: includes bud rubbing, shoot selection, pinching, lateral shoot management, tendril removal and tying vines.

3. Flower and fruit management

Flower cluster thinning: Summer Black grapes grow vigorously and have good flower bud differentiation; most new shoots have more than 2 inflorescences. For high-quality, premium Summer Black grape cultivation, excess inflorescences are generally thinned according to the principle of leaving only 1 inflorescence per new shoot (weaker new shoots keep no inflorescence) or leaving 2 inflorescences per 3 new shoots. Remove inflorescences that are too small, poorly developed, or damaged by pests and diseases; inflorescence thinning can be combined with shoot selection on the trellis.

Elongating inflorescences: when most inflorescences in the orchard have grown to about 10cm and the new shoots have grown to 7~8 leaves, gibberellic acid can be used to elongate the inflorescences. The method is to dissolve 1g of Qibao in stages in 40kg of water, then add 50ml of dishwashing liquid, mix thoroughly, and dip the inflorescences in the solution. Under protected cultivation conditions, because temperatures are higher the inflorescences grow longer naturally, so elongating the inflorescences is generally not needed.

Inflorescence shaping: generally carried out from 2 days before flowering (large bud stage) to within 3 days after flowering begins (early flowering stage, 20%~30% of flowers open) (the cluster is considered to have begun flowering when 1 flower opens).

Tip-only shaping method: keep only the 5~6cm tip portion of the inflorescence, and remove all secondary clusters, shoulder branch clusters and upper buds. This method controls yield strictly, and the ripe clusters are uniform in shape, berry size and coloring, with good commercial traits, purple-black or blue-black color, high sugar content and rich flavor, making them premium fruit.

Shortened branch-cluster shaping method: remove the 3~4 large branch clusters on the upper part of the inflorescence; cut short or pinch short the remaining branch clusters with the hand, keeping a length of 1~1.5cm; do not cut off the cluster tip. Finally, trim the inflorescence into a cylindrical shape about 10cm long. This method moderately controls yield, and the ripe clusters are uniform in shape and berry size, with good commercial traits, black color, high sugar content and good flavor, making them high-quality fruit.

Berry-setting treatment: generally carried out from 4~10 days after flowering begins (full bloom to within 3 days after flowering ends). Spray with gibberellin at 25ppm; if fruit set is low due to unfavorable weather during flowering, the concentration can be appropriately increased.

Cluster selection and cluster shaping: after fruit set (about 18 days after flowering begins), cluster selection can be carried out; earlier is better than later. About 2000 clusters can be retained per mu; keep clusters with good shape and remove clusters with poor shape, late flowering, or berries that are pale yellow in color.

Clusters shaped by the tip-only shaping method generally do not need shaping; for clusters shaped by the shortened branch-cluster shaping method, cut short overly long cluster tips and overly long branch clusters, keeping the cluster length at about 16cm.

Berry thinning: after cluster selection and shaping, when berry sizes become clearly distinguishable (about 22 days after flowering begins, when the berries are about the size of soybean grains), carry out berry thinning, removing berries that are too small, too large, misshapen, densely packed, damaged by pests and diseases, or poorly developed.

Bagging the clusters: bagging can be done right after the berry enlargement treatment is finished. Use grape-specific fruit-growing paper bags produced by reputable manufacturers, and bag on sunny days, taking care to avoid dew and high-temperature periods.

4. Fertilizer and water management

Fertilizer management: Summer Black grape is a variety with a relatively high fertilizer requirement. To ensure high yields year after year, management should emphasize the use of organic fertilizer, so as to improve fruit quality and achieve better economic returns.

Throughout the year there are mainly several major fertilizations: base fertilizer, bud-promoting fertilizer, pre-flowering fertilizer, berry-enlarging fertilizer, color-turning fertilizer and post-harvest fertilizer. During the peak period of grape root growth, pay attention to using Sea Elf biostimulant in combination to nourish and promote roots. At the same time, during the growing season, in addition to root topdressing, foliar topdressing should also be emphasized.

Water management: Summer Black grapes are generally given a heavy irrigation before budding and after the soil freezes; 10 days before flowering and during the young fruit enlargement stage, irrigate frequently with small amounts, once every 5~6 days; during flowering, ripening and after harvest, watering should be controlled. At other times, it depends on rainfall conditions.

5. Pest and disease control

The main pests and diseases harming Summer Black grapes include downy mildew, white rot, canker, rachis blight, gray mold, black pox, green plant bug and so on. In management, control should be carried out by seizing the key periods.