How to grow potted grapes profitably? Variety selection matters

Grapes are a fairly common fruit in China, popular for their sweet-and-sour taste and their richness in glucose and trace elements. But because there are so many grape varieties, not all of them are suitable for potting. So which grapes are suitable for potting? How do you grow them profitably?

Grape varieties suitable for potting

1. Shine Muscat

The cluster is conical, weighing about 600 g, with large clusters reaching about 1800 g, and the average berry weighs 8-12 g. The berries are tightly set, oval, yellow-green, with a glossy surface and little bloom. The flesh is crisp and juicy, with a rose aroma. The soluble solids content reaches about 20%, up to a maximum of 26%, and the fresh-eating quality is excellent.

2. Moldova

The cluster is conical and medium-large, with an average cluster weight of 650 g. The berries are moderately tightly set, large, short-oval, with an average berry weight of 9.0 g and a maximum berry weight of 13.5 g. The skin is blue-black, evenly colored, very attractive, with a thick bloom. The flesh is soft and juicy, with an ordinary taste. The soluble solids content reaches 16.0%-18.9%, up to a maximum of 20%. The flesh separates easily from the seeds, and each berry contains 1-3 seeds. The fruit colors first and then sweetens, and it is a mid-to-late ripening variety that stores and ships extremely well.

3. Jumeigui

The cluster is conical with secondary clusters, sets fruit well, and the berries are tightly set, with a cluster weight of 500-700 g. The berries are oval, bright red to purplish red, with an average weight of 8-9 g. The bloom is moderately thick, the flesh is fairly soft, the juice is moderately abundant, and the taste is extremely sweet. The soluble solids content of the bright red fruit reaches 16%, and that of the purple-black fruit reaches 20%, with a rich rose aroma. Each berry contains 1-2 seeds, and the seeds separate easily from the flesh.

4. Summer Black

The cluster is conical or has shouldered branches, the cluster is large, with an average cluster weight of about 420 g, the clusters are uniform in size, and the berries are tightly set. The berries are nearly round, with a natural berry weight of about 3.5 g, reaching 7.5 g after gibberellin treatment. The skin is purple-black, the fruit colors easily, and the coloring and ripening are uniform. The bloom is thick, and the skin is thick and crisp. The flesh is firm and crisp, with no flesh sac, the juice is purplish red, the soluble solids content reaches 20%, and it has a fairly strong strawberry aroma, is seedless, and has excellent quality.

5. Kyoho

The cluster is large, with a cluster weight of 0.5-1.2 kg, a berry weight of 13-20 g, and a soluble solids content of 15%.

6. Black Olympia

Bears heavily, with large clusters and a soluble solids content of 16%.

7. Red Fuji

The cluster has a beautiful appearance, the fruit is purplish red, the aroma is strong, and the soluble sol

ids content reaches 20%.

8. Muscat Hamburg

The internodes are short, the cluster weighs about 0.5 kg, the fruit is purple, and the soluble solids content reaches 17%.

How to grow them?

1. Preparing the growing medium

To grow a potted plant well, you must first prepare the growing medium well. Once the growing medium is well prepared, your potted plant is more than half successful. The growing medium should be loose, fertile, and well drained. Common growing medium formulas include garden soil: decomposed chicken manure: stove ash = 6:2:2; B. garden soil: decomposed pig manure: peat soil = 2:1:1; C. garden soil: leaf mold = 1:1. Mix into the growing medium one-thousandth part carbendazim and trichlorfon to sterilize and kill insects, and mix evenly. There is no need to worry about the toxicity of the chemicals; they are all low-toxicity, and besides, carbendazim can also stimulate root growth.

2. Potting up

For potted grapes, it is best to choose a clay pot, wooden box, or purple clay pot with good water permeability and air permeability and a diameter of 40-70 cm. To pot up, first cover the drainage hole at the bottom of the pot with a piece of tile, taking care to leave a gap so that excess water can drain out smoothly. First fill one third of the pot's height with growing medium, then turn the grape seedling with its pot upside down, support the upper rim of the pot with one hand, and with the other hand spread the five fingers and gently pinch and lift the pot to remove it. Then place it into the planting pot, fill with growing medium, press firm, keep the soil surface 2-3 cm below the pot rim, and water thoroughly.

3. Routine management

The routine management of grapes is fairly complicated. During the growing season, you need to pinch the growing tips, pinch off tendrils, remove buds, tie the vines, remove sprouts, pinch off secondary shoots, and so on. Remove misplaced, overly dense, overlapping, and weak branches and buds to improve ventilation and light penetration and reduce nutrient consumption; the tendrils produced by new shoots both consume nutrients and spread diseases, so they must be pinched off in time; for fruiting shoots, leave 5-7 leaves above the cluster and pinch the growing tip to promote fruit development and flower bud formation; after pinching, the new shoots emerging from the base of the top two leaves should be pinched after 2 leaves, and all new shoots emerging below the two leaves should be removed; clusters that are irregular or have secondary clusters should be tidied and removed in time; generally leave one cluster of fruit per new shoot. Water according to the principle of watering when dry and withholding when wet, to prevent excessive vegetative growth or root rot and death. Choose to water in the morning, and generally do not water in the afternoon. Grapes like light, so give them plenty of sunlight.

4. Points to note

1. The period from when the sap begins to flow in spring to when the buds sprout and leaves unfold is the “bleeding period.” If you prune during the bleeding period, a large amount of sap will flow from the cuts, and it can even bleed the vine to death. Therefore, grape pruning should avoid the bleeding period.

2. Although grapes like light, excessively strong light during the hard-berry stage can easily cause sunscald on the fruit, which can be prevented by methods such as bagging the fruit or shading.

3. To increase the sugar content of the fruit, manage grapes with a large temperature difference. On an enclosed balcony, the day-night temperature difference is too small, which is not conducive to the accumulation of sugar in grapes. Therefore, when the grape fruit enters the late ripening stage, try to place it in a spot with a large temperature difference; on a balcony, open the glass windows to bring the nighttime temperature down.

4. After grapes drop their leaves, they have a dormant period, and the length of the dormant period varies with variety. If grapes are placed into a heated room or greenhouse right after leaf fall, it can easily cause symptoms such as poor inflorescence development and abnormal, uneven sprouting. Therefore, in winter, grapes must first receive a certain number of hours at temperatures below 7.2°C before being placed in a greenhouse or heated room; the number of low-temperature hours is generally 10-50 days, varying.