Why are grapes bursting and can the problem be fixed?
Many gardeners notice that during the fruiting of grapes, some of the berries growing on the shoots crack. In order not to lose your harvest, you need to immediately understand what is the reason for this phenomenon.
High humidity
More often than not, grapes crack due to high humidity.
Remember that 2-3 weeks before the berries ripen, the grapes are not watered, as the fruit may crack and begin to rot.
Cracking also occurs frequently after a long drought. If the grapes do not receive the required amount of moisture for a long time, in the future the vine will be actively saturated with water. Because of this, moisture will enter the berries, which, under its pressure, will begin to swell. Over time, the peel of such berries will begin to crack. Fruits saturated with too much moisture do not have the usual rich aroma. In addition, they are most often tasteless.
To prevent the berries from cracking due to excess moisture, grapes need to be watered regularly during a drought.
If it rains constantly during the fruiting period, the soil under the bushes needs to be well mulched. To do this, you need to use dry organic matter. Usually, bushes in summer mulch with straw, mown grass or sawdust.
Wrong variety selected
There are a number of grape varieties in which the fruits almost always crack, regardless of the conditions in which they grow. To preserve the harvest, such bushes need to be closely monitored. The fruits must be plucked from the bushes immediately after they have ripened. Berries of such varieties as "Demeter", "Amirkhan", "Krasotka", etc. crack for no reason. In general, grape varieties with large green fruits are more prone to cracking.
Novice gardeners should pay attention to varieties such as Isabella and Autumn Black. The berries growing on the branches of such bushes have a thick skin. Therefore, they do not crack.
Incorrect feeding
Timely and correct feeding also greatly affects the condition of the crop. Nitrogen fertilizers should be used only in spring. The use of such dressings in the summer leads to the accumulation of moisture in the plants. The fruits grow too large, and the skin, not having time to stretch to the required volume, cracks. Such berries also do not have a very pleasant taste.
But potash and phosphorus dressings, on the contrary, make the skin more elastic.
But an excessive amount of such fertilizers in the soil makes the berries sugar-coated, and also leads to their ripening too quickly.... It is worth applying a small amount of fertilizers with phosphorus and potassium to the soil after the end of the flowering of the grapes. Novice gardeners can use complex fertilizers for feeding grapes. They contain all the substances that bushes need at different stages of development.
Treatment of diseases
Diseases also negatively affect the state of the crop. If the plant is affected by powdery mildew or powdery mildew, the fruits will also begin to crack and then rot. To protect the vineyard, the bushes are treated with fungicides. Often, gardeners add a small amount of wood ash to a solution with a chemical. It is necessary to spray the bushes before the fruits appear on the grapes.
If the plant rots or dries out already during fruiting, you just need to remove the infected branches and fruits... This should be done with sharp garden shears or pruning shears.
After processing the grapes, the instruments must be disinfected.
So that during harvesting you do not have to waste time solving such problems, the plant needs to be provided with proper care from an early age. Grapes that grow in good conditions and regularly receive the right amount of fertilizing are more resistant to various diseases.
Other reasons
If the grapes burst in August or September, it is possible that they are simply overripe. Therefore, it is very important when ripening berries to immediately pluck them from the bushes. In this case, the loss of fruit will be quite insignificant. You need to pick the cracked berries carefully, trying not to touch the healthy part of the bunch. It is best to use sharp scissors to remove the fruit.
Affects the quality of the crop and the soil on which the grapes grow. The berries of bushes growing on black soil burst very rarely. This happens much more often if the grapes were planted on poor sandy soil.
Growers who are faced with cracking berries also have to decide what to do with spoiled fruits.
As a rule, if there are no traces of rot or mold on them, they are used to prepare various blanks. Spoiled fruits that are unfit for consumption are usually simply destroyed.
Do not leave berries on the bushes. This can lead to rotting of both cracked fruits and healthy ones. In addition, the sweet aroma of the berries will attract wasps. They can also damage healthy bunches.
If you take proper care of the vineyard and pick the berries on time, there will be no problems with the harvest.
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