Vineyards 
Vine
People cultivate the vine for 3500 years. Nowadays there’re known around 5000 sorts of vine. This creeping plant reaches a height 3-4m. Its fruits are acid-sweet and colored in green, yellow, red or black. The best climate zones for the vine are the sunny temperate zones. The vine is sensitive to frosts, white frosts and long rainfalls during the growth. Another enemy for the vine are the insects, especially the red spiders and the philloxera.The temperature conditions are of a great importance for the vine’s growth and the crop amount and quality. The vine grows in the spring and the summer till the late autumn. The plant needs comparatively cold weather (but not bellow -17°C) and that’s why you will not find it in the tropics. The grape ripens best in areas with long autumns that ensure around 200 days of vegetation. The best temperature for the vine is 25-30°C and the temperature sum should be 3500-4000°C. The vine is heat-loving but it can’t stand the great heats with temperatures over 25-30°C.
The vine can’t live without water but in the same time can live without irrigation. This is because of the deep root system of the vine that allows the access deep in the soil. However the vine can’t stand the shallow groundwater – the humidity excess is not good for the plant. The lack of humidity also can damage the vine. That’s why you can control the irrigation of the plant by using drip irrigation.
Useful advices
- Vine irrigation
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For effective irrigation what matters is not only the duration but the amount of the water. The period when the vine most needs water is between the cracking of the buds and the beginning of the blossoming season. In this period usually the soil and air humidity is high. During the blossoming season this need of water is not so strong and if the humidity level is higher, the blossoms could fall off. After the blossoming season the vine needs more water and that is till the middle of August.
The best irrigation for the vine is the drip irrigatuon.
- Vine Pruning
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Pruning is absolutely necessary for the vine. If you leave this creeping plant to grow by itself it will create a thick net of sticks. The fruits will move too much away from the bottom of the plant with every year. To avoid this you should prune the vine and use supporting constructions. There are some good mouldings for the vine: cup-shaped, trellis vine-shaped, Guio, Moser, Ombrela and etc.
The winter pruning is the leading one. There’re two types of winter pruning – short and mixed, depends on the vine sort.
- Preserving the vine material
- The preservation of the vine planting material in the winter has to be done under certain conditions. Usually you have to have a room, specially build for the purpose. The young vines bought in the spring can be kept for a short time before planting. You have to put them vertically in wet sand and cover them. They can be preserved in basements, under sheds or outdoors in wet soil and filtered place if they’re recently planted. During the winter the temperature must be between 0 and 8˚C. If the soil gets dry you have to wet it with a sprinkler. The transportation of the young vines must be done in days with positive temperature values. The vines must be covered so they won’t dry up. The planting vines have to be 32-34sm long and have at least three good developed roots that are pointed to different directions. The planting vines must be absolutely healthy.
