All about Victoria grapes: characteristics and cultivation features. The photo shows grapes in different stages of ripening and in comparison with the well-known green variety Arcadia. It pleases the eye of winegrowers with light ruby bunches glowing in the sun, and the amicable ripening of the vine from year to year Victoria. It is an old variety known and proven. The harmonious taste with the lightest hint of nutmeg is liked by everyone, including the sophisticated connoisseurs of "wine berry".
Those who begin to get acquainted with viticulture will be interested in the peculiarities of growing Victoria grapes.
Victoria grape variety
belongs to the early maturing table forms. The flower is female, the bunch is conical, regular, weighing from 500 g and above, the density is often low.
The berry is oval-rounded, with a light ruby-red hue, the saturation of which varies depending on the pollinator variety, sometimes somewhat elongated, covered with light pollen. The berries are large - 6-8 g, very juicy. Muscat noble tone, the grapes gets after full ripening.
The growth of the bush is low, which is compensated by the high yield. The vine bears fruit densely - about 80% of fruitful shoots. To avoid irregular fruiting and, as a consequence, shrinkage - "pea", non-ripening, it is necessary to normalize the loads: the optimal for this variety per bush will be about 25-30 eyes. Uneven coloration of berries, rotting or diseases also react to overloads.
Formation of the Victoria grape bush is preferably fan-shaped, thickening is not desirable. The optimal distance between bushes for good illumination and ventilation is 3-4 m. It is recommended to plant between pollinating varieties to exclude under-pollination in unfavorable years.
Root top dressing - organic matter, wood ash, nitrogen-potassium complex. Foliar dressing (on the leaf) with microelements in a chelated (without chlorine, well-absorbed) form: during leaf opening, before flowering, during the fruiting period to increase sugar content, avoid grape diseases, berry underripening. There are only positive reviews about endurance: winter frosts down to -27 ° C are not terrible, and diseases are not terrible - it is resistant to the most common: gray rot and powdery mildew.
Many people do not like the possible incomplete fulfillment of the bunch, the thermophilicity - in a cool and rainy summer, a good harvest can not be expected. In addition, wasps are not indifferent to sweet, thin-skinned berries. Becoming a real disaster, they can ruin the entire crop. Since ripening berries cannot be sprayed with chemicals, except perhaps with bio-insecticides at the beginning and middle of ripening, experienced growers put special mesh bags on ripening bunches to protect them from sweet-toothed wasps. Of course, for a large vineyard, nets are not an option, and if the goal is commercial growing grapes, Victoria is not the most rational choice.
The Victoria grape variety is often referred to as the old grape variety in comparison with the green Arkady Vinogradari with experience. But if you are not a collector of breeding novelties, if the spirit of the experimenter is alien to you, and if you like the time-tested values - this variety is for you.
"Values" - sounds rather pathetic. Nevertheless, the wonderful taste, delicate aroma of nutmeg is worth all the trouble that the whimsical but magnificent Victoria brings.
