The botanical name of Grapes is Vitis vinifera; it belongs to the family Vitaceae
Varieties: Muscat (Panneer), Pachadraksha, Anab-e-Shahi, Thompson Seedless, Arka Shyam, Arka Kanchan, Arka Hans, Manik Chaman, Sonaka, Sharadh Seedless and Flame Seedless.
Muscat is grown throughout Tamil Nadu except on the hills.
Soil and climate: Well-drained rich loamy soil with a pH of 6.5 - 7.0 with low water table with EC less than 1.0. Soil depth should be atleast 1 m.
Field preparation and planting: Trenches of 0.6 m width and 0.6 m depth are to be dug at a distance of 3 m apart for Muscat and pits of 1m x 1m x 1m should be dug for other varieties.
Well-decomposed FYM or compost or green leaf manure has to be applied in the trenches or pits as the case may be and then covered with soil. Plant the rooted cuttings in June-July.
Spacing: 3 x 2 m for Muscat, 4 x 3 m for other varieties.
Irrigation: Irrigate immediately after planting and on the 3rd day and then once in a week. Withhold irrigation 15 days before pruning and also 15 days before harvest.
Training: The vines are trained with single stem upto pandal with a stalk on tipping at 2 m height.
The main arms are developed and trained on opposite directions. On further tipping, secondary and tertiary arms are developed for spreading all over pandal.
Pruning: In general four bud level of pruning for Muscat, Pachadraksha, Bangalore Blue, Anab e-Shahi and Arka hybrids and two bud level for Thompson Seedless may be adopted. It is
better to decide the level of pruning as per bud forecasting technique. Weak and immature canes should be pruned to one or two buds to induce vegetative growth.
Pruning Season
Summer crop: Pruning in December – January and harvesting in April – May.
Monsoon crop: Pruning in May-June and harvesting in August-September.
Manures and fertilizers (Kg per vine)
The manures should be applied twice after pruning. Apply half the dose of potash immediately after pruning and the other half after 60 days of pruning Foliar spray of 0.1% Boric acid + 0.2% ZnSO4
+ 1.0% Urea twice before flowering and 10 days after first spray to overcome nutrient deficiency.
Special practices: Tipping of shoots and tying of clusters in the pandal after the fruit set. Remove tendrils. Nipping the growing shoots of axillary buds and terminal buds at 12 to 15 buds. Thinning
the compact bunches by removing 20 % of the berries at pea stage.
Dip the clusters in solution containing Brassinosteroid 0.5 ppm and GA3
25 ppm at 10-12 days
after fruit set to maintain vigour, yield and quality parameters.
Plant protection against Pests
Nematodes: Apply 60 g of Carbofuran 3 G or 20 g Phorate 10 G per vine a week before pruning and the plots are irrigated profusely. The soil should not be disturbed for atleast 15 days.
Thereafter normal manuring may be done. Application of neemcake 200 g/vine also controls nematodes. Alternatively application of Pseudomonas fluorescens formulation in talc containing
15 x 108 colony forming units/g, 30 cm away from base of the vine atleast 15 cm depth at the time of pruning.
Flea beetles: Spraying phosalone 35 EC (2ml/lit of water) after pruning and followed with two or three sprayings. The loose bark may be removed at the time of pruning to prevent egg laying.
Thrips: Methyl demeton 25 EC or dimethoate 30 EC 2 ml/lit of water.
Mealy bug: Apply quinalphos or methyl parathion dust in the soil @ 20 kg/ha to kill the phoretic ants. Spray methyl demeton 25 EC or monocrotophos 36 WSC at the rate of 2 ml/lit of water or spray dichlorvos 76 WSC at the rate of 1 ml/lit with fish oil rosin soap at 25 g/lit. Release
Coccinellid beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri at the rate of 10 per vine.
Stem girdler: Swab the trunk with carbaryl 50 WP 2 gm/lit.
Safe waiting period: Five days for dimethoate and carbaryl
Protection against Diseases
Powdery mildew: Spray 0.3% Wettable sulphur or dust sulphur @ 6-12Kg/ha in the morning.
Anthracnose and downy mildew: Spray 1 % Bordeaux mixture or any other copper fungicide at 0.25 %. Depending upon the weather conditions the sprays have to be increased.
Ripening: To get uniform ripening in Muscat, spray the bunches at 20th day after berry set and another spray on 40th day with 0.2% Potassium chloride (2 g/lit).
Dip the clusters of Thompson seedless and other seedless varieties at calyptra fall with 25 ppm GA (25 mg/lit) and repeat again at pepper stage to increase the size of berries.
Yield
Seedless : 15 t/ha/year
Muscat : 30 t/ha/year
Pachadraksha : 40 t/ha/year
Anab-e-Shahi and Arka hybrids : 20 t/ha/year
Preparation of 1% Bordeaux mixture: A quantity of 500 g of Copper sulphate should be dissolved in 25 lit of water and 500 g of lime in another 25 lit of water separately. The copper sulphate solution should be added to the lime solution constantly stirring the mixture. Earthern
or wooden vessels and plastic containers alone should be used and metallic containers should not be used. To find out whether the mixture is in correct proportion, a polished knife should be dipped in the mixture for one minute and taken out. If there is reddish brown
deposit of copper, additional quantity of lime should be added till there is no deposit in the knife.
