Some gardeners are afraid to grow grapes due to lack of knowledge or experience. In fact, it is a very grateful culture. Compliance with agrotechnical requirements guarantees a high-quality harvest. One of the valuable varieties for beginning winegrowers is the Atos grape.
Brought out by Ukrainian breeders in the early 2000s, who crossed two varieties “Talisman” and “Kodryanka”. Gardeners love the variety for its excellent taste and super early harvest. To ensure that growing Atos grapes does not cause problems, let us turn to a detailed description of the variety, photos of the plant, reviews and videos of winegrowers about it.
Main characteristics
The most attractive characteristics of the Atos grape variety are their amazing unpretentiousness, disease resistance and super-early ripening. Those who don’t like to wait can immediately choose a variety to plant. The berries ripen in 100 days and are ready for consumption at the end of July. The Atos variety is very good fresh, for making juices and jams, and is used by winemakers to produce young red wine. Gives drinks a rich taste and color.
We will continue the description of the Atos grape variety with the external characteristics of the bush.
The plant is vigorous. This must be taken into account when choosing a landing site.
The clusters are dense, cone-shaped, there are no peas. The weight of one can reach one and a half kilograms.
The berries are large, dark blue.
The shape is very beautiful - elongated with a pointed end. The weight of one grape reaches 12 g. The taste of Atos grapes is sweet with a slight sourness. The skin of the fruit is dense, but almost invisible during eating. According to gardeners, ripe Atos grapes can remain on the bushes for a month. During this time, they do not crack or crumble, increase their sugar content and become much tastier. At this time, you should not be afraid of wasps; they do not attack the variety, but birds bring a lot of grief to gardeners. The sweet taste of the berries attracts birds, so measures have to be taken to scare birds away from the vineyard. The grapes have a good ability to “raisin”. If you leave the bunches on the bush, then by September the grapes will turn into high-quality sultanas.
The flowers are bisexual, which eliminates the need to plant pollinating varieties.
The vines of the Atos grape are powerful and brown in color. Leaves with weak pubescence on the lower plate, medium in size, dark green in color.
The Atos variety demonstrates good frost resistance. Grapes overwinter without shelter down to -23°C.
The description of the Atos grapes indicates that the variety's yield is average. Reviews from winegrowers indicate a harvest of 130 c/ha, subject to agrotechnical requirements.
It tolerates slight delays in watering well and also has excellent transportability. In combination with the attractive shape of the berries, the grape hybrid has high commercial qualities.
Another important property of the Atos variety is disease resistance.It is almost not affected by oidium, powdery mildew and mildew. But the variety is not able to resist gray rot sufficiently. Therefore, attention should be paid to the prevention of this disease.
The early harvest and undemanding nature of protective measures allowed the grapes to take a leading place in the line of popular varieties.
Gardeners willingly share their reviews and make videos about Atos grapes:
Despite the huge list of advantages, it is necessary to remember that the result depends on the first actions of the gardener.
Soil preparation and planting
"Athos" requirements for a seat do not differ from the preferences of other varieties. The hybrid loves sunny places without close proximity to groundwater. If the water is closer than two meters to the surface, it will damage the root system of the grapes and the plant may die. In this case, a drainage system is organized and drain grooves are laid.
According to the description of the variety, Atos grapes are planted in autumn and spring using the same technology (see photo).
In the spring you should wait until the ground warms up well, and in the fall you need to finish planting before mid-October. In both cases, holes are dug 0.7 m in size at a distance of 2 m from each other. For a vigorous “Athos”, it is better not to reduce these parameters.
A layer of crushed stone or gravel is placed at the bottom of the pit.
For spring planting, all work is carried out in the fall so that the ground settles and the hole takes on its real size.
Nutrient components are added to the finished pit. Mix equal parts of black soil and manure, then fill the hole with the mixture and leave until spring.
For autumn planting, start preparing the holes 1.5 months in advance. It is important to note here that you only need to add ready-made humus or compost.
Gardeners need to be extremely careful when choosing Atos seedlings. An initial visual inspection is required.
Seedlings choose:
- without mechanical damage;
- without spots or marks on the leaves or stem;
- with the presence of at least three roots;
- height not lower than 0.5 m.
For beginners in viticulture, it is better to purchase ready-made seedlings, and experienced gardeners themselves take cuttings from the Atos variety. The purchased seedling should be placed in a separate pot.
Before planting, be sure to cut off the roots if their length is more than 10 cm. Also remove dead and dried parts, then soak the roots in warm water for 24 hours.
Place the grape seedling in a hole, cover it with soil, leaving 2 buds on the surface. At the same time, a tube is installed in the hole, which helps ensure high-quality watering.
More information about spring planting:
Bush care
If you look at the photo of mature Atos grape bushes, you can see what a vigorous variety it is.
Given the large mass, the feeding area of one plant should be 4-6 square meters. m. Growing the Atos variety does not give gardeners much trouble.
Grapes require:
Sufficient watering. "Athos" maintains normal development even with minor interruptions in water supply. This characteristic is very suitable for winegrowers who have problems with water delivery. But you need to try to water the early ripening variety once a week.
Feeding. The variety needs additional nutrition in standard doses and according to the classical scheme:
- Before the buds open, prepare a bucket of nutrient mixture for each bush and water it. Add 5 g of any potassium salt, 10 g of ammonium nitrate, 20 g of superphosphate to a bucket of water.
- Before flowering, repeat feeding in the same dose and with the same composition.
- In the phase of the beginning of fruit ripening, ammonium nitrate is excluded, the remaining components are left and the grapes are fed again.
- In autumn, the Atos variety needs potassium. A fertilizer containing at least 40% potassium is suitable.
- The variety responds well to organic feeding. Manure is applied once every three years while simultaneously digging up the vineyard soil.
Another important point in caring for the Atos variety is pruning. Vigorous grapes develop and bear fruit poorly without pruning.
When pruning, normalize the load of the bush:
- eyes 30-35 pcs.;
- shoots 20-24 pcs.
6-8 buds are left on fruiting shoots.
In the autumn of the first year after planting, the two strongest vines are pruned by 2-3 buds.
In the second year, the inflorescences that appeared on the shoots from these buds are removed.
The tops of "Athos" are pinched at the end of August.
In the fall, fan pruning is done for the first time.
In the third year, in the spring, the buds are removed, except for the top 3.
In autumn, complete pruning of the vine.
Subsequently, the formation of the variety is repeated.
For beginning winegrowers, fan pruning:
Although Atos grapes are disease-resistant varieties, some problems may arise during cultivation.
The variety is affected by gray rot. To prevent the development of the disease, preventive treatments are performed. If the plant gets sick, the berries will be impossible to store and transport. The danger is that the course of the disease lasts 2-3 years. Spraying with fungicides helps prevent this. Benleit, Penoknazol, and Topsin work well for the Atos variety.
Handle with care so as not to burn the plants. Use a 1% solution in a volume of 3.5 liters per 1 square meter. m area.
Of the pests, leaf rollers are a danger to Athos. Insecticides are used for control - “Chlorofos”, “Karbofos”, “Gardona”.
The second enemy of the variety is birds. Gardeners fight them with rigid nets that cover the vines.
Reviews
In addition to the description of the variety and photos of the Atos grapes, reviews from experienced winegrowers are very useful for beginning gardeners.
