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Growing grapes in a summer cottage is like an art that only the worthy can master. Experienced winegrowers proudly show large ripe grapes to summer residents they know. It is better to comprehend this art from unpretentious, proven varieties. One of these is Victoria. This old grape variety is easy to grow for beginners. Even with imperfect agricultural technology, Victoria grapes produce stable yields. The variety exhibits high resistance to adverse environmental factors. If you please the plant with special attention, it will reward you with a record high yield of large table berries.
Recommended growing regions
Thanks to its high frost resistance and good ripening of shoots, Victoria is successfully grown in the Middle Volga region and Moscow region. It is also suitable for the Urals and Siberia. The variety is not intended for industrial cultivation, but is often found in amateur vineyards.
In the Moscow region, Victoria is a covering variety; in the southern regions it is cultivated without shelter.
Strengths and weaknesses of the variety
The early ripening grape variety Victoria belongs to the table group.Known for its bright taste with nutmeg notes. It is the taste qualities of the grapes that are most often noted in reviews. From the presented photos you can appreciate the attractiveness of Victoria’s beautifully colored bunches.
The grapes have medium vigor. Intensive shaping is not required. On the contrary, since sap flow in the variety begins early, you can refuse spring pruning if excessive sap flow is observed. Weak growth is characteristic only of self-rooted seedlings. If a Victoria varietal seedling is grafted onto a vigorous rootstock, the bush will grow faster.
The next varietal feature is the predominance of female flowers, which ensures high yield. This must be taken into account when planting a vineyard. Poor pollination leads to the formation of small grape berries. To eliminate this possibility, it is enough to plant a pollinating variety nearby. It is selected according to flowering time. For example, Victoria will suit Kishmish radiata, Bianca and Augustine.
The Victoria variety has the following strengths:
- high productivity;
- uniform ripening of the bunch;
- excellent marketability;
- disease resistance 2.5 - 3 points;
- frost resistance down to minus 27 ºC;
- 100% ripening of shoots;
- rooting rate of cuttings is 90 - 100%.
Five out of ten experienced winegrowers, judging by reviews, consider Victoria to be overly capricious and outdated. This opinion may arise due to differences in agricultural techniques from those generally accepted for grapes. The Victoria variety also has the following weaknesses:
- tendency to cracking of the thin skin of berries;
- attractive to wasps;
- “peating” of berries (requires rationing of the load of the bush).
After studying the description of the Victoria grape variety with photos and reviews, you can easily make your choice when adding to your collection.
Technical characteristics of berries
A tasting assessment of the berries of the described grape variety fully explains its popularity and value. The visual table presented below perfectly demonstrates the obvious advantages of Victoria.
Index | Characteristic |
Maturation period | 115 - 120 days (in central Russia, berries ripen in the middle - end of August) |
Bunch shape and weight | conical; maximum - 700 g, average - 500 g, the lower clusters are small and are usually removed |
Bunch density | medium, sometimes loose |
Berry coloring | crimson-red, uneven, with a slight coating |
Berries shape Average berry weight | oval-ovoid, about 30 mm long from 6 to 7.5 g |
Skin | thin |
Pulp | juicy, meaty, crispy |
Sugar content, % | 19 |
Acidity, g/l | 5 — 6 |
Taste qualities of berries | sweet, aromatic, when fully ripe, nutmeg notes appear |
Victoria's attractive characteristics compensate for some of the agronomic requirements described below.
Features of agricultural technology and disease resistance
The Victoria grape variety is distinguished by early fruiting. It gives the first harvest already 2 - 3 years after planting the seedlings. The best planting time is autumn, October. Before frost, the seedling must have time to take root.In the first year, Victoria requires good shelter: special non-woven materials, sprinkling with dry soil, mulching the root zone. Adult plants overwinter under light cover.
We will not describe all the generally accepted rules for planting and caring for grapes, but will immediately move on to the nuances inherent in a particular variety.
Due to the tendency of the variety to crack ripening berries, proper watering is necessary. With the beginning of the ripening period (August), artificial watering is completely eliminated, but only if there is precipitation. If there is a drought, then moderate watering is needed. Otherwise, when it rains, a sharp change in the level of soil moisture will provoke cracking of the skin of the berries.
During the growing season, it is recommended to apply organic fertilizers and wood ash to the grapes (in spring and before flowering). Victoria responds well to foliar feeding with chelated microelements, which increase disease resistance and improve the taste of berries.
Due to the functional female flowering, Victoria grapes are prone to overload. Productivity needs to be shaped by leaving no more than 30 buds per bush (if the fruit shoots have 5 - 8 buds). The number of bunches on one shoot is also standardized, the average number is 1.8.
To get a full, beautiful bunch, winegrowers “comb it out” with a paint brush at the beginning of berry growth. Using this procedure, weak, underdeveloped, damaged ovaries are removed.At first the bunch looks bare and too sparse, but as the berries grow they acquire an excellent presentation.
Victoria, which forms clusters prone to rotting, mold formation, and wasp damage, should not leave the lower clusters. You will not get an increase in yield from them, but you will create an excellent breeding ground for diseases and bait for insects.
The variety prefers the fan-shaped method of forming a bush, which provides better ventilation. To protect against wasp raids, summer residents use sowing herbs and covering the bunches with mesh or gauze bags.
Useful reviews about the variety
Having studied the description of a variety in detail, you always want to know the opinion of those who already have experience in growing it. Ideally, such an experience will coincide with your agroclimatic zone. When analyzing reviews, take this point into account. For a region with excessive moisture there will be some recommendations, but for the arid Volga region there will be completely different ones. The taste and color of the grapes will also differ slightly.
In the following video, the author shares his experience of growing Victoria and demonstrates the ripe bunches:
Here are some useful reviews about the Victoria variety from beginners and experienced winegrowers:
If we analyze a large number of reviews from winegrowers from different regions of Russia, we can note that Victoria is quite unpretentious. The predominantly positive nature of the reviews gives reason to recommend the variety for amateur gardeners.
