The Best Time for Grapes to Supplement Calcium
Today, I will explain in detail the related experience of grape planting for the best time to supplement calcium for netizens. The following editor will answer your questions in detail.
The Best Time for Grapes to Supplement Calcium
Calcium fertilizer is not easily mobile in the soil and can be supplemented in three divided doses. Before germination, once after flowering, and once before fruit expansion can basically meet the grape's demand for calcium fertilizer during the peak period. Calcium fertilizer is generally applied as a base dressing, with foliar spraying as a supplement. To improve fruit quality and reduce fruit cracking, calcium should be supplemented after flowering, usually two weeks after flowering.
When is the Best Time for Grapes to Supplement Calcium?
Calcium is one of the essential nutrients required for plant growth and plays an extremely important role in the growth and development of crops.
In plants, calcium generally exists in the form of pectate calcium in the cell walls, increasing the flexibility of the cell walls, preventing fruit skin from breaking, and simultaneously resisting various diseases.
It is particularly important in fruit crops such as melons and grapes, where the role of calcium is especially significant in berry crops like grapes, and at certain times, the demand for calcium fertilizer in grapes has far exceeded the demand for nitrogen fertilizer.
At the same time, calcium fertilizer has a good promoting effect on root growth and enhances the drought, cold, and stress resistance of crops.
Generally, about 10 kilograms of pure calcium is required for 1000 kilograms of fresh grapes. During the entire growth period of grapes, from germination to leaf expansion, flowering, fruit setting, expansion, and coloring, the participation of organic fertilizers is needed.
The symptoms caused by the deficiency of calcium and other trace elements are irreversible, which means that supplementing calcium fertilizer after the emergence of adverse symptoms due to calcium deficiency is ineffective.
Therefore, calcium fertilizer should be supplemented in advance throughout the grape production process.
Calcium fertilizer is generally not easily mobile in the soil and tends to have antagonistic effects with other elements, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and magnesium. Based on these characteristics, calcium fertilizer can be supplemented in three divided doses.
Once before germination, once after flowering, and once before fruit expansion, these three calcium supplements can basically meet the grape's peak demand for calcium fertilizer.
Calcium fertilizer is generally applied as a base dressing, with foliar spraying as a supplement. To improve fruit quality and reduce fruit cracking, calcium should be supplemented after flowering, usually two weeks after flowering.
The most familiar point to everyone is the crack prevention function of calcium fertilizer. According to a large amount of experimental data on grape crack prevention, sufficient calcium can play a good preventive effect.
An even more important point is the management of water. Most fruit cracks occur after drought and heavy irrigation or after sudden heavy rainfall.
Fruit cracking is mainly a matter of water management, doing a good job of drainage work, controlling the humidity of the grape garden environment, generally keeping the humidity at 20% during the fruiting period is most suitable for the healthy growth of grapes and not prone to cracking.
What Calcium Fertilizer to Use for Grapes
Since timely calcium supplementation can result in grapes with high sugar content, plump appearance, bright surface color, and luster.
Now that grapes are entering June, most grape varieties are in the young fruit stage to the expansion stage, and some fruits have entered the coloring stage. This is a critical period for yield and quality formation, and also a key period for calcium supplementation.
There are many types of calcium fertilizers on the market, and fruit farmers often do not know which one to choose when supplementing calcium for grapes. Plants have different absorption rates for different calcium forms, so different calcium forms will have different calcium supplementation effects.
Today we compare two common calcium fertilizers, one is inorganic calcium, calcium nitrate; the other is organic chelated calcium, as well as water, sprayed on leaves and fruit clusters during the fruit expansion stage and 2 weeks before harvest, to see the calcium supplementation effect, facilitating everyone's choice.
1. The Impact of Spraying Calcium on the Calcium Content of Grape Fruits
Spraying chelated calcium and calcium nitrate can both increase the calcium content in fruit grains. But spraying chelated calcium during the fruit expansion stage.
At harvest, the calcium content in the fruit flesh is the highest, three times that of the control, 54.3% higher than that of foliar spraying calcium nitrate at the same time, and also 41.6% higher than that of the same calcium source sprayed 2 weeks before harvest, the effect is better than foliar spraying calcium.
This indicates that fruit cluster spraying has a significant impact on the calcium content of the peel and flesh, and the effect of chelated calcium is better than that of calcium nitrate, and the effect of spraying during the expansion stage is better than that of 2 weeks before harvest.
2. The Impact of Spraying Calcium on the Pectin Content of Grape Fruits
In plant cell walls, calcium binds with pectin in the middle胶 layer of the cell walls to form pectate calcium, which plays a role in binding plant cell wall materials and affects the rigidity of the cell walls, maintaining fruit firmness.
Exogenous calcium in fruits mainly increases the content of pectate calcium, and the calcium content in the fruit flesh is extremely significantly positively correlated with fruit firmness and the original pectin content in the fruit flesh.
This indicates that spraying calcium increases the calcium content in fruits, increases the original pectin content in the fruit flesh, and also increases fruit firmness, helping to improve the storage and transportation quality of the fruit, these three are closely related.
After spraying calcium, the total pectin, original pectin, and water-soluble pectin content of Hongdiyu grapes all increased significantly. Whether it is during the young fruit stage to the expansion stage or before harvest, spraying calcium chelate is more beneficial to the increase of total pectin content than spraying calcium nitrate.
In addition, for grapes entering the coloring stage, it is necessary to reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizer to avoid excessive nitrogen use and greening, and it is advisable to use less calcium nitrate.
The above sharing is all about the best time to supplement calcium for grapes. Have green plant enthusiasts understood?