The Japanese grape is very tasty, but still quite unknown in this country. Read here how to grow and care for them properly.
The shiny red fruit of the Japanese grape, rich in vitamin C, looks very similar to the blackberries and raspberries we are familiar with. Although it tastes very different, which is why it can enrich the fruit stock in our gardens enormously.
The great thing: You don't even have to plant several seedlings, because the Japanese grape berry is self-pollinating. You can also plant this plant individually without further ado. But how do you have to proceed and what should you consider when it comes to maintenance? We would now like to explain this to you in more detail.
Growing Japanese grapes
» Site selection:
You should choose a sunny to moderately semi-shady spot for the Japanese grapevine. Furthermore, she enjoys a humus-rich, preferably calcareous soil at her location, which you are welcome to enrich with plenty of compost before planting.
Hint:
It has been found many times that planting lilies of the valley under the Japanese grape berries significantly increases their fruit yield in summer!
» Planting distance:
The distance between the individual plants should be about 1.5 meters, because they spread a lot during growth. Because of this, you have to attach the Japanese grapes, which grow up to 3 meters high, to a climbing frame, piece by piece.
Hint:
The plants also look very pretty as a decoration for garden arches. Especially since they have a pretty pretty plant cover (from the flower to the fruit) throughout the entire garden season.
Care for the Japanese Grapeberry
» Remove wildly sprouting rods:
The somewhat idiosyncratic-looking flower buds of the Japanese grape berries adorn any garden with their exotic appearance in a very special way. Especially since the intense red bristles of the individual buds immediately catch everyone's eye before turning into white flowers in June. However, wildly sprouting rods should be removed from the ground every year in autumn (October to November). Same goes for the alreadyharvested canes.
» Pests:
The advantage of having Japanese grapes in your own garden is that they are hardly ever attacked by pests in our latitudes. The reason for this is a sticky secretion that the plant excretes itself and thus keeps all kinds of insects away.
» casting:
You should water the plant regularly during the summer - mornings and evenings if possible. Especially if you want it to thrive in a particularly sunny spot.
» Fertilize:
Especially in spring - until the fruit is formed - the plant from the rose family is also very grateful for one or two fertilizers. If you fertilize the berries, you should always use a special berry fertilizer.
Harvest Japanese grapes
You can harvest the Japanese grapes from the second year of planting, from mid-July to the beginning of September (depending on the weather), and always when the red fruits have an intense, grape-berry flavor that goes well in the acidic range little reminiscent of the green kiwi fruit. A well cared for plant has a yield of approx. 3 to 4 kilograms of fruit per season.
You can eat the fruit freshly picked - watch out for thorns! You can also use the berries to make jam, juice or jelly.