The nursery of Yuzhnaya agricultural firm will produce 2.7 million seedlings in 2023
In the Krasnodar Territory, according to the administration, this year an increase in the production of seedlings is expected by approximately 27% - up to 4.2 million pieces.
The capacity of the grape nursery is designed for 6 million grafts per year, which corresponds to the production of 3 million grape seedlings. Varieties of the Pinot, Merlot, Chardonnay, Muscat, Ugni Blanc groups are grown. 1.3 million seedlings are used for laying their own plantations, the rest is being sold. The company accepts orders from farms in the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Rostov and Volgograd Regions, and Dagestan. The entire volume of free planting material is booked for 2-3 years in advance.
In the prospects for the development of the nursery, it is planned to increase the output capacity through the use of more modern growing methods, in particular, the transition to a T-shaped trellis. This arrangement of vines provides the best conditions for growth, accumulation of nutrients, which in turn leads to an increase in the yield of cuttings per 1 hectare. Yuzhnaya has already achieved a 2-fold increase in the amount of rootstock yield with an improvement in performance compared to standard technologies.
“The introduction of an automation system for all production processes also helps us to achieve consistently high results. We use a barcoding system, thanks to which you can track the entire history of the seedling - from the stage of harvesting to planting. We can see how the physical and chemical properties of cuttings have changed (humidity, supply of nutrients), check the duration of storage, soaking, disinfection, stratification, track temperature and humidity conditions at all technological stages of seedling production. Not every nursery in the country has such an approach,” said Vyacheslav Samoshchenko, head of production at the nursery of AF Yuzhnaya.
The nursery of the Yuzhnaya agricultural firm works according to the open stratification technology (on water), which is practiced by single farms in Europe. This year, the plans are to produce 5.5 million vaccinations, get 2.75 million seedlings with an open root system and 32 thousand vegetative seedlings. The company's vineyard area today is 9,443 hectares. The plan for planting young stands for 2023 is 500 ha.