Content
We all love grapes, some more, others less. Someone is able to eat several kilograms of it at a time, and some will pinch off a few berries and claim that it is delicious, but enough. No matter how anyone thinks about alcohol, it is still present in our life, and we also owe the appearance of the first intoxicating drink to the grapevine. More recently, a sunny berry in the open field was grown only in the southern regions. But the development of science has made it possible to develop varieties suitable even for the Northwest.
Galina Kizima, a famous gardener-practitioner, the author of many wonderful works on gardening, even has a book called "The Grapes Goes North". Frankly speaking, in the countries of the former Soviet Union, he still feels really comfortable only in the Crimea, Central Asia and the Caucasus. But no matter how difficult it is to grow a good harvest in other regions, many amateur gardeners annually receive up to 30 kg of berries from the bush. Today the topic of our article will be a very important point of care - pruning grapes in the fall.
Why prune grapes
A well-groomed vineyard not only gives a good harvest of healthy and tasty berries, it is able to decorate any site. The most important stages of vine cultivation are the formation and pruning of the bush. For beginners, this is a difficult task, knowledge lays only a theoretical basis, while skill comes over the years. And the vineyard needs to be looked after from the moment of planting, because only a healthy, well-formed bush can give a full harvest.
So why prune the grapes? Isn't it easier to let him grow as he has to, relying on Mother Nature? The cultivated varieties of grapes have gone so far from their wild ancestors that it will be difficult for a person far from the world of plants to find much in common in them. In addition, the vine left unattended even for several years runs wild and degenerates.
- The health and fruiting of grapes directly depends on the correct pruning of grapes.
- In neglected bushes, the shoots are stretched, weakened and bloom poorly weakly. The berries ripen small, with a mild taste.
- Pruning grapes in autumn increases its frost resistance, which is especially important for the northern regions.
- A properly tended vine is easier to cover for the winter.
- Grapes are a plant that produces much more shoots than its root system can feed, they need to be thinned out.
- Pruning helps to maintain a balance between growth and fruit vines on vines, as well as the root system and the aerial part.
- If the plant is not cut, the branches will intertwine and interfere with each other's growth, and large leaves will shade the clusters already weakened by the lack of nutrients.
- Uncut grapes can simply freeze or dry out in winter, as unripe vines will not be removed.
When to prune grapes
There are supporters of both spring and autumn pruning of grape bushes, but most gardeners carry out this procedure before shelter for the winter or even combine with it. The main argument here is that with the onset of sap flow, the vine, when damaged, begins to "cry", releasing the cell sap flowing down in drops. At this time, the leaves are not yet formed, and the pressure of the liquid reaches two atmospheres.
With the appearance of greenery, part of the cell sap goes into its formation, and the rest simply evaporates and "crying" stops. The bad news is that the liquid consists not only of water, it contains physiologically active substances necessary for the growth and development of the grape bush.
We will carry out pruning of vines in the fall, after the first frosts hit, and the leaves fall off or simply dry out. Before that, the plastic substances contained in them simply do not have time to pass into wood. Some experienced gardeners generally carry out the autumn pruning of grape bushes in two stages, especially if they want to take cuttings for propagation.
In the spring, after the start of sap flow, when the buds begin to open and the cell sap does not flow out so intensely, you will need to carefully examine the vine. At this time, they cut off all the vaped and frozen buds, shorten the shoots of the grapes and remove the branches left in reserve.
But this rule does not always apply. Most of the inhabitants of Russia grow only covering grapes. But there are varieties that do not require shelter for the winter; they grow mainly in the south. It is these grape bushes that need spring pruning.
Watch a video in which an experienced gardener talks about the timing of pruning grape bushes:
Pruning grapes
In the first years of life, grape bushes mainly increase their green mass. They actively develop vines, but fruiting is completely absent, or only signal clusters are formed. Until the third year inclusive, we, with the help of correct pruning, give the grapes the desired shape (form a stem), create sleeves of the desired sizes. Then we just continue to cut the bush according to the chosen pattern.
It is in the first years that the desired ratio of the root system to the aboveground part is achieved. In the future, the cutting of grapes is designed to maintain its shape and maintain the crown within the allotted nutritional area, to regulate the processes of growth and fruiting. This can be achieved only with the correct proportion of fruit vines, replacing knots, the number and length of sleeves, and the number of healthy eyes.
General rules for pruning and forming grapes
Experienced gardeners prune a bush of grapes without hesitation, intuitively. After all, they do this from year to year, they know perfectly well how this or that variety will behave on their site. For beginners, we will give general recommendations before moving on to the scheme for pruning bushes.
- On black soil and organic-rich soils with artificial irrigation, grapes are given a powerful spreading shape.
- On depleted soils, problems with watering and thickened planting, they form a compact bush.
- The grape varieties of the eastern group are distinguished by their great vigor, they are subjected to gentle pruning, leaving many long sleeves. The presence of old wood helps to increase the yield of the bush.
- The varieties of the Western European group are weak and have a compact or medium crown.
- When covering viticulture, stemless bushes are formed, so that it is easier to cover them for the winter.
- Non-covering varieties are most often grown on boles.
- In the southernmost regions with hot summers, where the soil often does not even warm up, but gets hot, it is appropriate to use high-stem molding of grape bushes.
We want to draw your special attention to the three most common mistakes that beginner gardeners make. They lead to unpleasant consequences, although they are easy to avoid.
- If you prune all the annual vines on a grape bush in the fall, you will not wait for the harvest. Fruiting occurs precisely on them.
- When pruning a grape bush, be sure to leave a stump of at least 2-3 cm on top. Unlike other plants, scarring of tissue on this culture goes inside the branch. A short cut will simply destroy the nearest kidney.
- A common truth. Use a sharp, sterile tool to trim the vines. You are probably already tired of reading and listening to this. Believe me, it is not for nothing that experts repeat this hackneyed phrase over and over again. You can do everything perfectly correctly and only because of a blunt dirty tool ruin all your labors or even destroy the vine.
Methods for pruning grapes
There are many ways to mold grape bushes. Each gardener chooses one that is suitable for use in his region and is convenient for himself personally, improving and modifying it from year to year. In practice, the molding of grape bushes is reduced to the following schemes:
- fan;
- capitate;
- cupped;
- cordon;
- tent;
- umbrella.
If necessary, a bush can be created one-sided or two-sided, growing it on a stem or without a stem.
For novice gardeners, it is easiest to master two of the listed forms: for covering grapes - fan, for wintering - cordon. We will take a closer look at the first scheme, after all, the climate of Russia disposes in the open ground for growing varieties that cover for the winter.
Forming a grape bush in a fan
Let's take a look at how to properly prune grapes that are hibernating under cover. For beginner gardeners, it will be most convenient to use a one-sided or two-sided fanless stump scheme.
First year after planting
Under favorable conditions, by the fall of the first growing season, 1-2 (sometimes more, but rarely) shoots ripen on grape bushes, developed and well-ripened, about a meter long and about 6 mm in diameter. During autumn pruning, only the unripe part of the vine is removed, the rest of the operations on it will be carried out in the spring. This is done so that when the shoots freeze or dry out in the spring, we cut their tops into the necessary 2-4 eyes, and not completely lose. Weak vines are removed under the root of the grape bush.
Second year after landing
In the second year after the spring pruning of a grape bush for 2-4 buds, each shoot gives green offshoots, which ripen by the end of the summer period and give good growth. They need to be protected in every possible way, spread symmetrically in different directions and tied to a support. It is from these shoots that we will, by pruning, form the first fruit links of the grape bush, consisting of replacement knots and fruiting vines.
When pruning in autumn, remove unripe tops and leaves. In the spring, after the opening of the grapes and the beginning of sap flow, the vine closest to the base of the bush is shortened by 2-3 eyes (replacement knot), and the one located at the end of the shoot - by 5-10 (fruit arrow).
Why do we sometimes leave three eyes on the replacement bitch? This is sometimes done on strong bushes of grapes, the development of which is more than satisfactory. Subsequently, the third shoot is not removed, but a reinforced fruit link is formed, on which two vines will yield.
The third year after planting grapes
At the age of three, we begin to shape the sleeves. We select on each side the two best vines located closer to the base of the grape bush (four in total). They are located on a shortened shoot, which is called a replacement knot, and we remove the unripe tops.
The fruit arrow is completely cut, no matter how beautiful and powerful it may seem. Decide for yourself once and for all - do you want to grow a good harvest or keep as many shoots as possible on a grape bush? It is possible that a signal harvest has already been obtained this year - 1-2 berry clusters.
In the spring, you will again cut the vine closest to the base into 2-3 eyes, forming a new replacement knot, and leave 5-10 buds on the fruit arrow.
In order to consolidate the knowledge gained, watch two videos, one of which talks about the formation of young grape bushes:
and the second is about preliminary pruning, which allows the vines to mature better:
Maintaining the shape of the grape bush
We told how to prune grapes autumn in the first years of his life. In the future, the formation of the bush will proceed in a similar way, you will simply leave the strongest ones from regularly appearing stepchildren for the formation of new skeletal branches.
In adult grapes, depending on the variety and growing conditions, there are from 2 to 6 old shoots, at the ends of which fruit links are created annually by pruning.
Single and double-sided grape molding
When we considered pruning a bush in the form of a fan, we talked about double-sided molding - skeletal branches were bred in different directions. But with a small distance between the grapes (1-1.5 m), it is more convenient to direct them only in one direction.
Conclusion
You may have thought that pruning grapes is very difficult. But the road will be mastered by the one walking, start, in a few years you will cut off the shoots without hesitation, and join the ranks of experienced winegrowers.
