Phased Formation Of A Grape Bush

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Read the previous part. ← Planting a vine

Vine care

The planting of grapes, which was mentioned in the previous issue, is usually done in spring. After that, the care of the bush begins, which consists in watering, fertilizing, forming vines, pruning, etc.

Grapes are a perennial vine, so the appearance of the bush can be very diverse. The task of the gardener is to give the bushes a rational shape, taking into account the variety, the climate of the area.

It is created by pruning and tying vines. In the North-West zone, where grapes have to be sheltered for the winter, the bush is formed so that it is convenient to close it.

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Vine pruning is the most difficult and responsible type of work in growing this crop. If you do not do it, then the bush quickly thickens, forming many thin, poorly ripening shoots, the berries are poorly tied, their number drops. Heavy pruning can result in reduced or no yield. The work of pruning resembles the operation of pinching tomato bushes.

Covering varieties are pruned twice: in autumn and spring, that is, when the plant is at rest. To do this, use a pruner, a garden saw and a knife, as well as a garden pitch. The cut surface should be minimal and smooth. The cutting cheek of the secateurs is turned towards the part to be left. With the complete removal of annual shoots, cuts are made at the very base.

With annual pruning, 50 to 80% of last year's growth is removed. Depending on the length of the vines left on the bush, there are short pruning - up to 4 eyes (buds), medium - up to 5-8 eyes, long - up to 9 or more eyes and mixed pruning, combining medium and long pruning of fruiting vines and short - replacement knots.

Short pruning is used on ground covering forms, when growing varieties with high fertility of eyes (buds) at the base of the shoots. In the Northwest region, short pruning is used for varieties with unsatisfactory vine ripening. A number of grape varieties in our zone have a low productivity of the first two eyes.

Such varieties require pruning by 5-6 eyes, only then they give a good harvest. According to N. V. Ivanova - a gardener from the Gatchina region, who has long been engaged in the cultivation of this crop, these varieties include: Agat Donskoy and Aleshenkin.

Medium pruning is used for most sheltered and many non-sheltered varieties.

Long pruning is more commonly used in northern regions. This is due to the fact that during the wintering period, up to 40% or more of the eyes die. In our garden we leave from 9 to 15 or more eyes on the bushes before winter. With this kind of pruning, the yield is slightly lower than with others, but the quality, size of the bunches and the taste of the berries are higher.

For covering grape varieties in our zone, the most acceptable and simple formation of bushes according to the system of the French scientist-winegrower Guyot without a stem (Fig. 1).

In the first year after planting, when pruning, one mature shoot is left for the winter on each shoulder of the vine (Fig. 1, pos. B) and it is this that is prepared for wintering. After the first autumn frosts, the leaves of the creeper usually die, and the plant is not touched until mid-late October. During this period, intensive ripening of the shoots occurs. Approximately two weeks after the first frost, the shoots are freed from the trellis wire where they were laid, and they are finally cut off, as well as the stepsons, antennae. At the end of October, the plant is covered for the winter.

Pruning and sheltering the vine

1-b - Autumn of the first year: bush after pruning

It is necessary to dwell in more detail on the shelter of grapes in our North-West region (Fig. 2). We do it this way. After removing all the green mass and unripened shoots, we disinfect the soil and wooden boards enclosing the garden with a 3% solution of copper sulfate.

Then we put spruce branches (spruce branches) on the ground with needles up, put a vine on them and close it with spruce branches with needles down. We do this to combat mice. On a vine covered with spruce branches, we put wooden shields with small holes for ventilation. The holes in the boards are located approximately 1.5 meters apart. When the frosts settle, we put a layer of hay on the boards, dry foliage 20-25 cm thick. In this form, we leave the grape bushes until March - April, depending on the weather, that is, when there are severe frosts and the sun appears.

In the second year of the seedling's life, the main task of the grower is to grow 3-4 strong shoots on a 6-8 mm thick bush.

With the onset of warm days (we have it in April), the bushes should be gradually freed from the winter shelter and check how the vine wintered. To do this, with a pruner, starting from the top of the shoot, you need to make several cross-sections until a bright green ring of wood appears on the cut. Then you need to make sure that the eyes (kidneys) are safe. With a sharp knife we make cuts through the upper eyes. In living eyes, the central and lateral buds are green. If the vine has wintered well, then we prune by 5-6 eyes (Fig. 1, pos. D) and tie the vine to the trellis (Fig. 3).

1-in - Autumn of the first year: the bush is covered for the winter

During spring pruning in the second year of life, the vines leave two lower, well-developed shoots, and on them 4 lower eyes. Such short-cut shoots are called horns. If you do not cut the overwintered plant, then many weak shoots will develop, the beginning of fruiting will drag on for many years.

Such pruning will solve the problem of the second year of growing a seedling. If there are doubts about a good overwintering of the vine, then pruning is done after opening the eyes. In this case, a fragment of the stepsons is carried out, one shoot from each eye is left to grow. There should be no more than eight such eyes. As the shoots grow, the greens are tied to the trellis.

In the last issue, we noted that with the correct planting of the vine and the introduction of the right amount of fertilizer into the planting hole, the one-year-old bush is not fertilized. In the second, third and subsequent years of bush growth, plant feeding is necessary. As a fertilizer, it is best to use: slurry (one bucket for three buckets of water), ash (water extract), ammonium nitrate (10 g per 10 liters of water), urea (5 g per 10 liters of water).

Slurry is best applied after fermentation for 2-3 weeks, diluting 4-5 times. It is useful to add trace elements in addition to those contained in ash. Watering and feeding is carried out only through the irrigation pipe. At the beginning of July, watering and feeding are stopped so as not to delay the vegetation of the plant.

1-d - Spring of the second year: after pruning

In mid-August, shoots are trimmed over 12-14 leaves. This is necessary in order for the remaining ones to mature. Such a technique in viticulture is called bush chasing.

In hot weather, we often ventilate the greenhouse, try to maintain dry air. It is best to cover it at night to prevent dampness.

During the period of growth and ripening of berries, it is necessary to harvest the green mass (pinching, pruning of young branches), which will save the bush from fungal diseases, and you from unnecessary trouble. For the same purpose, the land under the bush is mulched with peat or black film.

Wasps sometimes appear in the grape greenhouse. In order to get rid of their harmful effect on the berries, the whole bunch is placed in a plastic bag and tied up. As the grapes ripen, the bunches are removed without waiting for frost, the bush is prepared for wintering.

In the third year after planting the vines, the bushes are gradually freed from the winter shelter in the spring, they check the safety of the shoots and buds, that is, they find out how the bush overwintered. Cutting is carried out, leaving 6-8 eyes on each shoulder (Fig. 1, pos. E). On a three-year-old bush, two shoulders are left, and later, on 5-6-year-olds, the number of shoulders is gradually increased to four.

1-d - Spring of the third year: pruning for fruiting

1- fruit line 2- replacement knot

In the third year after planting the vine, the first fruiting is possible, so in the spring we installed a trellis in the form of two stretched wires: one at a height of 15 cm, the other at a height of 50 cm from the ground. After the spring pruning, the vine is laid on a trellis.

In the North-West zone, the probability of frost persists until June 10-12. In case of frost during this period, we cover the grape bushes with lutrasil, spunbond or newspapers in 2-3 layers. Electric heating in the greenhouse is possible.

In our garden, a good harvest of berries is given by such zoned grape varieties as July (the most frost-resistant), Agat Donskoy, Aleshenkin, Two-headed, Kirghiz early, Royal early, Karinka Russian, Krasa Severa (Olga), Muromets, Miller's Muscat, Jubilee of Novgorod, Kadryanu …