Forming And Pruning A Grape Bush

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

Karelia, decorating a pond with a vine

Some of the traditional formulations that are used in industrial viticulture areas are of little use in northern grape-growing areas, especially in the Northwest region. Nevertheless, gardeners and summer residents should still have an idea of the basic principles of pruning and forming a grape bush.

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Basic principles of pruning

Pruning and shaping of bushes is carried out to create more favorable conditions for the growth and fruiting of grapes, as well as to facilitate the care of plants. If this is not done, the bushes thicken strongly, the shoots become thin and underdeveloped, which ultimately leads to their poor ripening and weak laying of fruit buds. Such plants are difficult to care for.

Before you start forming a bush, you need to know its structure. The grape bush consists of a stem - a perennial part of the bush, extending from the heel roots to the first branch. The stem has aboveground and underground parts. The extension of the trunk is the shoulder. An annually lengthening branch extending from the shoulder or trunk is called a sleeve. The horn (or, as it is also called, the fruit link) is a shortened biennial stem at the end of the sleeve, which carries a replacement knot (one-year shoot with two or three buds) and a fruit vine (or arrow), cut, depending on the origin of the variety, by 5- 12 kidneys. The number of horns depends on the age, origin of the bush, and the area of its nutrition.

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Support device for grapes

Figure: 1. Stepping out of the escape.

The arrow shows the place of removal of the stepson:

a - petiole of the main leaf, b - axillary bud, c - leaf of axillary bud, d - internode of the stepson

Grapes are not climbing plants, but climbing plants, so they need horizontal supports attached to vertically mounted posts. With the help of very sensitive tendrils, which are equipped with long, rapidly growing shoots, the plant can climb high on various supports: trees, buildings, etc. In nature, under favorable conditions, vines can reach gigantic sizes, braiding the crowns of trees. However, harvesting from vines that climb high on trees is inconvenient and unsafe, therefore, over many decades of cultivating grapes, mankind has invented many methods with which you can facilitate the work of caring for plantings, and one of them is the use of all kinds of plant supports.

Supports are necessary to facilitate maintenance and create the most favorable conditions for the growth and fruiting of grape bushes. The system of maintaining vines on the backwaters allows the grower to regulate the growth and development of plants, as well as the load on the harvest. When using backwaters, the illumination of the bushes is improved and their aeration is enhanced. With this most rational system of culture, plantings are given single-plane formations.

In some areas of viticulture, the most ancient systems of grape culture have survived to this day. For example, in the villages of Western Georgia, one can sometimes see vines climbing trees. This ancient Georgian grape growing system is called Maglari. In a number of places in Armenia and Central Asia, you can find a spreading culture, when grapes are grown without any support, and the vines spread along the ground. In Moldova and the Caucasus, there is still a stake culture system in which shoots are tied to stakes.

However, the most common supports in vineyards are various types of trellises. A trellis is a support for grapes, which in its simplest version consists of two vertical stakes dug into the ground and 3-4 wires stretched between them in a horizontal position.

The direction of the rows of grapes on flat land for optimal illumination of the bushes is set from north to south. On steep slopes (which is very rare in our conditions), terraces are first arranged, and then the desired direction of the row is chosen. In vineyards, vertical trellises are most often arranged with three or four rows of wire stretched between pillars dug into the ground, placed in one row, which allows you to create a plant position in space specified by the grower, and also ensures an even distribution of shoots in one plane. Thanks to this device, optimal conditions are created for lighting, aeration, nutrition and bush formation.

The height of the trellis can vary from 150 to 300 cm, depending on the growth force of the bushes, their moisture supply and the type of formation used. The diameter of the pillars is 10-12 cm. The pillars and wire are the main materials for installing the trellis. Usually they use wooden, iron or concrete pillars for this. For the manufacture of wooden poles, take aspen or pine stakes, the lower ends of which, before being dug into the ground, are soaked in a solution of 2-5% copper sulfate for a week and then dipped in hot resin. You can simply pre-dry the stakes for a year. Old water pipes with a length of 2-2.5 m and a diameter of 19-25 cm are also used as pillars. The most durable and reliable are concrete and reinforced concrete pillars, which can be made in the garden area on their own.

The pillars are dug in or driven in to a depth of 50-70 cm, depending on the structure of the soil: on clay - shallower, on sandy - deeper. Edge pillars are usually installed obliquely, often providing them with anchors. The ends of the wire are led out in a loop. 2-3 wires are attached to the loop at the base of the soil, which are fixed at the end of the edge pillar. The distance between vertically installed intermediate posts in an amateur vineyard is usually from 3 to 6 m. The lower wire is pulled at a distance of 30-40 cm from the soil surface, the second wire is 40-50 cm higher than the first, the third is 50-60 cm higher than the second, the fourth is 40-50 cm higher than the third. The wire must be galvanized and have a diameter of 2-2.5 mm. It is better not to use aluminum and iron wire, since the first one breaks easily, and the second quickly rusts. If wooden posts are used, the wire is secured with staples. Before installing the iron pillars, holes are pre-drilled on them or transverse hooks are welded at the required distance to fasten the wire. The trellis is usually installed in early spring.

Garter shoots

Figure: 2. Removing a fan-shaped four-arm formation.

1 - seedling in the year of planting in the spring of the first year, 2 - autumn of the first year, 3 and 4 - spring and autumn of the second year, 5 - autumn of the third year, 6 - spring of the fourth year; fully formed bush, arrows indicate pruning points

A grape bush without support turns into a ground cover plant, the living conditions of which are far from ideal for a vine. Therefore, immediately after removing the winter shelter from the bushes, they begin to garter all its parts: the trunk, sleeves, fruit links. This garter, called "dry", is usually done before bud break. At the same time, they try to evenly distribute all parts of the bush along the trellis, including annual shoots, which are tied to the bottom wire in a horizontal or arcuate position.

This arrangement of last year's annual shoots promotes uniform opening of eyes on the shoot and prevents the manifestation of polarity in grapes. When tying up annual shoots in an upright position, only the upper eyes will develop, and the lower ones either will not bloom at all, or will lag significantly behind in their growth compared to the upper ones.

However, the vertical shoot garter is also often used when raising tall boles and giving the bushes a multi-arm fan formation or a vertical cordon. Perennial parts of the bush (stems) and sleeves, as well as long fruit arrows, are tied to wires obliquely or horizontally in several places of the trellis at once. The garter gives a certain shape to the vines.

Methods for removing various formations of grape bushes

Figure: 3. Fruit link in spring (A) and autumn (B).

The arrows show the places where the replacement knot was cut (1) and the fruit arrow (2), so that the plant does not lack nutrition and lighting.

The grape plant, which is a climbing liana, is characterized by a pronounced polarity. Thanks to this property, in the presence of vertical support, the plant climbs to a great height in a short time, forming a natural form, which is very inconvenient to care for and which does not guarantee a stable and high-quality berry harvest. Without pruning the bushes on the shoots, only the apical ocelli awaken and develop well, while those located below either lag behind in development or do not bloom at all. This leads to the fact that shoots and berries become smaller, yield decreases, the plant becomes more susceptible to diseases. To avoid these negative phenomena, the plants are given a certain crown shape.

Now there are a huge number of forms that are given to the grape plant. Depending on a number of factors (climatic conditions, biological characteristics of the variety, soil composition, etc.), the bush is formed in such a form that would be convenient and guarantee the longevity of the plant and, naturally, obtaining a high and high-quality yield. The creation of a certain shape of the grape bush is achieved through the use of a complex of agrotechnical measures, including pruning, green debris, pinching, pinching and chasing green shoots. In the conditions of the Northwest, special attention should be paid to the fragment of young shoots, which must be carried out in a short time.

I offer a description of the main forms of the grape plant, which are advisable to use in our climate.

Fan shapes

Figure: 4. Various fan forms used in viticulture (Negrul, 1952; Merzhanian, 1967).

1 - half-fan,

2 - multi-arm, 3 - four -arm

with rejuvenation links,

4 - small fan with a stem,

5 - Moldovan trellis,

6 - fan and half-fan three-tiered

The traditional multi-arm fan formation under favorable conditions is created in four years.

In the first year after planting a seedling or cutting, one or two strong shoots are grown over the summer (at least 1 m in height, as thick as a pencil). The rest of the shoots are broken off by pressing the thumb at the base of the shoot when they reach a length of 2-5 cm. As the shoots grow, they are tied with a soft twine in the "eight" method to the installed trellis and make sure that there is no excessive thickening of the bush.

During the growing season, pinching is carried out (removal of lateral shoots that have developed from axillary buds) after 3-4 leaves have developed on the lateral shoot. This operation is carried out by analogy with pinching tomatoes, except that the stepson is not completely removed, but 2-3 leaves are left (see Fig. 1). At the end of July - beginning of August, with a very strong growth of shoots, a clothespin (chasing) of the main shoots should be carried out, removing their tops with a pruner to a fully developed leaf. At the same time, all watering is stopped. In the open field, to prevent moisture from getting to the roots around the seedling, you can lay pieces of tar paper or black plastic wrap. In the fall, after the frosts beat the foliage, the shoots are laid on the ground, pinned down with wooden slingshots and covered for the winter.

In the spring of the second year, at the end of April, the shelter is removed, the shoots are cut short (by 2-3 buds) and the young shoots developing from the buds are not damaged by frost. In the future, caring for plants consists in the timely tying of growing shoots (usually 2-4 shoots are left), their pinching and chasing. When tied to a support, the shoots are placed in the form of a fan (see Fig. 2) (hence the name - fan) for better ventilation and lighting.

In the spring and summer of the third year, the final formation of future arms is carried out, leaving 4-6 shoots, on which fruit links will be formed in the future. In the fall, the vines are usually covered without any pruning to avoid winter damage.

In the spring of the fourth year, the strongest shoots (future sleeves) are tied to a wire. Their length should be at least 60-80 cm, and the length of the outer sleeves should be 20-30 cm larger than the central ones. This is necessary so that the future fruit links are located on the same row of the trellis wire. After budding and the appearance of young shoots, two such shoots are left on each of the sleeves, the rest are broken out. Other operations carried out during the growing season are similar to those described above. Further, a fruit link is formed from the upper shoot, and a replacement knot is formed from the lower shoot (see Fig. 3)

By the fall of the fourth year, a bush fully formed like a multi-arm fan-shaped formation (see Fig. 2) is covered for the winter. In the future, pruning the bush will consist in removing the fruiting arrow and the formation of a new fruit link.

Fan-shaped formations are characterized by the presence of two or more (usually 4-6) arms, fan-shaped in one plane. As the bush grows and develops, the fan formation should be modified by lengthening or shortening the sleeves, increasing the number of fruit links on them. At the same time, as the load on the bush increases, which is expressed in the number of buds and shoots left on it, it is necessary to ensure that the plant does not lack nutrition and lighting.

There is a large fan-shaped, standard-free formation, which is distinguished by the presence of several (usually from 6 to 8) elongated arms, on each of which not one, but several fruit links are formed (see Fig. 4). Such shaping can be successfully used for vigorous varieties.

Read the next part. How to disinfect grape planting material →