Outdoor Grape Care

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

Read the previous part. ← Planting and forming grapes

Forming a bush of grapes

In the second year, in the spring, at the beginning of May, the shelter must be removed. Do not be alarmed, grapes wake up quite late - in late May and early June. And even if last year's growth did not overwinter, then dormant buds on a lignified cuttings will wake up. There will be a lot of buds, and when the lashes grow 10-15 cm, choose the four strongest of them, and break the rest.

And as soon as the lashes left in the summer reach a meter in length, we pinch their tops. At the beginning of September, this operation must be repeated (see Fig. 1). This is done so that the lashes begin to lignify as early as possible. Our goal is to grow four lignified lashes each one meter long in a season.

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Fig.1. When the lashes grow 10-15 cm, choose the four strongest, and break the rest

These are our future sleeves. One-year-old lashes bend easily, so in October-November we give the bush a shape: we direct two lashes to the west, two others to the east and lay them horizontally on the ground at a height of 20-30 cm.

It is necessary to provide a light dry shelter for the winter; We shelter grapes not from frost, but from thaw. In my collection I have selected varieties with high frost resistance, and they can winter without shelter. They are not afraid of frosts of -40 ° C and below, when there is even a small snow cover, but when it rains in the daytime at + 5 ° C, and at night there is a severe frost, and the whips are covered with an ice crust, this ice can break the bark.

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Fig.2. After trimming, there should be four already adult thick sleeves

The plant will not die, but we may be left without a crop. Therefore, the vine must be covered with foil so that it does not get wet. To do this, put metal arcs above it and cover them with plastic wrap.

You need to have a lot of air space. Shelters should be open at the ends.

In the third year, as in all subsequent years, in the spring, at the beginning of May, the shelter must be removed and a glass of ash must be poured under the bush. Before that it was possible to do without the tapestry, but now we need it. A trellis is a pair of pillars with a taut twine every 20-30 cm, parallel to the ground. The height of the posts is selected so that it is convenient for you to reach the top of the trellis.

Figure: 3. On each knot of the whip, from which the brushes were removed in the spring, we shorten up to five buds, and remove the fruit-bearing lashes with part of last year's knot completely

The overwintered lashes are left horizontally to the ground, and all the lashes from the buds that wake up on them are tied vertically.

On the lashes there will already be signal fruit brushes. Of course, it is advisable to remove them, but I leave them myself a little to taste the taste of the grape variety.

In October-November it is necessary to prune the grapes. On each sleeve we shorten the two most powerful lashes to five buds, remove the rest completely. The resulting knots are laid horizontally on the ground. Don't be afraid to cut, usually up to 98% of the vines are cut. …

After trimming, four already adult thick sleeves should remain, and on each sleeve there should be two short, of five buds, one-year-old lashes (see Fig. 2 - for the example of only one sleeve). This is how the bush should look after pruning every year.

Only the sleeves get thicker with age. And we also gradually increase the load of the crop on the bush, leaving not 5, but 7-15 buds on the knots. And cover the vine for the winter.

The fourth year is the year of the first full fruiting. In the spring we carry out the same procedures - we remove the shelter, feed the plant with ash. The awakening buds will grow vertically, and on each knot we remove all fruit brushes from the nearest lash to the sleeve. Ideally, four sleeves are obtained, each of them has two knots, on the knot the first whip without tassels and four more whips strewn with tassels.

In early August or a little earlier, when the berries begin to color, we pluck out the lower row of leaves so that all the berries are in the light (see photo 2). After the berries were removed, the leaves all fell off, in October-November we cut off the grapes. On each knot, those lashes from which the brushes were removed in the spring are shortened to five buds, and four fruit-bearing lashes with a part of last year's knot are removed completely (see Fig. 3 for the example of one sleeve). We bend the resulting knots horizontally and cover for the winter.

Grape bush in autumn before pruning

In fact, all care takes five minutes in spring, summer and fall. This minimal care is enough to get a good harvest. It is very important here not to be greedy, that is, you need not to overload the bush. It is better to get a little less berries, but they will ripen on time, and the whips will ripen well.

There are varieties that are prone to overload, it is imperative to limit the harvest on them annually. But other varieties, while the bush is young, should be limited a little. To do this, after flowering, some of the brushes are removed or shortened if the brushes themselves are very large.

I would like to advise beginner winegrowers: try to acquire local zoned planting material. Usually it differs from southern seedlings in its modest size and thin vines. The varieties must be suitable for the characteristics of the open ground in our region.

Grape bush after pruning

For example, on my site the Baltic varieties have proven themselves very well. Unfortunately, at any exhibition-fair they also sell such seedlings that will never grow here, or will only grow in a greenhouse, but there you need a completely different care that requires much more knowledge and time from you.

Try to start with an easier way, and, having received your first crop, gaining experience, it is easy to master other formations and growing methods. I believe that 50 kg of berries from a grape bush is quite realistic and not even the limit.

I invite everyone who is interested in growing grapes in the open field for an excursion and tasting at my site in the Vsevolozhsky district of the Leningrad region. My phone number for communication: +7 (901) 308-32-09

Sergey Sadov, experienced gardener, Severnaya Loza nursery

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