Content
Beginner winegrowers often do not know how to properly trim the grapes, what time of year is best to do this. The most common mistake made by beginners is considered to be too careful pruning, and it is also difficult for a novice gardener to determine the correct time for grafting.
Grapes are a southern plant, the climate of the middle zone is unusual for it and is too harsh, so a lot depends on pruning the bushes: how the plant will survive the winter, how productive the next season will be, whether the berries will be tasty and large.
This article is dedicated to pruning grapes in autumn for beginners, in pictures and diagrams, beginners will be able to see how to properly graft vines of different ages.
Why do you need to prune grapes?
Grafting of grapes, or, as it is more often called, pruning, is indeed necessary. Many winegrowers make a huge mistake by neglecting this stage of plant care; as a result, the yield of the bushes suffers, the vines get sick and freeze, and the berries themselves become tasteless and small.
The role of pruning grapes is difficult to overestimate, because it solves such problems, How:
- increasing the frost resistance of the vine, which is especially important for heat-loving and non-covering varieties;
- increase in yield due to pruning of old shoots, as well as those vines that prevent the bush from developing properly;
- optimizing the ratio of the aboveground part of the grapes and its roots, adjusting the density of shoots;
- preventing the berries from becoming smaller and deteriorating the taste of the grapes;
- simplifying the insulation of plants for the winter period, because covering shortened, correctly formed vines is very simple;
- accelerating the process of sap flow in shoots pruned in the fall ensures earlier harvests.
When to prune grapes
Opinions are divided regarding the timing of pruning grapevines, but most winegrowers say that it is best to prune the shoots in the fall. The fact is that spring pruning often leads to “crying” of the vine, which is why not all the buds open, the yield decreases, and the pruned shoot may dry out. All this happens because with the onset of warm days, the juice begins to move in the grapes, the plant becomes weak and susceptible to wounds and infections.
Factors such as the climate in the region, air temperature day and night, plant variety, and the need for further covering of the vine will help you choose the exact date for autumn pruning of grapes.
When deciding on the date for autumn pruning of grapes, The following factors should be taken into account:
- The longer the bunches remain on the shoots, the more nutrients the grape roots accumulate. This means that the plant will be stronger and will survive the winter better.
- Daytime temperatures should not fall below -5 degrees, since at this temperature the vine becomes fragile and the plant may suffer during pruning or tying shoots.
- The first night frosts must already have arrived so that the sap flow in the grapes stops, otherwise the shoot will “cry” and will inevitably freeze.
- All leaves from the bush should fall off and the clusters should be cut off.
Preliminary pruning of the vines is carried out in September, when the entire grape harvest has been harvested, the second stage occurs in mid-October, when it is time to tie the vines for subsequent insulation.
How to prune grapes in autumn
Grapes in autumn can be pruned in different ways, but the pruning method must be chosen in the first year of the plant's life and followed throughout the growing season.
The pruning pattern depends on various factors, such as:
- plant age;
- grape sort;
- the need for winter shelter (frost-resistant variety or not);
- vineyard density.
To properly prune grapes in the fall, you need to understand the relevant terminology:
- A shoot that comes out of the ground at a right angle is usually called a trunk;
- the growing point may be called a cordon or sleeve. The cordon grows from the trunk, and the sleeves come directly from the ground;
- on sleeves the fruit vines are located on top, and on cordons they are located along the entire shoot.
Basic grape pruning schemes
In the fall, the vine needs to be shaped so that in the spring it will send out fruiting stems, on which the harvest will form in the form of clusters. Pruning patterns depend on whether the grapes will be sheltered for the winter. Depending on this, there are fan and standard pruning of the vineyard.
Fan grafting of grapes is performed for covering varieties. This method of forming a vine has a number of advantages, including rapid rejuvenation of bushes without reducing yield and free movement of shoots, allowing them to be bent to the ground and covered for the winter.
Fans from vines should be formed in the following sequence:
- Pruning of young grapes begins in the first year of the plant's life. In the fall of this year, the shoot is pruned so that 3 buds remain. In the spring, the buds should give rise to new branches, but the young plant may not have enough strength, and as a result, not all the buds will wake up. If all three shoots hatch, the middle one is pinched.
- In the second autumn you need to lay replacement knots. To do this, two shoots are pinched to 3-4 buds.
- The third autumn is the time of formation of sleeves. The vines should by this time stretch more than a meter and have a thickness of about 8 mm - these are the future sleeves of the vineyard. In the fall, they need to be shortened by half, leaving somewhere around half a meter long shoots. These branches are tied to a wire at a height of about 30 cm from the ground.
- The vine is further shaped so that the inner sleeves are shorter than the outer ones.
- The fourth autumn is the time of the final formation of the grape fan. In the spring, all shoots on the sleeves are removed, except for the top two or three. They should be positioned vertically - these are fruiting shoots, they are tied to a trellis or support.
- In the autumn of the fourth year you need to trim the shoots on the sleeves. The upper fruit-bearing vines are pinched around 7-8 buds, while only 2-3 buds are left on the lower ones - these are replacement knots.You should end up with a fan consisting of four arms and four fruit vines.
- Every subsequent autumn you need to prune the vines that bear fruit in the current season. Next year they will be replaced by new shoots growing from replacement knots.
- Old sleeves should be cut to two or three buds from the base - this helps to rejuvenate the grapes. Such knots are called restoration hemp.
Autumn pruning of vineyards using the standard method is used for those varieties that do not need shelter for the winter, so winegrowers in the southern regions most often resort to this method.
Standard pruning of grapes in the fall for beginners is carried out in several stages:
- They start pruning in the first year - shorten the shoot to 2-3 buds.
- In the spring of next year, the bush should be inspected and the two most powerful shoots should be identified. The larger one will be a trunk; it is pinched at the top so that the shoot becomes more powerful. The second shoot is considered a reserve trunk. In autumn you need to trim both shoots to the desired length.
- In the autumn of the second year, all young shoots of grapes are pruned, except for the two top and strongest ones. These shoots are pinched into two buds - these are the shoulders of the cordon. At the level of shoot growth, a strong wire is pulled and the shoulders of the cordon are tied to it.
- Next autumn, both shoots are shortened: one is cut into two buds - a replacement knot, and the second is cut to the sixth eye - this, in the future, will be a fruit-bearing vine.
- Autumn of the fourth year is the time of laying fruit-bearing branches. To form them, you need to remove all the shoots on the shoulders of the cordon, leaving the strongest ones at a distance of about 20 cm from each other.
- In the fifth year, they do a simple pruning of the vineyard - they simply shorten all the vines by 2-3 buds.
- In the sixth year, the formation of the trunk is completed. To do this, the shoots that have ripened over the summer are cut out, only a couple of the most powerful vines remain on top of the bush. One of them is pruned to 2-3 buds - a replacement knot, the second is shortened to the sixth eye - a fruit-bearing vine.
- Each subsequent year, pruning old grapes involves cutting out the fruit-bearing shoot. New fruit vines are formed on replacement knots.
conclusions
In the first 5-6 years after planting, the grapes do not bear fruit; during this period, the plant increases its mass and forms future fruit vines. That's why The essence of pruning young grapes is to form a bush, selecting those vines that will subsequently bear fruit.
After this stage it begins The fruiting period lasts, depending on the grape variety, about 20-25 years. Pruning at this age consists of maintaining the shape of the bush, removing old and diseased shoots, and forming young fruiting vines.
After this, the most active phase, the plant fades away, the gardener can carry out rejuvenating pruning in order to prolong the fruiting of your vineyard.
Beginners who find it difficult to navigate diagrams and drawings can watch a video about the different stages of grape development and the rules for pruning them at each age:
