How to care for grapes from spring to autumn

Grapes are a crop that requires constant attention from the gardener. If you leave the plant without simple, but obligatory care measures for the whole season, the bushes grow uncontrollably, the shoots begin to interfere with each other. Excessively dense plantings of grapes become a place of concentration of pathogens and pests. As a result, the number of ripening berries and their quality drops sharply.

What treatment does the vineyard need during the season? How to care for grapes, treat them from pests and diseases, water, cut and feed?

Caring for grapes in the first year of planting

Already from the moment of planting, grapes need careful, but regular care, which will contribute to the quickest survival of the plant and the earliest start of fruiting.

In the first year after planting, caring for a seedling consists in loosening the soil, watering, processing grapes from diseases and pests, as well as at the beginning of work on the formation of a future vine.

As soon as the buds begin to come to life, the soil around the young plants is loosened, simultaneously removing the weeds that have appeared.
When the first leaves unfold, the grape stem is freed from the soil layer. A hole is made around the bush, for hardening the plant and the convenience of removing in June, and then in August, surface roots formed on a part of the trunk, sprinkled with earth. If you do not pay attention to the care of the grapes in the first year of planting, the root system of the bush will be insufficiently developed and will inevitably freeze. After the June treatment, the bush is huddled again, and after the August grape pruning the surface roots of the hole are added dropwise 10 cm.
Of the 3-4 shoots formed in June, the strongest is left, which will later become the basis of a powerful bush, and the rest are cut out.
For better survival and growth, young grapes are watered at the rate of 10 liters per bush, and depending on weather conditions, on average, the plant should receive moisture at least once a week.
Watering can be combined with feeding grapes superphosphate and nitrogen-containing drugs that promote the development of green mass of the plant.

Garter grapes

Spring in the vineyard begins with the opening of overwintered grapes, pruning of bushes and their garters. Until the plant has produced foliage and new shoots have not appeared, it is important to dry-tie the fruiting part of the vine to the trellis.

If you don't:

the likelihood of damage to the bush by pests and diseases of grapes, for example, mildew, increases;
it will be more difficult to carry out the formation of a grape bush that would actively and abundantly bear fruit;
the yield from such a bush turns out to be much less, not only due to the number of berries, but also because of their poor quality.

For garter grapes, tissue or twine that does not injure shoots is used, as well as a special device. For a garter material, it is not recommended to take a nylon rope or fishing line that is cutting into the shoot tissue as the vine grows.

Green shoots of grapes are quite fragile and fragile, if you do not tie the bush before the start of its active growth, the risk of damaging the growth increases significantly.

At the same time, the branches on which the main harvest is expected are bent to the lower horizontal row when tied so that the green shoots grow vertically and evenly.Do the same with the replacement shoots closest to the trellis. The time of the second garter of grapes begins when the young growth reaches a length of 25 cm. In the future, the shoots are fixed to the supports and trellises every two weeks, preventing the shoots from hanging freely, especially during the period of ovary formation and berry filling.

Formation of a grape bush

Within a few years after planting, the grape bush is given a special shape that is best suited for specific climatic conditions and corresponding to the purpose of the variety. Depending on how well the plant reacts to frost, the following forms are distinguished:

requiring shelter for the winter;
surviving cold weather without any special protection.

The choice of the method of forming a grape bush is influenced by the region of cultivation and the characteristics of a particular variety. But in any case, when pruning and shaping, the gardener must take into account that the next year's harvest is laid on a ripe vine, from the wintering eyes of which fruit shoots will appear in the spring.

The systematic formation of a grape bush begins almost from the first year of the plant's life and continues for several years. The exact time depends on the type of form chosen, and the end of the process means that the grapes have a full-fledged skeleton, ensuring full fruiting.

In subsequent years, the plant will require corrective autumn pruning, during which most of the summer growth is removed, including individual perennial branches, all fruit shoots of the outgoing year, as well as weak and damaged ones.

Since in the conditions of central Russia, most often grapes have to be sheltered for the winter, the most widespread are the formations that imply standard-free growing of grapes and were first described 150 years ago by the master of viticulture from France, Guyot. The combination of this shape with the fan shape gave the most famous grape bush shape today. Standard-free fan formation of a grape bush makes it easy to rejuvenate and green pruning, the vine easily covers for the winter and gives a solid harvest in rather harsh conditions.

Sprinkling grapes in spring

Measures to prevent the appearance of pathogens and pests on grape plants are taken in the spring, when the bushes are freed from winter shelters.

The first spraying of grapes, eliminating sources of danger, captures the soil under the vine and the woody part of the bush. At the same time, the success of the event largely depends on how timely the garter of the grapes was carried out, since the development of mildew usually begins with the fall of the first spring precipitation, which involuntarily spreads a dangerous fungus from the soil to the shoots. For spraying take:

3% Bordeaux liquid solution;
1% Ridomil solution;
3% solution of ferrous sulfate;
0.5% Cineb solution.

To control pests of grapes in amateur plots, you can use a safe and affordable phytosporin, which is active both against pathogenic fungi and bacterial infections. When the soil under the vineyard and in the aisles is cultivated, it is not loosened, but mulched abundantly.

Preventive treatment of grapes from diseases and pests is carried out in dry weather with the same preparations, when 4-5 young leaves appear on the plant.

The timing of further spraying depends on the weather conditions and the health of the plants. Two weeks before flowering, if there is no rain, the bushes should undergo preventive treatment, and it is important to capture not only the outer sides of the leaves and shoots, but also to ensure that the preparations penetrate deep into the crown. The period when it is possible to spray the grapes that have gained the ovary ends three weeks before harvest.

Top dressing of grapes

During the growing season, the need of grapes for certain nutrients and elements changes.This should be taken into account when applying fertilizers for fruiting plants.

Like other cultivated plants, the vineyard needs:

in nitrogen, necessary for a set of green mass and ensure good annual growth;
in potassium and phosphorus, without which it is impossible to ripen the vine, ripening high-quality healthy berries and preparing the plant for wintering.

As it becomes clear from the video, caring for grapes in spring and summer is impossible without regular application of well-chosen fertilizers. I feed annual grape plants twice a year:

When green shoots grow to a height of 10-15 cm, a nitrophoska solution is added under the roots, at the rate of 16-18 grams per 10 liters of water.
In July or August, feeding grapes includes 20 grams of superphosphate and 12 grams of potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water.

Bushes that have entered fruiting season are fertilized up to three times per season:

The first feeding is in mid-May. When about two weeks remain before flowering. At this time, the plants receive a portion nitrogen fertilizers, be it organic matter or ammonium nitrate, 10 liters of solution or infusion are added under the bush.
The second time the grapes are fed during the formation of the ovary and its enhanced growth. In this case, in addition to nitrogen, the composition of fertilizers includes phosphorus and potassium in a ratio of 3: 2: 1, respectively. Take about 30 grams of the mixture per bush and dissolve in a bucket of water.
The third top dressing of grapes is carried out from mid-July to mid-August, when the berries begin to pick up color, and consists of 50-75 grams of superphosphate and half the amount of potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water.

If organic matter is introduced under the grapes in the fall, then during the spring feeding it is better to two to reduce the amount of this fertilizer. How to apply fertilizer under the bush, and how to care for the grapes so that the benefits of fertilizing are maximized? Practice shows that nutrient solutions reach the roots most quickly if fertilizers are applied in a root circle with a radius of about a meter, and through holes drilled to a depth of 40–50 cm. The same method has proven itself perfectly for watering grapes.

Watering grapes

Watering while caring for grapes in the first year of planting depends on whether or not the soil is covered under the crown.

The covered soil is moistened two weeks after planting. And then the frequency of watering depends on the condition of the soil.
Open ground is more demanding for watering. Until mid-July, the plant is moistened weekly, pouring from 0.5 to 1 bucket of water under the bush. Then watering the grapes is reduced or stopped completely so that the seedling can prepare for wintering.

Perennial grape bushes are sensitive to drying out of the soil:

in the spring, when the plants are only freed from winter shelters;
in May, before and after flowering;
in July, when the berries are filled and prepared for ripening.

Watering the grapes is often combined with top dressing, using equipped holes in the ground or drip irrigation systems.

Shelter of grapes for the winter and protection from spring frost

In different regions, the same grape variety can withstand winter and acclimatize differently in spring.

In the middle lane, varieties that withstand frosts below 32 ° C do not require shelter.
In the south of the country, protection is not required for plants surviving -25 ° C.

But this applies only to adult grape bushes, and caring for grapes in the first year after planting necessarily involves sheltering the seedlings. This happens most often in late October or early November. If you delay with this operation, the grape wood loses its elasticity and is difficult to lay.

Any suitable material can be used to cover the vines, starting with soil from the aisles. To do this, the shoots are laid in a trench dug on a bayonet in advance, pinned to the soil and sprinkled with soil.

In addition to the soil, the vine laid on the ground is insulated with a double layer of film or special covering material, spruce branches and needles, corrugated cardboard, roofing material and tarpaulin. Falling snow becomes additional protection.

If protecting bushes from winter frosts does not cause difficulties for gardeners, then how to care for grapes that are threatened with spring frosts? In this case, it can help:

shelter with rags, straw, hay, spruce branches and non-woven material;
smoke with sawdust, dry leaves, needles, shavings and manure from the leeward side;
watering row spacings.

In case of an unfavorable prognosis for 10-14 days, spring spraying of grapes with a solution of ferrous sulfate can delay the release of the eyes from hibernation.

Grape care - video

grapes shrubs