Pruning grapes in the fall: a step-by-step guide for beginner growers

Tell me, in what time frame and how is the pruning of grapes in autumn carried out correctly? We bought a summer cottage in the summer, the plot is not bad, there are many plants, but everything is unkempt. Over the summer they cleaned up a little, removed something, but left the old vineyard. Even young saplings of my beloved canteen, Karaburnu, were "hooked" to the old residents. But the old bushes themselves did not have time to rejuvenate, they left it for the fall. Now what to do with them and how to prune young plants?

Along with spring pruning, many gardeners prefer the option of pruning grapes in the fall. One of the main advantages is the ability to free up a significant amount of spring work time. Shrubs that have already been cut off in the winter will only need to be slightly updated with the beginning of the new season. This will give you the opportunity to pay more attention to the garden and garden trees. The pruning procedure is time-consuming, especially if you have a large vineyard, and even with old, overgrown, bushes. Do not forget about the importance of autumn pruning for the grapes themselves. It allows you to significantly increase future fruiting and more. What are the other advantages of this procedure, when it can be carried out and how correctly - we will discuss all this today. We will also find out how to prepare grapes for pruning.

Pruning grapes in autumn is a guarantee of a good harvest next season.

We will start, perhaps, with what can be achieved by pruning in the fall. First of all, one of the main goals is to regulate fruiting in the direction of improving both the taste and quality indicators of the crop, namely:

• bunches will ripen earlier than on bushes cut in spring;
• both berries and bunches will be larger;
• the sugar content will increase, which means that the grapes will be sweeter, which is not the least important for table varieties.

Another plus of autumn pruning directly relates to the question wintering grapesand. During the season, the bush grows significantly both in height and in width, and it is quite difficult to cover it completely. But the trimmed plants acquire compact dimensions and take cover without problems. Do not forget that pruning in the spring always ends with a "cry" of grapes. The juice flowing out of the cuts affects the general "well-being" of the bush, weakening it. Bushes cut off in autumn do not cry.

Pruning also helps to reduce the polarity effects of the grapes, which naturally develop initially in the top. To do this, even in the fall, you have the opportunity to form fruit links.

A cheat sheet for a beginner winegrower in terminology

Fruit link - This is part of old wood (perennial shoot). After pruning, two shoots remain on it: 1 long and 1 short vine.

The long vine is shoot fruiting (it is the fruit arrow), on which, after shortening, up to 10 buds will remain. Of these, in the next season, young shoots will appear, on which a new crop will be tied.

The short vine is replacement knot with a maximum of four eyes. It is left to get a couple of young shoots to form a fruit link next fall. The vine that has appeared on the replacement knot should not bear fruit in the next season in order to accumulate enough nutrients.

Peephole - what many call a kidney, but in fact there may be several kidneys in it.In spring, not one, but several young shoots grow from one eye.

Over time, the old grape bush forms sleeveslike a tree - skeletal branches. At the same time, a young vine is cut off on each arm to form new fruit links, consisting of a fruiting arrow and a replacement knot.

The grapes bear fruit on a young vine that grows on the fruiting arrow formed in the fall. The largest clusters will be on the central shoots that have emerged from the left eyes. Lateral buds will give a smaller yield, inferior in taste and characteristics. For this reason, they are usually removed during pinching.

What preparation does pruning grapes in the fall require?

As you probably already guessed, in the fall, mainly covering crop varieties are cut. If in the south the climate allows you to do without sheltering a vineyard for the winter, in more northern latitudes this is an integral procedure for caring for it. But in order for plants to survive the winter well, it is not enough just to cut and cover them.

The grapes need more thorough preparation, especially with regard to preventive measures against diseases and pests. A favorable microclimate is created for both the fungus and the larvae of various insects under the shelter. Therefore, do not forget to process the plantings, but not before the foliage falls and the buds close, otherwise they will burn. One of the best products is a solution based on ferrous sulfate and urea. The first will destroy fungi, and the second - the larvae of pests.

Pruning is almost the final part of the procedure for sending the vineyard to winter. It ends directly with the bending of the vine and the construction of the shelter itself. But it is preceded by another obligatory autumn event - top dressing. After harvesting, dig up the aisles with the following fertilizers:

• humus;
• superphosphate;
• potassium sulfate.

As for water-charging irrigation, it is recommended to carry out it after pruning, but a week before the construction of the shelter. Estimated terms - November. Dry soil freezes harder, which means there is a risk that the root system of the grapes will suffer. At the same time, if the autumn was rainy, there is no need for additional moisture.

If you need to propagate your favorite variety, autumn is just the right time to harvest cuttings. After pruning, a lot of material remains, so it will not be difficult to cut cuttings from the vine.

When to start pruning

The timing of pruning depends on the region where the grapes are grown, but in general, you should have time to do this before stable frosts are established. Frozen vines become brittle, and cold weather is not conducive to gardening. But you should not rush with pruning - the shoots must have time to ripen. The bush will let you know when this will happen. Having given nutrients to the vine, the leaves will turn yellow and begin to crumble. And now, after the fall of leaves, it is time for an autumn haircut.

After the first freeze to "help" the foliage to fall off, you can start pruning. This happens approximately in the month of October.

At the same time, many gardeners argue that after pruning, the grapes weaken and tolerate wintering worse. To some extent they are right, but let's not forget that in the fall those varieties that will take shelter are cut off. And the shelter is the very auxiliary measure that will help the bushes to overwinter without harming them.

How to prune grapes correctly

Autumn pruning of grapes has its own subtleties, and this applies not only to plants of different ages. Before thoroughly examining its details, let's remember some of the nuances: what can and cannot be cut, as well as how to do it correctly.

In addition, there are several ways to trim, depending on how many eyes are left. This is of no small importance, because each type of grape uses its own technology.It is especially important to use the correct method for table and wine varieties.

What are the basic principles of pruning

So, the main rules for both spring and autumn, grape pruning read:

1. Don't cut the vine into a ring. Unlike garden trees, a stump of at least 1.5 cm in height should remain on the vine. If you cut it short, the shoot may freeze or dry out.
2. Make a cut at the internodes, but not in the middle. It should be located lower, towards the lower kidney (eye).
3. Cut out completely all diseased, broken, too thin (less than 5 mm in diameter) and short vines. It only thickens the bush and makes it vulnerable to disease. This is called sanitary pruning.
4. Also completely remove the fruiting arrows of the current season.
5. When pruning young vines, make sure that they are ripe. Such a shoot is lignified, so shorten it to a mature area, even if you have to leave fewer eyes.
6. Form a new fruitful arrow on the shoot that served as a replacement knot last year. At the same time, leave on it the vine that is closer to the base of the knot.
7. If the replacement knot did not give developed shoots, the formation of a new knot from the vine on the fruit arrow is allowed.
8. Make a new replacement knot just below the fruit arrow. Otherwise, the bush will begin to develop it in the spring, because the main food goes to the kidneys above.
9. Do not leave a vine that is too long - it should fit on the trellis. Then the bush will look well-groomed and it will be convenient to tie it up.
10. Get rid of the extreme shoots that go away from the trellis. In the spring there will be nothing to tie them to when the vine begins to grow in length.

Thus, after pruning, you will have more than half of the vine, but this should not be intimidating. For one adult bush, fan-shaped and having 5 arms, it is enough to have up to 10 eyes on each vine, with a total of up to 50. However, this is the main nuance of autumn pruning: instead of one fruiting vine, it is recommended to leave two. The second shoot will be spare in case the first freezes.

What are the ways to trim

Each grape variety has its own growing and pruning requirements. What kind of harvest you get depends on this, so carefully study the information. Often too many eyes left behind will significantly weaken the bush. He begins to actively increase the deciduous mass to the detriment of fruiting, tying small bunches.

In general, there are 3 ways to prune a vineyard, each of them is correct, but recommended for different types of culture:

1. Short. It is used for wine varieties. Purpose: to remove most of the vine, leaving no more than 4 eyes on the fruit arrows.
2. Average. Used for table varieties. Purpose: to leave 8 eyes on the pruned vine.
3. Long. Also suitable for canteens and also for Asian varieties. Purpose: to shorten the fruit arrow to 12 eyes.
4. According to Guyot (aka mixed). Recommended for beginner gardeners. Purpose: initially to form a bush without a stem, leaving replacement knots for 3-4 eyes and a fruit arrow for 6 - 8 eyes.

Guyot pruning is suitable for both wine and table varieties. Therefore, if you do not know what kind of grapes you grow, you can safely apply it.

Pruning grapes in the fall for beginners - from a year to three

So we got to the most important question: how exactly to prune the grapes in order to form several sleeves with fruit links in 3 years? This is precisely the purpose of the procedure.

So, let's look at the step-by-step formation of a young bush, starting from the first year of planting and until it reaches the age of three:

1. First autumn, grapes 1 year old. In the spring you planted a seedling, and it gave one young shoot. After falling leaves, shorten it to 4 eyes.If the bush has two vines, do the same: cut each one, leaving no more than 4 eyes.
2. The second autumn, the bush is 2 years old. By this time, each cut off shoot already has at least two young, in total - up to 5 vines of young growth. If in the summer the grapes give a strong growth, be sure to carry out the minting, removing the stepsons. You should leave no more than 5 shoots, and well-ripened ones. Next year, they will become sleeves, but for this, shorten each one again to 3 - 4 eyes. The vine should be as close to the trellis as possible, to its lower wire, so that it is convenient to tie it up in summer.
3. Third autumn, grapes 3 years old. By this time, a young vine grows on 4 last year's shoots, that is, the formation of full-fledged four arms is completed. On each of them, you should leave only two young vines, choosing the strongest. Then form a fruit link from the left two shoots. To do this, shorten the lower one to 4 eyes - this will be a replacement knot. Cut off the vine located on top to 6 eyes - this is the future fruit arrow.

If your winters are frosty in autumn, in the first two years it is allowed to leave not 4, but 6 eyes. Three of them will be spare in case of freezing of the vine. When spring comes, you will re-prune and shorten the shoots. In the same way, you do with a shrub for 3 and 4 years of life, leaving two fruit arrows instead of one, in reserve, and in the spring removing the spare.

Pruning scheme for adult grapes (from 4 years old and older)

Pruning grapes in the fall with the further formation of the bush consists in the annual removal of the fertile vine. And also in the bookmark of new fruit links. Most often grapes are grown on a trellis in one or two rows of wire. The bush itself is formed by a multi-arm fan with 3 or 5 arms, depending on the height of the trellis itself. At the same time, you will cut each sleeve in turn, depending on how much gain it gave, for example:

1. On the first sleeve, by the fall, 4 young strong shoots have grown, 5 weak ones, and there is 1 fruiting vine. You remove it in the first, as well as all 5 branches from among the weak growth. Of the four young shoots, leave only 3, 1 also remove. And of the three shoots left, cut the lowest one to 3 buds per replacement knot. The two upper vines are shortened to 6 - 10 eyes. These are fruit arrows (1 spare, which will need to be cut out in spring).
2. The second arm produced only 2 young vines and has one more fruit bearing one. You remove it, and from the existing two shoots you form another fruit link according to the same principle. The lower vine goes to the replacement knot, the upper one goes to fruiting.
3. During the season, 2 strong young vines and 1 weaker one, from below, as well as a branch with clusters grew on the third arm. Cut out the last one, of the 3 shoots of a young growth with a replacement knot, make the one that is weaker, the lower one. Transfer the other two to fruit arrows, shortening to 6 buds.
4. The fourth arm also gave a small growth of only 2 shoots and one fruiting vine. Leave the lower one on the replacement knot, but cut it off with a small margin, 6 eyes instead of 3. You shorten the upper shoot to 10 eyes per fruiting arrow. Harvest the vines that have already yielded crops completely.

In the spring, you will only have to slightly correct the shape of the bush and remove the spare fruit arrows if everyone overwinters. Also, do not forget to remove the eyes that bloom below the level of the trellis (first wire), unless it is a replacement knot.

Pruning grapes in autumn to rejuvenate the bush

When your grape is 8 years old and its sleeves are much longer, rejuvenate the bush. Cut the old sleeve onto a stump without pity. And instead of it, form the young from the root growth that appeared near the trunk. In the first year of rejuvenating pruning, it will serve as a recovery knot. If not, cut off the sleeve not completely, but to the lowest vine (top).In this case, a young sleeve will be formed from a wiggle vine.

Here are all the tricks you need to know about pruning grapes in fall. At first it may seem that it is very difficult, but over time you will figure everything out and "get your hands on", because practice is always better than theory. Good harvests to you!

Video about the timing of pruning grapes