How to keep the vine in winter.

Growing grapes can bring more than just good harvest but also an unforgettable pleasure from this process. But for this you will have to try pretty hard and make sure that the vine can successfully cope with the autumn and winter cold.

If you do not want to get less and less harvest every year, and then completely plant a new one vine then it will be useful to you helpful advice below.

The influence of frost on the condition of the vine

Prolonged and increasing frosts have an extremely negative impact on the grapevine. If you do not take appropriate measures, then you can not only lose the next harvest, but also completely destroy the vine.

Destruction of perennial arms and annual growth of grapes. This is a very common situation that can result in the cessation of active germination for them. Shoots from shoots and dormant buds can take their place, which delays the process of obtaining the desired harvest.
Destruction of the aboveground part of the grapes. It is quite common and has serious consequences in the long term. The good news is that root system could not suffer from frost, so it will continue to ensure the growth of the vine.
Destruction of the kidneys with increased fertility. Instead of a vigorous flowering process, new shoots will appear. As a result, lost time and poor harvest chances.

There is also the danger of destroying not only the aboveground part of the grapes, but also the root system. In this case, you can not even dream of any harvest, and attempts to correct the situation will lead nowhere. This is considered the most critical damage to the vine.

Even less hardy grapes need proper care, not to mention those varieties that cannot cope with frost on their own.

The first thing you should do is take a close look at the vine bush. If you come across damaged, diseased and old vines, then they must be removed immediately. Those branches that have already managed to please with the grape harvest should also be removed, but after some time. Ideally, at the time of the first frost.

The resulting time will allow the grapes to grow stronger and gain the necessary nutrients, which will significantly increase its chances of successfully resisting frost. Otherwise, he will be more vulnerable.

Catarovka deserves special attention, which will allow the deep roots to grow stronger and take root.

To do this, you need to do the following:

Dig a small ditch around the grape trunk (up to 20 centimeters).
Remove all roots that are flush with the main root.
Prepare copper sulfate and process the slices.
Fill the dug with dry sand.
Loosen the soil around the vine and sprinkle with plenty of water.

The last thing you need to do is water the grape bush well. Experienced summer residents and gardeners call this process water-charging irrigation. Optimal time for such irrigation - the end of October or the beginning of November. If October is rainy, then water-charging irrigation will not be needed. Cover the shrub immediately afterwards.

How to prepare your vine for the winter and what to look out for

Proper preparation for winter is considered:

Regular inspection of vines for fungal infections.
Timely removal of damaged and dry branches.
Treatment of the vineyard with fungicides (it is recommended to increase their dosage after harvest).
Feeding with mineral and organic fertilizers.

It is advisable not to delay with the shelter of the grape bushes. The more carefully they are covered, the more nutrients will be spent on strengthening life processes. Temperature also plays an important role. A warm shelter will better prepare the grapes for the upcoming frost.

Pay attention to whether the wood has matured in time. Greenish wood will not only be unable to cope with winter conditions, but also create a lot of problems for the other part of the grapes through the appearance of fungal diseases and mold.

Matured wood is colored brown and can emit a slight crackle when bent without deforming. A vine with such wood has a good chance of becoming immune even to severe frosts because it retains its warmth.

What you need for mature wood on the vine:

A suitable grape variety that ripens quickly under the climatic conditions of your area.
Maintaining the health of the grape bush.
Removing unnecessary and damaged branches.
Tracking the load of the vine. An overloaded vine noticeably delays the process of wood ripening.
Top dressing of grapes with the necessary fertilizers from potassium.
Nitrogen fertilizers should be applied until mid-summer. Otherwise, the grapes will start wasting their energy to create excess green mass.
Carrying out a thorough autumn minting (cutting off the shoots above the fifteenth leaf).

Important note! Minting should only be done after the growth of the grape bush has begun to slow down. The straight tops of the grapes indicate that the growth process has begun to degrade. If they are curved, then you need to wait a little longer.

After the final pruning of branches and katarovka, it is necessary to ensure good hiding place grape bush. You should carefully bend it down and tie it in such a way as not to deform its branches. Given the changing weather conditions, grape shelter may occur on different calendar days.

It is not necessary to rush to the grape bushes to shelter them from the first frost. Such hardening will only benefit them, because the vine will get stronger and get a certain resistance to cold.

Those shoots that you cut and pre-processed copper sulfate, should be placed on the ground and fixed in position with staples. This should be done with extreme care. It is better if there is a litter of dry branches and leaves under them.

From above, wooden boards with bee keepers can flaunt. This will increase the space around the stems and provide additional frost protection. After that, you need to cover the shields with any waterproof material. For example, polyethylene or roofing felt. Be sure to cover dry twigs or a small amount of earth to prevent the material from being blown away by the wind.

Summing up

Taking care of a grape bush is very difficult task not only for beginners, but also for experienced gardeners and summer residents. The main thing is the sequence of actions and conscientious work.

With the passage of time and the accumulation of experience in this area, one can be convinced that it is possible to prepare grapes for winter, both by proven and by our own methods.

The cultivation of grapes consists of several important stages. One of these stages is the preparation and storage of grape cuttings. In the article we will consider?

Harvesting grape cuttings for the winter

It has long been known that the main principle of grape propagation is with the help of cuttings. Grape cuttings take root quickly, the seedlings obtained from them have all the varietal characteristics of the grapes used. Storage of grape cuttings in winter requires their preliminary preparation.

Grape cuttings for the winter begin to be harvested in the fall. Grape cuttings in the autumn period are characterized by a wide variety of choices, the cost of grape cuttings in autumn is cheaper. The size of the grape cuttings, which are laid for winter storage, should be 30-40 cm. Each such cuttings must have at least 3 buds.

It is necessary to harvest cuttings from the bushes of the required variety. Bushes must be strong and have high yields. Storage of grape cuttings in winter on preparatory stage requires careful selection of planting material. The material should not be damaged by diseases, should be mature and not frozen. Most the best option grape shoots for harvesting cuttings for the winter - last year's shoots that grew from the central bud.

Storage conditions for grape cuttings in winter

Storage of grape cuttings in winter is carried out in the basement or in a specially dug trench. The main condition is optimal temperature. The temperature for storing grape cuttings in winter should be between 0 and 4 ° C heat. An important condition is the humidity of the room - a humidity level of 60% is allowed.

If the humidity is higher, then there is a high probability of mold development. Storage of grape cuttings in winter should be carried out in a room that is well ventilated and regularly disinfected. To prevent the development of mold in grape cuttings preserved in winter, it is necessary to put grape cuttings for a few minutes in a solution of copper sulfate before storing.

After treatment with a solution of copper sulfate, it is necessary to a short time leave the grape cuttings in the air. They will become chapped and darkened, you should not be afraid of such an effect. After drying, you can put the cuttings for long-term storage.

Storage of grape cuttings in winter is carried out depending on the volume planting material... If the amount of planting material is small, then you can arrange the cuttings in a separate wooden box, having previously poured sand on the bottom with a layer of 15 cm.The cuttings are laid out in rows, each row must be sprinkled with a layer of sand 4 cm thick.

Storing grape cuttings in this way requires constant control of the moisture content of the sand. If the sand dries up, then you need to moisten it with water. In the event that the sand is too wet, it is necessary to ventilate the room well, remove the cuttings from the box, change the sand to dry.

Once during the whole winter, it is necessary to shift the grape cuttings from place to place to avoid mold and decay. In this case, those cuttings that were located at the bottom of the box with sand must be placed at the top. The upper cuttings, on the contrary, are placed at the bottom. In early spring, the temperature in storage with grape cuttings should be carefully monitored. The temperature should not be too high to avoid premature buds and sprouting.

Storing grape cuttings in trenches

Grape cuttings for the winter in the absence of a large basement, it is necessary to store it in a specially prepared trench dug into the ground. The depth of the trench for grape cuttings must be at least 1m. The width of the trenches should be slightly greater than the width of the grape cuttings. In such trenches, you can place up to 5 thousand cuttings.

It is necessary to arrange trenches for storing grape cuttings in elevated places where there is no close location Wastewater... It is advisable to drain the trenches before laying the cuttings. It is recommended to disinfect the walls of the trench with a special solution of lime before laying the cuttings. The bottom of the trench must be covered with a layer of sand 10 cm thick.

Before laying, the cuttings are collected in bundles, they are laid in a trench, having previously been treated with a solution of copper sulfate. It is necessary to spread the cuttings horizontally or vertically in a prepared trench. Each layer of grape cuttings must be sprinkled for reliability with earth or sand. The cuttings must be installed vertically with the lower ends down.

The top layer of grape cuttings is 25 cm below the ground line. Each such trench must be equipped with a drainage ditch. If there are bunches of grapes in one trench different varieties, it is necessary to separate each individual variety with sand or earth. Cuttings in a trench should not be shifted from place to place in winter.

Now we know how to store grape cuttings in winter... You can use more rare methods - storing cuttings in a bucket or in plastic bottle with a cut off bottom. In any case, it is necessary to follow the rules for storing grape cuttings in winter in order to preserve the useful qualities and varietal characteristics of the planting material.

What grape varieties are suitable for long-term storage

The keeping quality of grape bunches depends primarily on the density and degree of ripeness of the berries, as well as on the level of sugar in them. The most persistent are mid- and late-ripening varieties of dark color, covered with a thin waxy coating (pruin). It protects fruits from pest damage, drying out and mechanical stress.

Bunches intended for long-term storage should be loose, with large, absolutely whole berries, firmly sitting on the stalks. Unripe grapes, like overripe ones, quickly deteriorate. Sugar content of berries is no less important - the higher it is, the better performance keeping quality.

Optimal for winter storage the following varieties:

Moldova
Hamburg and Alexandrian Muscat
Moldavian black
In memory of Negrul
Senso
Taifi pink
Alden
Lydia

They are weakly susceptible to the action of fungal infections, retain their taste and aroma for 4–6 months, and do not lose their original color for a long time.

We collect and grow correctly - we store for a long time. Agrotechnical secrets

The choice of a particular grape variety is not a guarantee of its excellent keeping quality. Growing conditions are of great importance, and most importantly, the collection of this valuable berry.

Over-watering negatively affects the shelf life of the grapes. Therefore, 40–45 days before harvesting, the irrigation of the bushes is completely stopped. As a result, the berries lose unnecessary moisture, and the sugar content in them increases.
Part of the bunches (up to 25%) are removed from the bushes, which improves the keeping quality of the remaining crop. If the vine is not unloaded in a timely manner, the berries will begin to crumble and wither. The possibility of storing the fruit will be in question.
The grapes need to be properly "fed". Nitrogen fertilizers - mineral or organic, applied to large quantities, will not allow the picked berries to lie for a long time. But phosphorus-potassium compounds increase the sugar content of the fruit and extend their shelf life.
The fruits must be protected from fungal and viral diseases - the affected specimens will quickly deteriorate.
Grapes are harvested on a sunny day, trying to transfer the cut bunches to the shade as soon as possible. Early morning and late evening are not suitable due to dew loss.
If the crop is planned to be stored in a suspended state, the grape bunch is cut in place with a fragment of the vine, 7 - 9 cm long.
For packing in boxes, only bunches with a comb are needed.
In order not to damage the valuable wax coating, the pickers work in thin gloves and try not to touch the berries with their fingers.

How to keep grapes in the cellar for the winter

Before storing, all the bunches are carefully examined and damaged, dry, rotten or unripe fruits are removed with tweezers (or scissors with rounded ends).

Attention!

It is impossible to wash the grapes - it will lose its natural wax coating and deteriorate faster.

The cellar (or basement) is prepared in advance, since the culture is capricious and requires special conditions. Her main enemies: high humidity, improper air temperature, mold and pests.

The room must be well ventilated. Additional ventilation will be required from time to time. This is the only way to protect against dampness and mold.
If the temperature in the cellar drops below zero in winter, it will have to be insulated, since grapes are best stored at + 1 ° C - 8 ° C. Higher values are not suitable: the berries will lose moisture and dry out.
Air humidity should be 80%.
By installing a bucket of charcoal, sawdust or quicklime, you can make the air drier.
To avoid the appearance of mold on the walls, it is recommended to whitewash the room with lime. And in the fight against pests, fumigation with sulfur or treatment with quicklime vapors will help. Disinfection is carried out a month before laying the crop for storage, in order to avoid poisoning of the grapes with poisonous substances.
Do not store crops next to strong-smelling foods. Vegetables are also not better neighborhood for grapes. Some of them, for example, potatoes and zucchini, release moisture, which has a detrimental effect on the condition of the berries.

After all preparatory work, the grapes are placed in the cellar for the winter. This is done in several ways.

Storage in containers with water

This method is suitable for small crop volumes. The bunches are cut with the vine, the long end of which is then placed in a water-filled bottle or other narrow vessel. The container is fixed at an angle so that grape cluster hung loosely. A tablet of activated charcoal or aspirin is added to the water - they will prevent putrefactive bacteria from multiplying and will maintain the freshness of the berries.

From time to time it is necessary to make a new cut on the vine, then it will more actively absorb nutrients.

In this form, the berries are stored for at least 2 months.

On a wire

Bunches of grapes are tied in pairs with twine, wrapping around the comb. Then the crop is hung on a well-stretched wire, ropes or wooden poles. So that the bunches do not touch each other, the supports are placed at different heights.

This method works well for spacious rooms where there is a lot of storage space.

The grapes remain fresh and do not lose their taste for about 3 months.

Under the bunches, you need to stretch burlap or polyethylene so as not to crush the berries that are crumbling to the floor. Otherwise, a vinegar fly will start on the damaged fruits, which will infect the rest of the crop with bacteria.

In boxes or wooden tubs

A layer of sawdust is spread on the bottom of the container, 2 - 3 cm thick, grapes are placed on them so that the bunches do not touch each other. The tub or box is filled to the top, alternating fruits and bulk material, and then close the lid, but loosely, trying not to disrupt the air exchange. The last layer is the sawdust.
Before laying grapes for storage, it is recommended to fumigate the container with sulfur.

You should not use pine or spruce sawdust - they negatively affect the taste of the berries, it is better to choose linden or poplar. Cork powder is considered an ideal filler, if possible, it is recommended to give preference to it.

Another option - low (with a side up to 20 cm) boxes are lined with straw, clean paper or natural fabric, on which clusters of berries are placed in one layer, with the ridges up.

Grapes are stored in containers for a relatively short time: only 1.5 - 2 months. This is due to fungal infections that often infect berries. To protect the crop, it is recommended to inspect it every 2 to 3 weeks and remove spoiled fruits.

On shelves

Racks for storing grapes should have a depth of about 80 cm, then the grapes will be conveniently turned over or taken out.

The optimal distance between the shelves is from 25 to 30 cm. Straw is usually used as a softening bedding, but this is not The best decision... It is more correct to take straw ash, which is an excellent antiseptic and protects well against pests, fungus or odors.

The bunches are laid in one row with the ridges away from themselves, so that it is easier to inspect the crop for damage or rot.

How to properly store grapes at home. General recommendations

The grapes gradually lose water and wither slightly, becoming less sweet at the same time. You can remedy the situation by dipping the berries for 10 seconds in 20% sugar syrup, and then immediately immersing them in cold water until it cools completely.
The warmer it gets in the room where the crop is stored, the more often you need to inspect the bunches.
Regulate the temperature with vents.
If the room gets too cold (below 0 ° C), it should be warmed up.
The grapes, laid on the shelves, are inspected, carefully grasping the comb. They try not to pick up bunches in containers with water or on ropes without the need at all. Fruits from boxes or tubs during the check are transferred to a clean container. If the storage conditions satisfy the necessary requirements, it is better to limit yourself to a superficial examination so as not to damage the delicate product.
Noticing that large volume the crop is affected by mold, the store is well ventilated and re-fumigated with sulfur.
Berries should not be in the light, because of this they lose their taste and aroma.

Best friend is the refrigerator

Cellar and other similar premises (basement, glazed balcony, summer cuisine and so on) - not the best place for long-term storage of grapes. It is difficult to maintain a constant temperature and humidity regime in them and it is far from always possible to effectively destroy pests.

With a relatively small harvest, you can store the grapes in the refrigerator - this method is considered optimal. Under industrial conditions, the berries are placed in sealed chambers with a controlled gas environment. At home, a "freshness zone" with a temperature of 0 ° C - + 2 ° C and a humidity of at least 90% is quite suitable. In such a department, the grapes will lie for 5 - 6 months without losing their taste and nutritional qualities.

The grapes do not need to be washed before placing them in the refrigerator. The bunches are laid in one layer, comb up, trying not to touch each other. Do not wrap delicate fruits in polyethylene, this will lead to mold.

Freezing grapes

Another good way"Prolong life" delicious and useful berries... The main thing is not to expose them to repeated exposure. low temperatures... Dark grape varieties last longer than light ones, although any variety of this crop is suitable for freezing.

The bunches are cleaned of debris and damaged berries, after which they are thoroughly washed under running water and dried.
They are laid out on a tray and kept in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Then placed in a freezer for 30 minutes. They take it out, pack it in portions into containers and completely freeze it.

You can use not only whole brushes, but also individual berries. It is much more convenient when preparing desserts. Light varieties are frozen in sweet syrup: for 1 glass of sugar - 2 glasses of water (it is imperative to adhere to the specified proportion).

The refrigerating chamber should be kept at a temperature of -24 ° C, only it is suitable for long-term storage of grapes.

When defrosting, the berries are placed in cool water for about an hour. You need to eat the fruits immediately. However, it is more correct to first hold the grapes on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, for 10 - 18 hours. Defrosting will be smoother, due to which the taste of the product will be brighter and richer.

Grapes are a wonderful gift of nature, which can and should be consumed not only in season. When stored properly at home, it is quite possible to serve fragrant bunches to New Year's table, or even please loved ones or guests in early spring... Of course, you have to put in a lot of effort, but the result is definitely worth it!

Useful video

O correct collection grapes and storage method until the New Year.

Many years of experience have shown that the highest survival rate and the greatest growth of vegetative bushes in subsequent years is obtained from their own planting material. For survival and further development grape seedling is significantly affected by the duration of postage, the difference in climatic, soil and other growing conditions, etc. When the plant was "born" and transplanted to permanent place within one area, the picture is completely different, especially if it comes about an organic vineyard.

There are many ways to root a vine. This is both the cutting in the Chinese way, and indoor cuttings"On the water", cuttings in cups, moss, sawdust, etc. However, the most practical and less troublesome grape school in the open air.

How to choose a grape stalk for storage in winter and its further planting in a school

For the cultivation of own-rooted seedlings in the school, one-year three-eyed cuttings are used, cut in the fall from fruiting bushes during pruning. Cuttings are preferable to cut from the middle part of the vine, since it is there that the buds are most developed and more fruitful.

When choosing vines for cutting cuttings, which will become seedlings in the near future, first of all, you should pay attention to the degree of their ripeness. Usually, a ripe vine has a bright, light Brown color, hard tissue and crackles when bent. An unripe vine in most cases has a dirty green color and a wrinkled surface - such a vine is not suitable for cuttings.

The bush from which the cuttings are cut should not be affected by fungal diseases such as mildew, oidium, etc. The vine on such a bush, as a rule, has gray-brown spots, a specific smell and is completely or partially immature. When pruning, such a vine must be removed from the vineyard and burned, leaving only healthy shoots on the bush. These healthy shoots can also be used for cutting cuttings.

Ashes after burning diseased vines can be used to fertilize grapes and other crops, but the affected vine should never be used in compost and mulch for obvious reasons. Only by putting it on fire can you benefit from it for the vineyard. Also unsuitable for grafting a vine with mechanical damage to the bark, buds and core.

The timing of cutting the cuttings usually coincides with the autumn pruning of the grapes. For a covering vineyard, this is usually the end of October - the beginning of November (in the central and northern regions Ukraine), mainly after the first autumn frosts or natural leaf fall, but not earlier, since in October there is an outflow of nutrients from the leaves into the woody part of the bush, and there is no need to lose these substances.

When harvesting cuttings, one must take into account such an important circumstance as the preservation of moisture in the tissues. It is believed that moisture loss below 35% of the wet weight of the cuttings will kill 50% of the buds. A stalk that has lain in the sun without shelter for 5 hours has zero survival rate. To avoid such embarrassment, immediately after cutting, we place the cuttings in water for 6-8 hours, tie them into bundles, ventilate them a little and, after processing with a manual sprayer "phytodoctor" according to the instructions, put them in storage.

And yet, as practice has shown, cuttings of double length retain moisture better during storage. That is, we cut them into 6-8 eyes, and in the spring before planting we cut them into three-eyed ones.

There are many ways to store harvested grape cuttings in winter. With time you will try some of them yourself; you will hear about the results of others from familiar winegrowers. But we will focus on two, the most reliable and simple ones. And, of course, effective ones.

The first method of storing grape cuttings

We prepare the cuttings as mentioned above and put them in bundles in a plastic bag, sprinkling with wet sawdust. We tie the bag loosely, leaving room for the cuttings to breathe. After that, we place the bag with cuttings for long-term storage in the cellar.

The storage temperature of cuttings should be within 2… 4 ° С. Usually a cellar, which was dug according to the standard scheme, fully meets these requirements. Plus or minus a couple of degrees is permissible and will not significantly affect the storage of cuttings.

It should be emphasized, just in case, that it is better to use a cellar to store grape cuttings in winter, but by no means a basement multi-storey building where heat communications are likely to take place. The temperature in such basements is usually much higher than necessary for storing cuttings. In such conditions, they begin to breathe actively and waste nutrients, as a result, in best case very weak seedlings will turn out.

But if the temperature in the basement or garage corresponds to the above, then why not store the seedlings there? Just do not forget to visit sometimes and check the moisture content of the sawdust. Dried - sprinkle with water, but do not overdo it, sawdust should be wet, but not wet. And do not forget to attach a tag with the name of the grape variety to each bunch of cuttings to avoid misgrading.

The second way to store grape cuttings

Suitable for those who procure a large amount of planting material, as well as for summer residents who live in the city and do not have a cellar on the site, but there is a basement, but warm. The essence of this method is that the rooting material is stored directly on the site in a specially prepared trench.

When choosing a place for a trench, preference should be given to protected places with a slight hill: near a fence, a shed or other outbuildings.

The elevation is needed so that melt water or rain does not flood the storage with cuttings.
An obstacle for extraneous moisture can also be a groove dug around the wintering trench with water drainage towards the natural slope.
If you are not too lazy and dig a longer groove, then the water taken away from the pit with the cuttings can be directed to the beds marked for the future - let them store moisture for the summer.

The size of the wintering trench depends on the amount of harvested vines. Usually the depth of such a trench is 50 cm, and the length and width can be arbitrary. We put the cut cuttings, previously tied into bundles with tags, on the bottom of the wintering trench, after sprinkling the bottom with a 5-cm layer of wet sand. We fill the storage with bunches of cuttings, while trying to tightly fit the bunch to the bunch and pour 7-8 cm of wet (but not wet!) Sand on top. Finally, pour 25-30 cm of soil over the sand, which was taken out of the pit. Simple and convenient.

If you wish, you can put a light canopy over the pit - for example, a piece of roofing material or a sheet of slate. The downward sloping edge of the slate can be positioned above the water drainage groove and it will flow to our beds. Excess moisture for the beds is not a hindrance, especially if our garden is maintained according to an organic principle, then the beds, like a sponge, will absorb moisture precious to them. And then we need to water less.

The third way to store grape cuttings

Extraordinarily simple but effective. It is more suitable for those who want to root some cuttings, since they will be stored in a regular household refrigerator. "Few cuttings" is, of course, a relative term.

In an ordinary household refrigerator, you can store about 200 grape cuttings without hesitation for food, and this, believe me, is a lot for a summer resident. By the way, take a note, you can also successfully store seed potatoes.

After cutting, wrap the cuttings in a wet, clean natural fabric, put in a clean plastic bag and put on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. We leave a small hole in the bag for air access and periodically, as the cloth dries, we moisten it with water. Sometimes it may be necessary to change the cloth - the smell will tell you everything.

The main thing in this method is refrigerator compartment not to be confused with a freezer, otherwise anything can happen.

With the onset of spring, we begin to prepare for planting grape seedlings c.

In the conditions of the Russian climate, preparing grapes for winter is very an important milestone, because you need not only to correctly perform all the necessary procedures, but also to choose the most suitable time for this. It is worth making a mistake with the timing, and you can face freezing or damping of the vineyard.

The ability of grape bushes to tolerate well the cold season largely depends on how carefully they were looked after throughout the season. Affected by diseases, weakened grapes with unripe wood are unlikely to be able to survive the frosts, so even in spring you need to think about how to preserve the grapes for the winter.

Regularly inspect the bushes throughout the season and fight fungal diseases in a timely manner by treating the vineyard with fungicides and cutting out damaged branches. After picking berries, you can apply one and a half or even a double dose. chemical agent so that the plants concentrate their strength on ripening and leave healthy during the winter.

Video about the rules for preparing grapes for winter

The longer the grapes lie under cover, and the warmer the temperature in the shelter, the more nutrients are consumed by the plant to maintain important life processes. In addition, by spring, the roots and vines should have a sufficient supply of food for the development of young shoots in early spring. Your task: do not forget complex mineral fertilizers and organic, as well as conduct foliar feeding several times per season.

Healthy vines with a thickness of 6 to 13 mm ripen and winter best, especially if the core occupies no more than a third of the diameter of the vine. Such vines have accumulated enough nutrients for a successful wintering.

The resistance of grapes to frost largely depends on whether the wood has matured. The ripe vine is brown in color, remains warm during frost and emits a characteristic crackle when bent, without breaking. Scourges with unripe greenish wood should be removed during autumn pruning, since they not only do not winter, but also create a risk of damage to the covered grapes by fungi and mold.

In the photo grapes

How to achieve full ripening of grape wood:

choose varieties that mature well in your region;
monitor the health of the grape bushes;
thin out the grapes and remove unnecessary branches;
maintain an optimal load on the vines (the more bunches, the later the wood will ripen);
feed the vineyard potash fertilizers and ash - potassium is very important for the ripening of the vine;
exclude nitrogen fertilizers from mid-summer, so that the strength of the plant does not go to the formation of unnecessary green mass;
carry out the autumn minting, cutting off the shoots above the 15th leaf.

It is necessary to carry out the chasing of shoots during the period of slowing down the growth of grapes. You can determine this period by the tops: if they are straightened, it means that the growth processes have begun to decline, and the curved tops indicate active growth. Start chasing when the bushes have both curved and straight tops.

The photo shows the chasing of grapes

So, during the summer you have diligently looked after the vineyard, keeping the plants healthy. With the onset of autumn, it was time to start preparing the grape bushes for hiding for the winter. To do this, you have to prune shoots, catarovate the roots and carry out water charging.

Immediately after harvesting the grapes, do not rush to cut off the fruiting branches, give the plants the opportunity to slightly replenish the supply of nutrients and get stronger. Pruning too early will noticeably reduce the winter hardiness of the grapes, so experienced growers are advised to start pruning with the onset of the first frost (usually at the end of October).

The main purpose of autumn pruning is to free the plant from vines that have already borne fruit. Instead, a fruit arrow and a replacement knot are left on each sleeve. Also, all diseased, damaged, old sleeves and unripe vines are removed. You can read more about the rules and important subtleties on our website.

Photo of grape pruning

The next step will be katarovka or destruction of the dew roots of the grapes, which grow at the surface of the earth, on the underground part of the grape trunk. Catarovka is necessary in order for the deep roots to get stronger and take root well. The procedure is simple:

dig a groove up to 20 cm deep around the stem;
cut off all the roots flush with the main root;
process the sections with copper sulfate;
fill the groove with dry sand;
spud the bush and water, as trimming the superficial roots causes the plant to have a strong need for moisture.

Of particular importance for the successful wintering of grapes are water-charging irrigation. They are held in October or November, just before the bushes are covered. However, the need for water-charging irrigation is no longer necessary if October turned out to be rainy.

In the photo, one of the ways to hide grapes

Immediately after pruning and katarovka, without waiting for frost, you should start tying and bending the grape bushes. Calendar dates can vary greatly, as weather conditions change every year. The main thing is that the grapes survive the first frosts open, then the vines will be hardened and will be more resistant to cold weather.

Remove the grape shoots cut and treated with copper sulfate from the trellis and lay them on the ground, carefully pinning them with staples. It is advisable to spread dry plant material under the vines (spruce branches, leaves, branch trimmings). Place rimmed wooden boards over the vines to leave some space around the stems. You can cover the shields with tarpaulin, polyethylene, roofing felt or other waterproof material. And on top, additionally throw rags, or pour a small layer of earth.

Video about preparing grapes for winter