Pruning grapes in autumn - a diagram and instructions for beginners

The ultimate goal of any plant’s vegetation is to produce fruit for reproduction. Moreover, their number may be small. The main forces of the plant are directed to the formation of the vegetative mass. But the goals of the farmers are completely opposite, they are engaged in the formation and cutting, without which many plants can not get a good harvest. Therefore, pruning grapes in autumn is so important. This is the key to a plentiful harvest next year.

The structure and name of the parts of the vine

Winegrowers have their own professional terms, without which it will be difficult to navigate. Most of them relate to the structure of the grape bush. Like all plants, grapes consist of underground and aboveground parts.

Above ground are:

• the trunk of a grape bush, which is usually called a stem, is its length from the ground and branching point;
• at the top of the stem there is a thickening, which is the beginning of many years of branching, it is called the head of a bush;
• it is from the head that the branches branch, they are called sleeves or shoulders;
• the short two-year part of the sleeve, on which there are annual fruit shoots and knots of substitution, is called horns;
• the ripened annual stem is called the shoot or vine;
• if the shoot developed from the eye on last year’s vine, it is the main one; stepsons are called shoots growing from the axillary buds of green stems; in the Moscow region and the middle lane, a shoot is considered to be strong at least 2 m long;
• if the shoot has grown from a sleeping kidney on a sleeve or a stem, it is called a spinning top;
• those shoots that grow from sleeping buds located underground are called overgrown;
• if you shorten the annual shoot, leaving only 2-3 eyes, you get a knot of substitution, next year it will give rise to a new fruit link;
• the fruit link is a pair of shoots: a short knot of substitution and a one-year shoot - a fruit arrow left for fruiting.

Underground part of the vine bush:

• the part of the handle that is found underground is an underground booth;
• heel roots - those that extend from it in the lower part;
• roots that the rest of the underground stem is overgrown with: dew and median.

Why is it necessary to prune a vineyard in autumn

In preparation for winter, grapes enter the dormant stage, all metabolic processes in the plant slow down, so pruning is less painful. I must say that autumn pruning is preliminary. The final formation of the bush is carried out in the spring. They do this either before the sap flow begins, or when the leaves bloom, and the pressure of the juice in the shoots decreases.

If pruning is carried out immediately after the start of sap flow, the juice will flow out of the wounds, gluing adjacent kidneys, it will be difficult for them to dissolve. Such a cry of the vine can even lead to its death.

Where there is no need to cover the vines, pruning is always carried out in the spring, in the autumn, not mature shoots are simply cut.

There are several reasons for autumn pruning in the middle lane:

• the bush will become more compact, and shortened shoots will be much easier to bend to the ground for shelter;
• next year, the trimmed vine will have more crops, and the best quality berries;
• on a sparse bush, the berries will receive more sun, which will help them gain a high sugar content and ripen faster;
• this is disease prevention, as the diseased parts of the bush are removed first;
• pruned vine is better prepared for winter, will become more frost-resistant.

Choosing the right time for trimming in the suburbs

The roots of the grapes are much more sensitive to frost than the underground part, therefore, by the time of establishment of persistent frosts of about -6 degrees, the grapes should already be covered, cropping should be completed. We must not forget that at temperatures below 0 degrees the vine becomes fragile and easily breaks off. Such injuries heal longer than wounds from garden tools.

Even after leaf fall, plastic substances continue to flow from the stems to the roots. The more of them, the better the plants will survive the winter. If we talk about specific dates, grape pruning in the suburbs should be completed in the third decade of October, guided by the weather forecast. Most gardeners practice staged grape harvesting in the fall. At the first stage, in September, all unripe parts of the shoots are cut out and stepsons are removed. In October, the final pruning is already underway.

Important rules for pruning grapes for the winter in central Russia

Its rules have long been developed by winegrowers and do not depend on the location of the vineyard.

• In order for the cut on the branches to be absolutely smooth, the tool must be very sharpened.
• Branches thinner than 1.5 centimeters are conveniently cut with pruners. With thicker - delimbers or a garden saw can handle a hacksaw. From the practice of gardeners it is known that the cleanest cut is given by a hacksaw for metal.
• It is probably unnecessary to say that the entire tool needs to be disinfected so as not to transmit a possible disease from bush to bush.
• A slice made in one motion is always the smoothest.
• It must be carried out so that it is perpendicular to the trunk, in this case the wound area is the smallest.
• When cutting a branch, they never make a cut directly behind the eye, there should always be a stump no less than a centimeter high.
• The most important rule for pruning a bush: all slices look one way, best out of the bush. If it is not observed, the so-called horn cut will occur when the sap flow is disturbed in the shoot. The lifetime of such a horn is no more than 4 years, it will have to be replaced.
• The purpose of pruning is to form on the sleeve 1 or more, as the method of formation suggests, fruit links. They consist of one knot of substitution, cut it short, leaving 2 to 4 kidneys on it, and fruit arrows, one or more. The amount of kidneys left on them is dictated by the grape variety, usually from 6 to 12.
• After wintering, as a rule, it does not wake up to 20, and sometimes up to 30% of the eyes. Shoots growing from the eyes located at the base of the shooter are most often barren, in the spring they are removed. Given these numbers, there should always be a supply of eyes on the pruned vine. In practice, twice as many eyes are left for wintering than there were strong fruit vines. All unnecessary is removed in the spring.
• Grape growers adhere to this rule: the number of eyes is directly dependent on the thickness of the vine. On the thick - there are more of them.

When cutting the grapes, you need to remember that all the damage on any part of it grows very slowly, so you need to spare the bush.

Step-by-step instructions on how to cut grapes

In regions with frosty winters, stem-free grape culture is practiced. It is much easier to cover. A young and already ennobled shrub in the autumn is pruned differently.

In the first year of the planted cuttings, all forces should be directed to the development of the root system and the growth of wood. Most wine growers believe that at this age the bush does not need pruning. The formation of plants begin only next year.

But some recommend immediately after planting the cuttings to leave him with only two lower buds, and cut the rest, they will give life to two shoots. In the fall, one of them is cut short to form a knot of substitution from it, the second is shortened by an unripe growth, forming a fruitful arrow. Next year it can already give a signal crop.

The essence of the autumn pruning of the bush is to create a fruiting link for the next year’s crop and remove the rest of the already prolific part.

Pruning steps

1. After the leaves turn yellow from the grapes, we remove the stepsons and those shoots that have grown from sleeping buds on the underground and aboveground parts of the stem.
2. We form a knot of substitution. To do this, we mark the annual shoot on the sleeve, which is closest to the center of the bush. We cut it, leaving 2-4 kidneys.
3. We form a fruit arrow. For this, a shoot adjacent to the knot of substitution is suitable. On the fruit shooter there should be 6-12 eyes, their number depends on the variety. In a developed and strong bush, you can leave 2 or even more fruit arrows.
4. We cut off the rest of the sleeve, departing from the fruit arrow from 1 to 2 cm.

The formation of grapes is a creative process, it requires an individual approach to each bush.

Vineyard formation schemes for beginners

There are many schemes for the formation of a grape bush. When choosing a grape pruning scheme, the gardener is guided by his own considerations, varietal affiliation of the bush, climatic conditions.

The most popular formation patterns.

• Fan. It consists of many sleeves that are attached to the trellis at different angles. Such a scheme is easy to form, the bushes just take shelter for the winter, and the sleeves are easy to replace. The fan can be placed on one or on two trellises - a two-plane formation.
• The formation of the bowl. In this case, the trellises are not installed, but the sleeves are tied to the stakes, positioning them so that they form a bowl. The disadvantage of this method is the partial shading of the bush and its poor ventilation.
• At cordon formation on one shoulder there are several fruit links at once, so the sleeve is long.The cordon can be placed in one tier or in two, to form it obliquely, vertically or horizontally. If necessary, the cordon can be made and two shoulders. This scheme is more suitable for grape culture in the southern regions, there it is not covered.
• Guyo scheme. This is a classic of viticulture. Its essence is that each sleeve has a fruit link at the end. Distinguish 1 sleeve and 2 sleeve scheme.

Shelter of grapes for the winter - how to do it right

Even frost-resistant grapes are recommended to be covered for the first 3 years. Varieties with low resistance to frost should be covered annually. This procedure is preceded by pruning and hardening of the vine. She passes it for a week at low sub-zero temperatures. It is necessary to insulate the roots of the grapes, for which the area around the stem is mulched with a layer of soil, peat, humus with a thickness of at least 10 cm.With any method of sheltering, the vines are bundled and laid on the ground, be sure to put moisture-proof material under them: boards, pieces of roofing felt, plastic. This is necessary so that the grapes do not vypryvat from contact with moist ground. Now the vines can simply be sprinkled with earth. But with this method of shelter, the risk of getting the kidneys wet is high. Grape is more preserved when wintering in a dry air shelter. For its construction, bound vines are wrapped in several layers with a spanbond, then they are covered with dry leaves or spruce branches. So that the shelter does not get wet, you can put low arcs, on which you have to throw a plastic film. It is pressed to the soil with stones, necessarily leaving slots-vents for ventilation.