Harvest and life span of grape bushes are largely due to proper care, timely treatment of bushes from various diseases, proper pruning and preparation for winter. Experienced gardeners know that autumn processing of grapes has its own specifics. It consists in carrying out disinfecting measures to overcome existing diseases and prevent infection of he althy bushes.
Why you need to process grapes
Summer is over, the harvest on the grape bushes is almost cut off. After fruiting, the grape bush becomes weak, as forces are spent on ripening brushes. At this time, buds are formed on the vine, bearing the next year's harvest. The next task of gardeners will be the processing of grapes after harvest, when you can not be afraid to use processed berries. This is especially true for early varieties. No need to wait until mid-autumn for processing to prevent the spread of disease.
Weakened plants are more susceptible to various fungal and infectious diseases, so processing grapes in September will help to cope with theseproblems.
Preparing grapes for winter
The next year's harvest largely depends on the state of the bush after winter, on the correct laying of generative buds, on the prevention of vine diseases. The he alth of the vine depends on the quality of all stages of grape growing.
Here are the main factors affecting the winter season:
- state of he alth of the bush;
- enough nutrients;
- ripened vine xylem;
- correct autumn pruning and processing of grapes;
- quality bush insulation.
If the plant is affected by infectious diseases, the quality of the winter period becomes much worse. Some pathogens continue to destroy the plant even in winter under snow, and in spring such bushes will develop poorly and show signs of grape disease.
If the grape bushes were not overgrown, gardeners carried out preventive treatments of grapes in the spring, then in the fall such bushes will be quite suitable for high-quality wintering.
Processing grapes for the winter consists in spraying infected bushes with systemic fungicides. This will help reduce the harmful effect of the pathogen, the vine will have a better chance of accumulating more nutrients, which will then move to the underground part of the bush, which contributes to better ripening of the grape xylem. Indeed, in winter, the bush will exist due to the stored substances, and also thanks to these reserves in the spring, new shoots will go togrowth.
Vine diseases
Vine diseases can be divided into two categories: caused by infection and non-infectious. Diseases of a non-infectious nature are not transmitted from a diseased bush to a he althy plant. Such diseases occur due to the increased content of acids and s alts in the soil and the lack of alkalis. Another cause of the disease can be a low content of nutrients and moisture in the soil, as well as various violations of the integrity of the vine. Diseases can be caused by various mites, leafworms, snails and slugs.
Shrubs affected by non-infectious diseases become weak, their yield decreases. Infections can easily attach to such plants. These can be pathogens of diseases such as anthracnose, oidium, downy mildew, gray or white rot.
Grape anthracnose is caused by parasitic fungi that begin to multiply in conditions of high humidity on leaves, branches and inflorescences, appear as brownish spots that turn into ulcers, which leads to tissue death.
The most harmful disease is downy mildew, caused by obligate fungi, which also begin to spread actively in wet weather. They appear on foliage, shoots in the form of round oily spots covered with white dust. Over time, the cells of such spots die, which leads to the drying of the tissue. Inflorescences and fruits are also susceptible to infection, which greatly reduces the yield of the bush.
Powdery mildew or oidium looks like downy mildewpowderiness, only the plant is even more strewn with gray-white dust, over time, the affected parts of the plant die off, including the ovary.
Another type of fungal infection is white and gray rot. White rot of grapes affects mainly berries and stems, manifests itself in the form of brown-violet spots, which then become soft. Such fruits or parts of the shoot shrink.
Grey rot of grapes infects all parts of the vine. The affected areas become brown with a grayish fluffy coating, which also leads to the necrosis of infected tissues.
Chemical treatment of vines with fungicides
Autumn treatment of grapes affected by an infectious disease consists in spraying the bush with chemicals that inhibit the growth and development of pathogenic fungi. By function, fungicides are divided into protective and treatment fungicides. The first type is used as a preventive measure to prevent the disease from spreading to vines. Fungicides for treatment are treated with already infected plants to suppress the growth of harmful fungi.
Fungicides of local action and systemic action are also distinguished. Locally acting fungicides do not get inside the grapes, but only disinfect the surface, that is, they act by contact. Treatment with such substances should be carried out carefully, covering all parts of the plant, applied to the leaves on both sides, at least eight times a year. It is important to start using topical fungicides in time, otherwise they will not work.
In this case, you will have toapply systemically active substances that, penetrating deep into the plant, disinfect the affected tissues. They are used after the first signs of the disease appear. Such fungicides are faster than topically acting, more resistant to washout, which allows them to be used less frequently. To avoid addiction, you should alternate chemicals.
Iron and copper sulfate for processing grapes
Copper and iron vitriol are considered to be proven means for treating vines from mold fungi and various types of mites.
Copper sulfate is a light blue powder, highly soluble in water, used as a fungicide for vines. For best effect, can be combined with lime.
Autumn processing of grapes with copper sulphate is done after pruning the bushes. The vine is disinfected with copper sulphate, diluted at a concentration of 0.1 kg per ten-liter bucket of water. You need to wait until the bush dries up, and only then close the vine for the winter.
They also use iron sulfate at a concentration of 0.6 kg per ten-liter bucket.
Such a treatment of grapes for the winter with solutions of copper or iron sulphate allows you to kill infectious pathogens located on the outside of the shoots, and is not suitable for neutralizing a deep-seated infection.
Preparations for processing grapes
In addition to iron and copper sulphate, the processing of grapes in the fall is also carried out with other fungicides. So, against grape anthracnose, downy mildew, various types of rot are usedsubstances of local and systemic action, such as "Bordeaux liquid", "Antrakol", "Acrobat", "Ridomil".
To destroy mites, they use colloidal sulfur and "Thiovit", and against the leafworm that affects the inflorescences, they use tobacco dust or chamomile tincture.
Grape processing scheme
One of the methods of maintaining the he alth of the grape bush throughout the growing season is the correct tying of the shoots, pinching the vine to thin out the bush, regular inspection of the bushes for diseases. If any signs of the disease are detected, appropriate fungicide treatment can be carried out. Cut off the affected shoots and leaves, and then burn them.
Processing grapes in autumn from diseases is the final step in the fight against diseases.
After the fruits are harvested, the bushes are treated with chemicals to prevent and treat infectious diseases.
Features of pruning grape bushes
Autumn processing of grapes from diseases has already been carried out. At the end of the growing season, it is also necessary to take care of pruning the bush, since over the summer the vine has grown a lot, and in this form it is inconvenient to cover it for the winter, a lot of covering material will be required. In addition, it will be harder for such a vine to mature, which will adversely affect wintering. It is better not to postpone cutting the bushes until spring, because due to the increase in sap flow, cut wounds will heal for a long time, the plant will become weaker.
Pruning is best done in the fall, before the onset of frost. Frozen shoots break easily when twisted, and the soil is hard to dig.
On young shoots of this year, cuts are made oblique, directed from the kidney. This will keep the eyes from getting juice at the beginning of the new season. The cut is made so that a piece of the shoot remains above the kidney, this will prevent the shoot from drying out. If you remove annual stems on the main branches, then you should not save pieces of the young shoot. The cuts must be even. Pruning a bush greatly affects the life of the grapes. Incorrect pruning leads to a long overgrowth of wounds.
Pruning supplies
To cut grapes, use such equipment as garden shears, a hacksaw or a knife. All tools must be sharp. It is better to cut small branches and shoots of this year with garden shears, and last year's large ones are better with a hacksaw. Vine cuts should not be flattened by the pruner.
Steps of grape pruning
Proper pruning can revive a weak, hopeless vine. At the beginning of autumn, on the main shoots, annual shoots are removed, the length of which has reached half a meter from the ground, to the level of the first crossbar of the support. Shoots on the sleeves that have grown above the second crossbar are shortened by 10 percent of the entire length. Stepchildren are also carried out.
In the middle of autumn, when the leaves have fallen off, choose the two most developed vines. We shorten the shoot that has grown from the bottom of the sleeve so that about four buds remain. This will be a knot for replacement. We forma fruit arrow from the shoot on the opposite side, on which we leave up to twelve buds. As a result of pruning, a bush is obtained from a trunk growing vertically and sleeves with eyes.
Pruning grapes before winter
Autumn processing of grapes with a pruner leads to the formation of a bush, ready for shelter for the winter. A suitable length of the main shoots will be a segment with 12 buds.
The number of kidneys is left with a margin, because they can be damaged during storage in winter. In addition, this length will be optimal for tying shoots, burying them in the ground or hiding them.
Young bushes are pruned using a short pruning, and for old bushes a medium pruning is used. You should not leave many shoots, as the thickening of the bush leads to poor ventilation in the summer of next year.
