Autumn processing of grapes and pruning

The harvest and the life span of grapes are largely due to proper care, timely processing of bushes from various diseases, proper pruning and preparation for winter. Experienced gardeners know that the autumn processing of grapes has its own specifics. It is in the conduct of disinfection measures, allowing to overcome existing diseases and prevent infection of healthy bushes.

Why you need to process grapes

The summer is over, the harvest in the vine bushes is practically cut off. After fruiting, the bush of the grapes becomes weak, as the forces are spent on ripening the brushes. At this time on the vine, buds forming the next year's harvest are formed. The next task of gardeners will be processing of grapes after harvesting, when you can not be afraid to use processed berries. Especially it concerns the early varieties. Do not wait for the middle of the autumn for treatment 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 these problems.

Preparing grapes for winter

The harvest of the next year largely depends on the condition of the bush after winter, on the correct placement of generative buds, and on the prevention of vine diseases. The health of the vine depends on the quality of all stages of growing grapes.

Here are the main factors affecting the winter season:

- the state of health of the bush;

- a sufficient number of useful substances;

- matured xylem of the vine;

- correct autumn pruning and processing of grapes;

- High-quality warming of the bush.

If the plant is infected with infectious diseases, the quality of the winter period becomes much worse. Some pathogens continue to destroy the plant in winter and under snow, and in the spring such bushes will develop poorly and they will clearly show signs of a grape disease.

If the bushes of the grapes were not overgrown, gardeners carried out preventive treatment of grapes in the spring, then in autumn such bushes will be quite suitable for quality wintering.

Processing of grapes for the winter consists in spraying infected bushes with fungicides of systemic action. This will help reduce the harmful effect of the causative agent, the vines will have more chances to accumulate more nutrients, which then go to the underground part of the bush, which contributes to a better ripening of the vine xylem. After all, in the winter time, the bush will exist due to stored substances, and thanks to these stocks, new shoots will grow in spring.

Diseases of grapes

Diseases of grapes can be divided into two categories: caused by infection and non-infectious nature. Diseases of a non-infectious nature are not transmitted from a diseased bush to a healthy plant. Such diseases arise because of the high content of acids and salts in the soil and the lack of alkalis. Another reason for the disease may be a small content of nutrients and moisture in the soil, as well as various violations of the integrity of the vine. The cause of the diseases can be various mites, tortellaria, snails and slugs.

Shrubs affected by non-infectious diseases become weak, their yield decreases. To such plants infection can easily attach. These can be pathogens such diseases as anthracnose, oidium, powdery mildew false, gray or white rot.

Grape anthrax is caused by parasitic fungi, which begin to multiply in conditions of high humidity on leaves, branches and inflorescences, appear as brownish spots that go to ulcers, which leads to tissue death.

The most harmful disease is powdery mildew, caused by obligate mushrooms, which also begin to actively spread in wet weather conditions. 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 prone to infection, which in many ways reduces the yield of the bush.

Powdery mildew or oidium is similar to a downy mildew, only the plant is still covered with gray-white dust, with time the affected parts of the plant die, 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 brownish-purple spots, which are then softened. Such fruits or parts of the shoot shrink.

Gray rot of grapes infects all parts of the grape bush. 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 processing of grapes affected by an infectious disease consists in spraying a bush with chemicals that inhibit the growth and development of pathogenic fungi. By function, fungicides are divided into protective and fungicides for treatment. The first type is used for preventive purposes, so as not to allow the disease to spread on the bushes of grapes. Fungicides for treatment are already treated with infected plants to suppress the growth of harmful fungi.

Also distinguish fungicides of local action and systemic action. Locally acting fungicides do not get inside the grapes, but only the surface is disinfected, that is, they act in contact. The treatment with such substances should be carried out carefully, covering all areas of the plant, on the leaves applied on both sides, at least eight times a year. It is important to start using locally acting fungicides in time, otherwise they will not work.

In this case, you will have to use systemically acting substances, which, penetrating deep into the plant, disinfect the affected tissue. They are used after the first signs of the disease. Such fungicides excel locally acting in speed, more resistant to rinsing, which allows them to be used less often. To avoid addiction, chemical substances should alternate.

Iron and copper vitriol for processing grapes

Tested tools for processing vine bushes from molds and various types of mites are copper and iron vitriol.

Copper sulfate is a readily soluble in water powder of light blue color, used as a fungicide for the treatment of vines. For better effect, it can be combined with lime.

Autumn processing of grapes with copper sulphate is made after pruning shrubs. The vine is disinfected with copper sulfate, diluted in a concentration of 0.1 kg per ten-liter bucket of water. We must wait until the bush has dried, and only then close the vine for the winter.

Use also iron vitriol in a concentration of 0.6 kg per ten-liter bucket.

This processing of grapes for the winter with solutions of copper or iron vitriol allows the kill of infectious pathogens located on the outside of the shoots and is not suitable for neutralizing a deep-seated infection.

Preparations for processing of grapes

In addition to iron and copper sulfate, processing of grapes in autumn is carried out by other fungicides. So, against grape anthracnose, downy mildew, various kinds of rot, use substances of local and systemic action, such as "Bordeaux liquid", "Anthracolum", "Acrobat", "Ridomil".

To kill ticks, use colloidal sulfur and "Tiovit", and against tobacco leaf that infects the inflorescence, use tobacco dust or tincture of chamomile.

Grape processing scheme

One of the methods of preserving the health of the vine during the whole vegetative season is the correct tying of shoots, the steppe planting for thinning a bush, regular inspection of bushes for the presence of diseases. If any signs of the disease are identified, appropriate treatment with fungicides can be carried out. Cut the affected shoots and leaves, and then burn them.

Processing grape in autumn from disease is the final stage in the fight against disease.

After the fruits are harvested, the bushes are processed with chemicals for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

Features of pruning of grape bushes

Autumn processing of grapes from diseases has already been carried out. At the end of the vegetative period, it is necessary to take care of the pruning of the bush, since over the summer the vine has grown strongly, and in this form it is inconvenient to cover for the winter, it will take a lot of covering material. In addition, such a vine will be harder to mature, which will negatively affect wintering. It is better not to postpone pruning until the spring, because the sap flow will prolong healing of the cut wounds for a long time, the plant will become weaker.

It is best to trim in autumn, before the onset of frost. Frozen sprouts easily break with twisting, and the soil is difficult to dig.

On the young shoots of this year, slices make oblique, directed from the kidney. This will save the eyes from getting juice at the beginning of the new season. The cut is made so that there remains a piece of shoot over the kidney, this will not allow the shoot to dry out. If you remove annual stems on the main branches, then do not save pieces of young shoot. Sections should be even. Pruning the bush greatly affects the life of the grapes. Incorrect trimming leads to a long overgrowth of wounds.

Cutting equipment

For cutting grapes use such tools as garden shears, a hacksaw or a knife. All tools must be sharp. With garden scissors, it's better to cut off small branches and shoots this year, and last year's large ones are better than a hacksaw. Sections of the vine should not be flattened from the pruner.

Stages of pruning grapes

Correct circumcision can reanimate a weak, hopeless bush of grapes. In the beginning of autumn on the main shoots annual shoots are removed, the length of which reached half a meter from the ground, to the level of the first crossbar of the support. Shoots on the sleeves, growing above the second crossbar, are shortened by 10 percent of the total length. Also spend pasynkovanie.

In the middle of autumn, when the leaves were falling, the two most developed vines were chosen. Escape, grown from the bottom of the sleeve, shorten so that there are about four kidneys left. It will be a bitch for replacement. We form a fruit arrow from the shoot on the opposite side, on which we leave up to twelve kidneys. As a result of trimming, a bush is obtained from a trunk that grows vertically, and sleeves with eyes.

Pruning grapes before winter

Autumn processing of grapes using a pruner results in the formation of a bush ready for shelter for the winter. The suitable length of the main shoots is a segment with 12 buds. The number of kidneys is left with a margin, because they can be damaged during storage in the winter. In addition, this length will be optimal for binding shoots, their instillation into the ground or shelter.

Young bushes are cut using a short pruning, and for old bushes use an average pruning. Do not leave a lot of shoots, since the thickening of the bush leads to poor ventilation in the summer of next year.