The harvest and the lifespan of the vine 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 grape processing has its own specifics. It consists in carrying out disinfecting measures, allowing to overcome existing diseases and prevent the infection of healthy bushes.
Why do you need to process grapes
Summer is over, the harvest on the vine bushes is almost cut off. After fruiting, the grape bush becomes weak, as forces are spent on the maturation of the brushes. At this time, buds are formed on the vine, bearing the harvest of next year. 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 treatment to prevent the spread of disease.
Weakened plants are more susceptible to various fungal and infectious diseases, so grape processing in September will help to cope with these problems.
Preparing grapes for the winter
The harvest of the next year largely depends on the condition of the bush after winter, on the proper laying of generative buds, on the prevention of vine diseases. The health of the vine depends on the quality of all stages of grape growing.
Here are the main factors affecting the winter season:
- the health status of the bush;
- a sufficient amount of nutrients;
- ripened xylem of the vine;
- correct autumn pruning and processing of grapes;
- high-quality insulation of the bush.
If the plant is affected by infectious diseases, the quality of the winter period becomes much worse. Some pathogens continue to destroy the plant in the winter under the snow, and in the spring such bushes will develop poorly and they will clearly show signs of a grape ailment.
If the grape bushes were not overgrown, gardeners carried out preventive treatment of grapes in the spring, then in the autumn 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 to reduce the harmful effect of the causative agent of the disease, the vine will have a better chance of accumulating more nutrients, which will then go to the underground part of the bush, which contributes to better ripening of grape xylem. Indeed, in the winter, the bush will exist due to the stored substances, and also due to these reserves in the spring, new shoots will grow.
Grape diseases
Grape diseases can be divided into two categories: caused by infection and non-infectious. Non-infectious diseases are not transmitted from a diseased bush to a healthy plant. Such diseases arise due to the increased content of acids and salts in the soil and a lack of alkalis. Another cause of the disease may be a low content of nutrients and moisture in the soil, as well as various violations of the integrity of the vines. The cause of the disease can be various ticks, leafworms, snails and slugs.
Bushes affected by non-infectious diseases become weak, their productivity decreases. Such plants can easily become infected. These can be causative agents of diseases such as anthracnose, oidium, powdery mildew, gray or white rot.
Grape anthracnose is caused by parasitic fungi, which begin to multiply under conditions of high humidity on leaves, branches and inflorescences, appear in the form of brownish spots that turn into ulcers, which leads to the death of tissues.
Powdery mildew, caused by obligate mushrooms, which also begin to spread actively in humid weather, is considered the most harmful disease. Manifested 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 tissue drying out. Inflorescences and fruits are also susceptible to infection, which greatly reduces the yield of the bush.
Powdery mildew or oidium is similar to false mealy, only the plant is strewn with gray-white dust even more, 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-purple spots, which are then made soft. Such fruits or parts of the shoot dry out.
The gray rot of the grape infects all parts of the grape bush. The affected areas become brown with a grayish fluffy coating, which also leads to the death of infected tissues.
Chemical treatment of vines with fungicides
Autumn processing 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 fungicides for treatment. The first type is used for preventive purposes in order to prevent the disease from spreading to vine bushes. Already infected plants are treated with fungicides for treatment in order to suppress the growth of harmful fungi.
Also distinguish fungicides of local action and systemic action. Locally acting fungicides do not enter the grapes, but only disinfect the surface, that is, they act in contact. Processing 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, it is necessary to apply systemically active substances, which, penetrating deep into the plant, disinfect the affected tissue. They are used after the manifestation of the first signs of the disease. Such fungicides are superior to locally acting in terms of speed of action, more resistant to flushing, which allows them to be used less often. To avoid getting used to it, alternate chemicals.
Iron and copper sulfate for processing grapes
Proven means for processing grape bushes from molds and various types of mites is copper and iron sulfate.
Copper sulfate is a light blue powder that is highly soluble in water and is used as a fungicide for processing vines. For the best effect can be combined with lime.
Autumn processing of grapes with copper sulphate is performed after pruning the bushes. The vine is disinfected with copper sulfate, diluted in a concentration of 0.1 kg per ten-liter bucket of water. You need to wait until the bush dries, and only then close the vine for the winter.
Iron sulfate is also used in a concentration of 0.6 kg per ten-liter bucket.
Such winter treatment of grapes with solutions of copper or iron sulfate allows you to kill infectious pathogens located on the outside of the shoots and is not suitable for the neutralization of deep-seated infection.
Grapes
In addition to iron and copper sulfate, the processing of grapes in autumn is carried out by other fungicides. So, against local anthracnose, downy mildew, various types of rot, local and systemic substances are used, such as Bordeaux liquid, Antracol, Acrobat, Ridomil.
To destroy ticks, colloidal sulfur and Tiovit are used, and tobacco dust or chamomile tincture is used against the leafworm, which affects inflorescences.
Grape Processing Scheme
One of the methods to maintain the health of the grape bush throughout the growing season is to properly tie up the shoots, pinching the vines to thin out the bush, and regularly inspect the bushes for diseases. If any signs of the disease are detected, appropriate treatment with fungicides can be carried out. Cut off affected shoots and leaves, and then burn them.
Processing grapes in the fall from disease is the final step in the fight against disease.
After the fruits are harvested, the bushes are treated with chemicals for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Features pruning grape bushes
Autumn processing of grapes from diseases has already been carried out. At the end of the growing season, it is necessary to take care of pruning the bush, as the vine has grown a lot during the summer, and as such it is inconvenient to shelter 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 negatively affect wintering. It is better not to postpone the pruning of bushes until spring, since due to an increase in sap flow, cut wounds will heal for a long time, the plant will become weaker.
It is best to trim in the fall, before the onset of frost. Frozen shoots easily break when twisted, and the soil is difficult to dig.
On the young shoots of this year, the slices are made oblique, directed from the kidney. This will save eyes from getting juice at the beginning of the new season. The slice 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 the annual stems on the main branches, then you should not save pieces of a young shoot. Slices should be even. Pruning a bush greatly affects the lifespan of grapes. Incorrect pruning leads to long wound healing.
Cutting equipment
For pruning grapes use tools such as garden scissors, a hacksaw or knife. All tools should be sharp. Garden clippers are better for trimming small branches and shoots of this year, and last year's large ones are better with a hacksaw. Slices of the vine should not be flattened from the secateurs.
Grape pruning steps
Proper pruning can reanimate a weak, hopeless grape bush. In early autumn, annual shoots are removed on the main shoots, 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 grew above the second crossbar shorten by 10 percent of the entire length. They also conduct stepsoning.
In mid-autumn, when the leaves showered, the two most developed vines were chosen. The shoot growing from the bottom of the sleeve is shortened so that about four buds remain. It will be a knot for substitution. We form a 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 using secateurs 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 the winter. In addition, this length will be optimal for binding shoots, burying them in the ground or sheltering.
Young shrubs are trimmed using short pruning, and medium pruning is used for older shrubs. You should not leave a lot of shoots, as bush thickening leads to poor ventilation in the summer of next year.