Grapes - grooming in autumn, preparation for winter

With the advent of autumn in the life of every wine grower, a hot season is coming. For the remaining days before the onset of cold weather, it is necessary to do a lot, because it depends on how correctly and in time the grapes are prepared for wintering, whether it will be able to survive the winter at all. About what activities for the preparation for the winter must necessarily include care for grapes in the fall, we'll talk today.

How to prepare the grapes for the winter?

The key to successful wintering of grapes will be the implementation of the following activities:

1. Rationing . It's no secret that grapes spend most of their energy on the formation and bringing to harvest ripeness. In addition, a lot of forces are taken away and the ripening of the vine itself. Unsighted vines, for the most part, are not able to survive the hibernation, freezing without shelter and extruding under it. Therefore, the most important task of the wine grower is to normalize the quantity of bunches so that the bush has enough strength to ripen the vines. If this is not done, then the harvest will be of poor quality, and most of the bush may die.
2. Introduction of feeding . Immediately after harvesting the grapes must be fed. To do this, you can use any organic fertilizer in a mixture with wood ash.
3. Deep watering . To form water reserves in autumn, it is necessary to produce a so-called "water-charging" watering of at least 3-4 buckets of water for each bush. The best time of this is the second decade of October.
4. Pruning . Before you cover the grapes for the winter, it must necessarily be cut off. As already mentioned above, only the ripened vine, which has a brown color, and which produces a characteristic crack when bending, is able to overwinter without loss. Unsighted, otplodosovshie, deformed and affected by the oidium whip must be ruthlessly cut. On each sleeve it is recommended to leave only a fruit arrow and a knot of substitution.
5. Treatment of pests and diseases . An excellent option, how to process grapes for the winter, is the application of cryptrotech ("MARS-universal", "Vympel"). They will not only increase the resistance of grapes to various diseases, but help them with less losses to endure frosts.
6. Arrangement of shelter . There are many options than to cover the grapes for the winter, but experience shows that it is better not to use airtight materials for these purposes. The dry shelter of grapes for the winter can be organized with the help of wooden shields.