How to prepare grapes for winter: advice from gardeners. Preparing grapes for winter - how to protect the vineyard from severe frosts? How to prepare young grapes for winter

Often gardeners are interested in how to prepare the grapes for winter in order to reap a good harvest next season. Viticulture in most of Russia is risky, as it is not uncommon for bushes to either freeze or rot. In the conditions of the Russian climate, the preparation of grapes for winter is considered an important stage on which the further life of the plant depends.

Let us consider in more detail where to start preparing the grapes for wintering, what is the best time to focus on and how to make shelters for the bushes.

Why hide grapes?

Often, the owners who grow grapes on the site do not understand why they need to be prepared for the winter, because this plant itself is quite frost-resistant. Grapes are resistant to frost. Strong stiff branches can easily survive a temperature drop to -20 ° C. At the same time, the root system survives when the soil freezes to -8°C. But it is worth considering the fact that in the middle lane it is possible to lower the temperature to -30 ° C or even to -40 ° C. In addition, each grape variety has its own frost tolerance threshold. There are varieties that need shelter if the temperature drops below -7°C. Therefore, with the onset of autumn frosts, it is advisable to cover the grapes for the winter.

You also need to consider that the vine will tolerate low temperatures well if it has matured, that is, it has become woody. To do this, young shoots must be hardened. Without adequate nutrition, hydration and lighting of the bushes, the ripening process can become more difficult. It is also necessary to remove the crop from the branches in a timely manner so that it does not burden the young branches.

For grapes, not only top dressing is very important, but also regular thinning. Do not be afraid to remove extra shoots and stepchildren. This is the key to good vine ripening. It is advisable to thin out the bush in the summer, but if you have not done this, then in the fall you need to not only cut the grapes, but also remove the extra shoots, break off the stepchildren.

No need to rush to shelter for young grapes. The first frosts will only kill green leaves and shoots. For the vine, a slight decrease in temperature aids the ripening process.

It is difficult to talk about the exact timing of the preparation of the grape shelter. If you hurry, then the kidneys can sweat, if you are late, the bushes will freeze. It is recommended to cover the grapes in the second half of October, when the first frosts have passed. In any case, you better focus on the weather conditions and the condition of the plant.

Preparing grapes for winter (video)

Trimming and trimming

Preparing grapes for winter begins with the removal of all leaves. Then it is necessary to cut fruit-bearing bushes. During pruning, you need to remove all unnecessary vines that have produced a crop. It is desirable that a replacement knot and a fruit arrow remain on each sleeve.

If you notice sore or damaged sleeves, cut them off immediately. You need to leave only the young shoots that grow from the base of the bush. The color of an annual mature vine should be bright yellow (with a straw tint). It should not have scars.

Most often, grapes suffer from oidium. This disease affects only the living tissues of the plant, after which the berries become unsuitable for winemaking. On the vine, the presence of oidium can be determined by ugly dark spots. Try to remove all diseased shoots, leaving only healthy branches. This will help to localize the foci of the disease, and next year it will not spread to neighboring shoots. If you leave diseased shoots for the winter, then the likelihood that they will survive the frost is too small.

The first frosts will destroy the unripe vines. They also need to be cut. The unripe vine has a greenish color. Try to bend such a branch. If you do not hear a crunch, then such a vine will not be able to overwinter, it also needs to be cut.

After trimming, you need to make a cut. This is the removal of surface dew roots, which are located on the underground part of the bole. By removing them, you help the root system to better endure frost. If they are not cut out, then at sub-zero temperatures they will die anyway, from this the lower part of the root system weakens and may also freeze out.

Cold winters with little snow are especially dangerous for the roots of grapes, so the process of rolling should not be ignored. You need to dig the ground at the base of the bush to a depth of no more than 15 cm. The pits that remain after the cut are best covered not with soil, but with dry sand.

Feeding and watering

Before you start covering the grapes, you need to water them. In autumn, water-recharging watering is very important, as it helps the root system survive severe frosts. Usually, moistening is carried out along the trenches between the beds or with the help of drainage holes, but after the construction of the shelter. Dry soil is more likely to freeze and provoke the death of the roots of the bush. If the autumn was rainy and the soil remained loose, then it is not worth additionally moistening the soil.

The first feeding in the fall should be done in early September. This will help speed up the maturation of the vine and prepare the grapes for the winter. Usually, superphosphate (20 g) and potassium salt (10 g) are used for the first bait. Sometimes gardeners add boric acid (2.5 g), zinc sulfate (2 g) and manganese sulfate (2 g) to the first dressing. The indicated dosage is calculated for 1 sq. m. If the grapes grow on sandy soil, then potassium iodine (1 g) must be added to fertilizers.

In late autumn, the grapes need to be fertilized again. Soil enrichment is carried out by adding potassium (25 g) and phosphorus (25 g) to it. It is important to consider that all top dressing should be accompanied by abundant watering.

Rules for preparing grapes for wintering (video)

Shelter preparation

There are several ways that help protect grape bushes from winter frosts. The best option is to create an air cushion using wooden shields. To do this, lay out leaves or spruce branches under the vine. From above, the vine must be covered with a wooden shield with sides. There should be a few centimeters of free space around the plants. From above, it is desirable to cover the structure with any waterproof material. It can be slate, polyethylene, tarpaulin, roofing material, etc.

During the construction of the shelter, the vine must be dry. It is desirable that several days in a row with a temperature of -5 ° C, but not lower than -10 ° C, pass until the moment of shelter. Coniferous spruce branches and leaves should also be dry. If you do not have spruce branches, you can replace them with straw. Dry stems of flower and vegetable plants are perfect. But in this case, it is recommended to put in a shelter and bait from mice.

Sometimes gardeners cover the grapes with a film. This method of hiding is considered controversial. During the thaw period, grape bushes can quickly heat up, and as soon as the temperature drops, the shoots quickly freeze. The film does not help protect the bush from sudden temperature fluctuations.

If the winters in your area are snowy, then you can practice covering the bushes with snow. This is a reliable insulation, because every centimeter of snow cover gives a degree of heat. With heavy snowfalls, you should not build large shelters for grapes.

How to prevent ripening of grapes

Moisture should not get into the shelter, otherwise the bush may get sick and weaken. Often the grapes may not freeze, but rot. This is due to the fact that under the shelter too high humidity. Abundant watering in rainy autumn can also provoke decay. Damping can also happen if the grapes are hidden early in the shelter.

The onset of a thaw in winter also negatively affects the wintering of grapes. Above zero temperature can provoke the growth of young shoots, which will die at the first frost. A thaw can still provoke the appearance of an ice crust on the soil.

To prevent this from happening, you need to take care of ventilation in advance. To do this, it is desirable to leave holes for ventilation at the ends of the shelter. It's best if they open up. If you are making a solid shelter for the entire garden, then the ventilation holes should be every 2 m.

Almost every summer resident grows grapes on his own plot, and is very pleased if he gets a good harvest. Today we want to talk about how to prepare the grapes for the winter, so that next year you get the maximum pleasure, cutting the full clusters from the vine.

Preparing grapes for winter is a very important, albeit complex, process. But you must definitely find the time to carry out all the activities necessary to protect the grapes from frost. It is careful care and correct agricultural practices that regulate the yield, and therefore study, try, fulfill all the requirements and get high-quality grapes in the next season.

How can frost damage grapes?

Vineyards suffer varying degrees of damage from extreme cold, but the most common are:

• The death of one-year growth of grapes and perennial sleeves, in which case only coppice shoots and shoots from dormant buds will give active growth;
• The death of the aerial part of the grapes, when the root system does not suffer from frost and remains viable;
• The death of the main fruit buds, which will lead to the development of new shoots, but not flowering;
• Or the most serious damage that leads to the death of not only the aerial part, but the entire root system.

You can avoid such consequences of grape frostbite if you think about planting frost-resistant grapes in advance, but it always makes sense to compete for bushes that are not able to survive severe frosts on their own.

Preparing the vineyard for winter

Preparing a vineyard for winter is really hard unless you are just going to cover it up and wait for spring. This process is difficult for beginner summer residents, because experienced gardeners and "breeders" of grapes have long known and are able to do everything. It is the list of their recommendations that we decided to use today.

Grapes should winter healthy

Healthy grapes endure winters much easier, since they are not weakened by various pathogens living on the vine or in the place of warming in the soil. Therefore, grapes should be properly pruned before wintering, but not just cut the vine, as with standard pruning, but take a good look at it and remove every shoot affected by diseases or pests from the bush. You should not be sorry, but you also do not need to thoughtlessly shred the bush.

After pruning, the grape bush is treated with special fungicides that can not only kill pathogenic organisms, but also protect the vine from further infection for a certain period.

Experts advise to carry out a simple treatment of a bush from a sprayer, and apply a solution of copper or iron sulfate in 3-5% for this. It is advisable to process the grapes immediately after pruning, turning the bush well so that the product gets to all its parts.

Strong and prepared grapes endure winter more easily

It is quite natural that a strong vine is more resistant to cold, and therefore we should tone it up.

To maintain all life processes, the vine consumes a certain amount of nutrients that were accumulated before wintering. Much more of these substances go under cover when the grapes survive the winter, but some portion should remain for the spring, because the development of the shoots is based on these reserves. That is, in order for the grapes to survive the winter and start growing in the spring, it must be really strong, and planned fertilizing with mineral and organic fertilizers throughout the season will help.

Only ripe vines are suitable for wintering grapes.

So it is, and many summer residents who have been growing grapes for many years and observing their own farm say that only a mature vine should remain on a grape bush in winter. It has a characteristic brown color, is thicker and covered with bark, it is even warm to the touch during the first cold weather. Young wood, which has not had time to gain strength, must be removed from the bush. If this is not done, it will still die during the cold winter, but it will take it from the bush and just use up a serious part of the nutrients, which may then not be enough for spring development. In addition, a weak vine creates a serious risk of various diseases under cover, which very easily infect the entire bush.

The maturation of wood depends on many factors, including the load on the wood, filling it with nutrients, as well as the correctness of sanitary treatments, because a diseased vine will mature for a very long time, and it is unlikely that it will succeed.

To help the wood mature, it is necessary to provide the grape bush with potassium. To do this, use wood ash and potassium sulfate, which does not contain chlorine. It is worth carrying out both standard and foliar top dressing.

For each adult bush, up to 30 g of potassium can be allocated for feeding, which must be dissolved in a bucket of water, or an infusion of wood ash, which is very simple to prepare. To obtain it, it is necessary to insist 1 liter of ash in a bucket of water for several days, and then carry out top dressing.

Nitrogen fertilizers for grapes should be excluded from the second half of summer, since this top dressing will focus on the growth of shoots, but not on ripening the crop and charging the plant with strength.

You can also help the shoots ripen with standard garden chasing, which many gardeners understand. This is a pruning of a large part of the top of the shoot, approximately above the 15th leaf. In this case, growth stops, and the nutrients go directly to the bunches and are spent on the maturation of the wood.

Chasing should be carried out very timely, when the shoot growth period begins to slow down, but if you cut the shoots at least a week earlier, you can start the reverse process and get a huge number of stepchildren.

It is very simple to determine this period, because only curved shoots grow, and if they become straight, then growth stops. If you notice half of the even and half of the curved shoots on the grape bush, then you can already mint.

Chasing is not considered obligatory, especially in cases where the vine ripens with the help of other methods. In addition, not in every region it is possible to determine when the grapes stop growing, and therefore mistakes can often be made, especially for beginners.

Autumn pruning of grapes: when and how?

There are many opinions here, and what is most interesting, serious disputes, because everything is tied not only to regionality and climate, but also to varieties, grape ripening, harvesting, as well as independent observations of growers.

So, pruning grapes in the fall should not be done very early, because if you cut the bush immediately after harvest, as so many do, you can seriously weaken the plant and leave it for the winter without a huge supply of nutrients.

The thing is that the bush spends a lot of energy on the ripening of the crop. If you cut off the entire productive part immediately after harvesting, you do not leave the grapes any chance to accumulate nutrients. If you give the bush time to recuperate after the harvest, and only after that carry out autumn pruning, the grapes will leave strong and prepared in the winter.

It is worth pruning during the first frosts, and maybe immediately after leaf fall, when a serious outflow of nutrients to the root system, as well as perennial and recently matured wood, occurs inside the shrub.

Preparing the grapes for winter: sheltering the grapes

It's great if all our advice has been beneficial, but there is also a factor from which even they can not save if you do not cover the grapes for the winter - this is a severe frost. Yes, it is on this occasion that we have gathered here today, and if we have provided the grapes with everything necessary for wintering, the next step should be the creation of high-quality, and most importantly, the right cover for the grapes.

• Grapes should be covered with frosts equal to -5-6 ° С. You definitely shouldn't have done this before.
• Experts recommend keeping grapes under cover for as short a time as possible, and this will only benefit.
• Successful wintering of grapes is more often ensured by its high-quality hardening than by shelter. Please note that there are standard processes - low temperatures harden the vine, the liquid goes into the intercellular space, the starch turns into a sugar state, and the liquid inside turns into syrup. In fact, this is the most serious antifreeze, which prevents the juices from freezing inside and damaging the vine and roots, which means that the grapes must be hardened.
• If the grapes are covered early, the eyes may rot, as well as the development of fungal diseases, which only give warmth in the shelter.
• It would be most correct to start covering the grapes at the moment when the ground freezes a little, just a little. The vine must be tied and bent to the ground in advance, and it is possible a couple of days after pruning. Covering material should also be nearby so that at any time you can immediately throw it on the vines.
• The shelter of the grapes should let the air through, be warm and light, it is possible to use straw, spruce branches, various synthetic fabrics, etc.

So, the grapes should winter clean, disinfected, hardened, trimmed, nourished and covered.

Now you know exactly how to prepare the grapes for the winter, and what activities need to be carried out in order to see not only surviving grapes next year, but its excellent harvest. Once again, we will emphasize that preparing grapes for winter is difficult, but everything must be done correctly in order to preserve the grapes and give it the opportunity to develop and delight us with a harvest in the future.

Like it or not, but grapes in the conditions of the Almaty region are a covering culture, like garden blackberries. There are, of course, old varieties that hold frost without removing the vines, but these are mostly wine varieties and less baked about. And grapes with their frantic growth power are not clear to everyone, so beginners are a little afraid of him. Let's try to give a simplified method of preparing grapes for winter - shelter and pruning of the vineyard for the winter, as they say, "for dummies."

Grapes: preparation for winter (pruning, shelter, moisture charging and top dressing)

Preparing grapes for winter is not only pruning and warming. It is also necessary to carry out moisture-charging irrigation and fill the vineyard with potassium. In summer, from mid-July, the grapes, as a rule, are not watered. This is necessary so that the vines redirect the growth force of the shoots to the maturation of the crop. But the dry ground freezes quickly and the roots are damaged, so the grapes are strictly necessary to shed well in October. It is better to water the grapes with a flood, as sprinkling enhances the spread of mildew.

Autumn grape fertilizer with potassium is filling the vineyard with wood ash. Potassium, like nothing else, increases the winter hardiness of the vine and, most importantly, the eyes, which will release flowering shoots next year. Water the vineyard with an ash solution the next day after water charging. A day before feeding, dissolve 1 cup of ash per bucket. Pour a bucket of such a solution under each bush.

In addition, ½ bucket of dry ash is poured under each bush. Why is it better to do it in the fall? Yes, because the ash has a very strong alkaline reaction and this adversely affects the growth of thin roots. In autumn, the thin roots of grapes die off and transfer nutrients to thicker roots. That is, they are no longer afraid of any alkali - this time. Well, and the second - in late autumn, winter and with the beginning of spring, the ash will be saturated with organic acids and become available for grapes.

How to prune grapes for the winter

Perhaps a beginner can determine where the grapes have this year's shoots. It is from the buds of these one-year-old shoots that will wake up next year that flowering (=fruiting) shoots will begin to develop. But there are too many of them on the grapes, and it is necessary to leave only two of them. Now we will not dwell on the formation of grapes in detail, and how many sleeves a bush should have - there will be another article about this.

We need to understand how to prune grapes for the winter so that they bear fruit next year. And we go from simple to complex. On any of the sleeves, we select two mature whips from below, as shown in the figure below:

Above the second shoot, we cut off the entire whip (step 1). And we shorten the lower shoot (step 2), leaving 2 buds (sometimes they leave 3 buds, and in the spring they break out an extra shoot, or shorten it). A long shoot before shelter for the winter must also be shortened, but leave 10-15 buds on it (step 3). So we got a fruit link, which is left for the winter.

On a long vine in the summer there will be a crop, and replacement shoots will go from a short knot. They will develop more strongly, because there are only two of them (if more, it will be necessary to break it down). Of these, we will again make a fruit link next autumn - we will leave a short knot at the bottom and a long shoot for fruiting. And we cut off the entire fruiting lash under a knot. And every autumn, this is how grapes are pruned for the winter.

How to cover grapes for the winter

Shelter of grapes for the winter is carried out immediately after pruning. It doesn't matter if you grow grapes on a trellis or an arbor - the principles are general. You can remove, cut and wrap the whips by pinning them with staples to the ground. And you can hide them and tie them vertically to a trellis or gazebo. The main thing is that the covering material must be free so that the plant can breathe.

If you cover the removed bushes not with a cloth, but with spruce branches or other plant materials, then the vine bushes can injure mice in winter. Then you need to find elderberry leaves and twigs, and first throw them in, and then other twigs. Elderberry perfectly repels rodents.

These are the general principles of preparing a vineyard for winter. Carry out moisture charging in late autumn, feed the bushes with potassium. Well, do not be afraid of grape bushes, they are easy to prepare for winter - pruning and sheltering a vineyard is within their power, believe me, everyone started somewhere.

Hello to all lovers of homemade products, as well as those who love gardening!

In this article, I want to continue the topic of growing grapes on personal plots in central Russia.

And today I will talk about how to prepare a grape bush for wintering, which is undoubtedly a very important step in caring for grapes, since not only its harvest next year depends on a good wintering, but also the very fact of its survival and subsequent existence.

In principle, the preparation of a grape bush for winter can be slowly started immediately after harvesting in mid-late September. At this time, you can cut out individual weak or dried vines.

However, the main strong vines need to be left to mature for about a month. During this time, they better lignify, accumulate more nutrients, harden, and become more resistant to cold.

Already by about mid-October, the vines turn brown, indicating that they have matured well. At this time, you can start pruning, as well as harvesting cuttings from cut vines (if necessary).

So, here's what our grape bush looks like by mid-October.

As you can see, a lot of leaves still hang on it, but they are already dry and dead.

These leaves must be removed.

From the bush itself, the leaves are removed by simple tearing off. And to do this is very easy, because they barely hold on.

Fallen leaves must also be carefully removed from under the grape bush.

Then you can slightly loosen the top layer of soil under the grape bush with a chopper or rake.

Thus, it is possible to remove the remaining weeds, as well as break the earthen crust (if any).

This is what our bush looks like with the leaves and weeds removed.

Now you can start cutting out unnecessary vines.

To begin with, we cut with a knife the ties with which the vertical vines intended for removal were tied to the trellis.

Then we cut off the vertical vines themselves with secateurs.

These vines can be used to harvest cuttings. For information on how to prepare cuttings, see my article: "". If the cuttings are not needed, then the cut vines can, for example, be burned at the stake.

Then we cut off the horizontal vines, directly from which the vertical ones we cut grew.

The stumps left from the horizontal vines we cut are carefully covered with garden pitch, or another remedy for wounds.

We also remove the wooden pegs to which the horizontal vines were tied.

And here's what our grape bush looks like now.

As you can see, I left on it the seven most successful growing vertical vines at the very base of the bush. From these vines next year, in the spring, I will choose the most suitable ones and tie them horizontally to pegs. Just from them, new vertical vines will grow, on which the next year's crop will actually be formed.

In principle, depending on the age and strength of the bush, it is recommended to leave two to six of these vines on it, which will serve as horizontal arms next year.

Of the seven vines I have left, I will also use probably 4 to 6 vines, and the extra vines can be removed as early as next spring.

Now we can leave our grape bush in this form for another two, three weeks before the onset of stable cold and frost at night.

During this time, as a rule, in the second half of October, it is necessary to carry out pre-winter watering of our bush.

Moisture-charging watering makes the grape bush more tenacious and resistant to frost and generally better adapted to wintering.

Moreover, it is desirable to produce such watering, even if the autumn is quite damp and rainy. In this case, it is enough to pour 50-60 liters of water under the bush. If the autumn is dry, then the amount of water should be increased to 70-80 liters.

So, we produce moisture-charging watering of our grape bush.

It is necessary to water the bush gradually and evenly, that is, after we pour one watering, we need to wait two to three minutes for the water to be well absorbed, and then water it again until we pour out all the required amount of water.

Now we leave our grape bush alone for a while.

When more significant cold sets in, and the temperature at night drops to -2, -3 degrees, it will be necessary to cover the base of the bush with two or three buckets of earth or humus.

In this form, our bush will be until the very moment of its shelter for the winter.

As a rule, the final shelter of the grape bush is made closer to mid-November. But of course it all depends on the specific weather conditions. If from the long-term weather forecast it becomes known about the onset of severe cold weather, as well as frosts down to -5, -6 degrees and below, then the bush must be covered.

Before sheltering the grape bush (best in advance), you need to prepare spruce branches and hooks for pinning the vines to the ground.

These hooks can be made from planks of wood or wire, but the simplest option, which I have been using for a long time, is to cut these hooks with pruning shears from various branches left over from the autumn pruning of the garden.

So, to finally shelter the grape bush for the winter, we perform the following operations:

We take several spruce branches and lay them at the base of the bush. On them we will lay twisted vines.

Then we untie all the vines from the trellises, remove the trellises themselves and disassemble their racks.

This is what our bush looks like already without trellises.

Now gently bend the vines to the ground and twist them slightly. This must be done very carefully, because the vines are very fragile and can easily break.

We lay all the vines on the planted spruce branches and pin them to the ground with wooden hooks.

And this is what our bush looks like with vines pinned to the ground.

Now we cover it with spruce branches. To do this, spread the branches of the spruce branches in a fan along the circumference with the fluffy ends of the branches outward, and with the broken tips towards the middle of the bush.

Thus, we impose three, four layers of spruce branches. Each new layer is applied a little closer to the middle of the bush.

As a result, we get such a fairly dense and reliable shelter.

Now our grape bush can safely winter until spring.

At the same time, I want to remind you that since it is not the spruce branches themselves that protect the grape bush from winter freezing, but the layer of snow that is on it, it is very desirable to additionally throw snow with a shovel several times during the winter on a covered bush, thus creating a thicker snow pillow.

In conclusion, I want to say a few more words about the merits of spruce branches as a covering material.

In my experience, spruce branches are the best covering material for grapes, and for other horticultural crops. Its main advantages are that it passes air very well and at the same time holds snow very well.

I must say that some gardeners are trying to cover the grapes with hay or fallen leaves. However, by no means do I recommend doing so. Since these materials pass air well, only in dry form. If they get wet, for example, during a thaw, and then freeze in this form, then they completely stop letting air through. As a result, all the vines covered for the winter can simply rot and rot under such shelter.

Therefore, to shelter a grape bush, it is best to use spruce branches. Of course, it must be said right away that not all gardeners in our time have the opportunity to get spruce branches. But it is highly desirable to do so. At least just a few branches of spruce branches to cover the grape bush in just two layers. From above, it will be possible to additionally impose more cut branches from fruit trees and shrubs so that they better hold the snow.

If you have absolutely no way to get spruce branches, then try to cover the vine bush with a non-woven covering material folded in two or three layers. At least it will let air through even when wet. From above, again, you can put cut branches, or several wooden boards, on which snow will need to be thrown periodically during the winter for better thermal insulation.

Well, that's all for me!

Good luck to everyone in growing grapes!

Foreword

For many gardeners, winter becomes a real test, since frost can destroy all plantings, there is nothing to say about the harvest. And that is why it is so important to know how to prepare plants for the cold.

Necessary tools and materials

What harm can frost do to grapes?

From severe cold, grape bushes can receive damage of varying severity. Naturally, this will lead to further problems with the development of plants and their yield.

• Frosts can lead to the death of annual growth and perennial branches, due to which active growth will be observed only in coppice shoots;
• Because of the cold, the above-ground part of the vineyard may die;
• If fruit buds suffer due to frost, there will be no flowering of grapes in the new season, which means that you will receive a harvest at least a year later;
• Severe cold can damage not only the entire aerial part, but also the root part, because of which the grapes will stop growing and producing crops.

By knowing how to store grapes in winter, these problems can be avoided. And the lack of shelter will lead to the death of both the young vine, and the branches, and the root system. As a result, you can lose almost the entire crop. Preparing grapes for winter is what will help to avoid severe frostbite.

How to Prepare Grapes for Winter: Vine Care

From March to November, it is necessary to constantly inspect the grapes, quickly and effectively eliminating diseased shoots, cutting out damaged or frozen branches. It is also carried out with the help of fungicides. After harvest, you can use an increased dose of chemicals for processing, which will help the grapes ripen and winter in a healthy state.

Growers know that plants under cover at warm temperatures expend a lot of nutrients to support the processes in the "organism". And so that the grape vines have enough nutrients for the winter and for the subsequent development of new shoots in the spring, the plant is fed with mineral and organic fertilizers. It should be remembered about foliar top dressing, which is carried out several times during the summer.

Mandatory conditions for the care of the vineyard are:

• Timely thinning of the vine and removal of unnecessary branches;
• Supporting vine health by adding nutrients.

The second stage of preparation for winter - pruning and rolling

If you have been taking care of the grapes throughout the year, trying to keep the plants healthy, you can proceed to the next step -. However, before that, it is necessary to trim and cut (remove) part of the root system. Keep in mind that the branches are pruned some time after the grape harvest - the vine needs to get a little stronger, replenishing the supply of nutrients.

As growers say, early removal of shoots reduces the frost resistance of the plant - it is advisable to start these works when the first frosts come. Katharovka (removal of roots that grow near the ground) is carried out in order to strengthen the root system.

They work like this:

• First, we dig a ditch around the stems up to 25 cm deep;
• We cut the roots to the base and cover the slices with vitriol;
• We fill the trench with sand from above;
• We plant and water the bushes.

How to save grapes for the winter - choose a shelter

The most popular shelter methods are the dry version and covering the vines and shoots with earth. Sprinkling with soil is considered the easiest option, it is most suitable for young grapes. The cover goes like this:

• We dig a trench to a depth of 20 cm, put a sleeve in it, cover the bottom with straw or fallen leaves with a layer of about 5 cm;
• We remove the vine from the trellis and lay it in a trench, covering it with straw on top.

To carry out the dry shelter method, you will need plastic wrap and such dense material as mats, tarpaulin, agrofibre. To carry out shelter in this way, you do not need to dig a trench, since we will lay the branches on the mulch under the vine bushes, covering them with hay or straw on top with a layer of at least 30 cm. We put bags, a film on top of the material, fixing them with steel brackets.