Opening of the grapevine in spring
Opening grapes in the spring is an extremely important process for every gardener. The main thing here is not to make a mistake in choosing the time and do all the necessary manipulations that should be carried out in the spring.
At what temperature can you open?
Only southern grape growers are good in this regard. The problem of protecting grapes for the winter is not at all. Therefore, such a long process of coming up with and creating a shelter and then unpacking simply does not exist. But gardeners in all other regions should definitely know How to open grapes in the spring. Some mistakes can lead to the death of the culture. As soon as the snow melts and the daytime temperature is positive, it is worth doing the grapes. At the same time, it may still be minus at night. Therefore, it is wise to gradually remove the cover. During the day you can open the vine, provide access to air, and at night to create protection. Yes, this certainly requires effort. But for the sake of your favorite plants, you need to try.
Anyone who decides that you can wait for an absolutely stable positive temperature (and even at night) and only then fully open the grapes, makes a big mistake. This situation is no less destructive for the vine than repeated soaking. The fact is that the vine begins to rot under the ceiling, this affects the appearance of fungus, with which then it is very difficult to fight, and it is better that the plant entered the process of vegetation healthy after the winter. In addition, at positive temperatures, grapes still wake up, shoots begin to develop and become weak and sickly. Therefore, the cover should be removed in a timely manner. As soon as the daytime will be stable +10, and at night a slight minus (d o-4), you can remove the protective structure. If it is too strong, you can remove it and find something lightweight that the grapes could shelter from return frosts.
If the sun is too bright in the spring, you can occasionally shade the vine so the grapes gradually get used to the sun.
Taking off the cover depending on the region
Each region has its own conditions for when you can release grapes from winter coverings. But, of course, you have to be guided by the weather, because each region can have its own surprises. Spring can be unusually warm and even hot or cold with snow and rain. Therefore, all conditions are conditional.
- In the northern regions, you can start opening grapes only in mid-May, because before that it often snows, and at night it can be minus degrees.
- As in Belarus, in the middle belt, the opening may occur in early May, and sometimes in late April.
- In the Rostov and Tambov regions, as well as in the Moscow suburbs, the cover can be removed for the first time in late April, but not far away – it may be needed at night.
- In Siberia, both east and west, there is no hurry. Most often mid-May is chosen for these procedures. The same conditions apply in the Far East.
How to open?
Every gardener covers grapes differently. But usually several layers of insulation are used. First of all, it should be taken into account that the snow melts much more slowly in the country houses than in the city. Snow can lie for a very long time. However, this does not mean that you have to sit and wait for it to melt completely. You need to take a shovel and very gently loosen the snow. That way it will disappear faster. The next step is to remove the spruce, branches and other covering material.
For a while, you can leave the grapes only under the last layer: agrospan or spunbond. Some people cover the bushes with earth, so you need to carefully peel the vine from the layer of soil. After that, the grapes will breathe during the day, and still cover at night. And only when, according to the forecasts, it is clear that the temperature has become stable, it is allowed to remove or throw away all the material for storage (depending on what was used). Then the vines are gently ducked and other necessary work is begun.
How to protect grapes from a return frost?
If it has been warm for a long time, and then, after the forecasts, it suddenly became clear that frosts are approaching again, you can quickly take the necessary measures to ensure that grapes are not affected.
Let’s consider several options that can be applied depending on the situation and skills.
- The easiest way is to cover the grapes again with an easy option. Anything found at the moment will do. If there is agrofiber, great. You can just cover the vine and secure it well on the ground so it doesn’t get blown away by the wind. But any unnecessary cloth will do, old leaves, for example. You can also cover it with soil. You can also use old paper newspapers.
- Before the night you should water the soil properly – and necessarily with warm water. This will keep it warm for a while.
- Another option is to make fires near the grapes and envelop them in smoke. A laborious process. But if there is no other way out.
- There are special hot runners that can be used, directing warm air to the bushes. But such equipment is not available to everyone. It is worth buying if the plantation is thorough. For small plots, other, less expensive methods can be used.
- Some gardeners prepare a nutrient mixture of fertilizer from frost and water the grapes. It is believed that this method also has its positive effect on frost protection. For this, 50 grams of superphosphate are diluted in a liter of hot water, insist for 3 hours. Then all this is poured into 10 liters of water, 20 grams of potassium sulfate is added. Such feeding can be done no later than 12 hours before the expected frosts.
After the cold weather has passed, it is recommended to treat plants with preparations such as “Zirkon” or “Epin”.
Spring work after opening
After winter, the gardener will have a lot of work on the plot, and grapes require considerable attention. All procedures must be carried out consistently, without losing sight of them. Vine advancement and successful pulp depend on these early measures.
tillage
Many harmful bacteria accumulate in the soil in the winter and insect larvae overwinter. Therefore, it is necessary to edit the soil after all coverings have been removed. Be sure to remove old mulch – it cannot be used in the new season. Then the soil should be well dressed with copper sulfate or Bordeaux liquid. Some gardeners prefer to use pure boiling water, which is also capable of destroying bacteria. But here you should be careful not to burn the roots.
This watering can be done if the plants are not yet awake. In addition, boiling water kills all beneficial bacteria. The bottom should be gently dug over, removing plant debris. It may be necessary to add fresh fertile soil mixture. Gradually, drainage is still put in the bottom. After treating and watering the bushes, fresh, clean mulch can be applied, for which chopped grass, sawdust and straw will do.
pruning
Spring pruning is usually hygienic. It is only necessary to inspect the grapes very accurately and remove withered parts, diseased parts that have not survived the winter. There is no need to shorten the shoots and tendrils. All this is carried out in the fall. Even in the summer, their manipulations are carried out when the bushes proliferate. In the spring, the main thing is to clear a place, remove the old and free the vine for further growth.
You can check whether the bushes live. To do this, you need to make an incision in one place. If the inside is light green, everything is fine. The vine lives – you just need to give it time. Even if some of the buds died during the winter, you should not despair. This means that the replacement buds are working. The bushes will gradually form.
Pods
If the grapes have blossomed, you should not immediately rush with the dip – let the vine get used to sunlight for a while. By the way, if the sun is too bright, it is better to shade the grapes during the day for the first time. Then the vine is attached to the trellis. If it is left over from last year, it is inspected for damage, if necessary treated with antifungal preparations, such as copper sulfate.
If necessary, make new supports. As a rule, these are vertical poles, between which several layers of wire is stretched. The single-tree vine is dug into the ground, the second and third sides are left for the development of drives, which should be aligned at a certain angle.
Fertilizing
Fertilizing is undoubtedly an important step in the spring. But first it is necessary to treat the grapes to prevent diseases and pests. The first treatment for fungal infections is carried out with Bordeaux liquid. It is necessary to go through the entire vine very carefully, not missing any area. It is better to prevent dangerous diseases such as oidium and mildew than to fight them later. You should also keep in mind that pests also wake up very quickly. Therefore, preventive treatment should also be carried out by you, for example, by the drug FITOVERM.
Spring feeding is usually nitrogen. Therefore, you can choose any complex, in which it contains a larger amount. Ammonium nitrate, urea, urea are particularly popular with gardeners. Lovers of folk methods use ammonia alcohol. All preparations are sold in garden deals, they should be diluted according to the instructions on the package. Bird droppings can be a good alternative. It is diluted with water in equal parts, passed through a few days and diluted again with liquid at a ratio of 1 to 20.
All spring procedures must be done in time. They can not be neglected, as this is a guarantee of the future harvest.
When to open grapes in spring and how to treat them after opening
Grapes are one of the most common cultivated plants on earth. Today, more than 20,000 varieties are officially registered, of which more than 3,000 are grown in the former Soviet Union. Most of these varieties are not frost-resistant enough and cannot survive the winter without cover. In the spring, it is important not to forget to open the overwintered vine in time.
When to open grapes after winter
Grapes are not as “greenhouse” a crop as they may seem at first glance. It can tolerate short-term frosts up to 4°C. Therefore, ice on puddles is not a reason to postpone cleaning the winter house until next weekend, when it gets warmer. Open grapes when daytime temperatures reach positive values and night frosts do not reach t-4°C. At the same time, the snow on the plot should have already completely melted.
Also note the moisture content of the soil. The soil should dry out. Therefore, on warm sunny days, many gardeners temporarily remove the cover to air out the vine. This preventive measure reduces the likelihood of fungal diseases.
A common mistake of our gardeners is that they think that the main danger for heat-loving grapes is frost. Therefore, beginners try to open the vine as late as possible. But the lack of light will not stop the plant, and at a temperature of +10 ° C, even the sheltered shoots will begin to grow confidently. The problem arises when you open the bunches. In front of you appear weak, pale, devoid of chlorophyll young stems. Such shoots are called leaden shoots. If you leave them like this, unprotected in direct sunlight, they will burn and likely die. If the seedling had such shoots, they will have to be removed. To prevent this from happening, you need to build a temporary shelter that provides enough shade and remove it for an hour a day so that the plant gradually gets used to sunlight. The light initiates the formation of chlorophyll, and the shoots gradually turn green.
Grapes without chlorophyll are often not viable
Video: When grapes open in spring
Spring treatment of grapes after opening
After removing the winter cover, it is necessary to treat the vine with fungicides to get rid of pathogenic fungi, which also conveniently overwinter under the cover. It is the microscopic fungi that cause the most common grape diseases powdery mildew and oidium. Today, you can find a wide range of specialized preparations on store shelves, but copper sulfate, proven over decades, remains the most popular preventive agent.
- A 1% solution is needed for spring treatment. To do this, dilute 100 g of vitriol in 10 liters of water (1 bucket).
- It is most convenient to spray the vines with a garden sprayer. Copper sulfate does not dissolve completely, so you need to strain it before pouring to avoid clogging the nozzles.
- Now we proceed to the treatment of the vine. The temperature should be at least +5°C, without precipitation.
- Treatment with 1% solution should be carried out before the beginning of flowering of grape buds, otherwise they will get chemical burns.
Video: Treatment of grapes with copper sulfate in spring
Spring gartering of grapes
Don’t garter vines immediately after removing winter quarters. Allow the plant to recover for a while. Simply straighten the shoots, spread them out on the trellis, and let it air out for three days. Spring gartering is also called drying because it connects the single-trunked, non-greening shoots.
As long as you haven’t gartered the grapes, you can check how they have overwintered. To do this, cut a small piece of disk with garden shears. The cut should have a healthy light green color. Also inspect the buds, squeeze off the scales and there should be live green buds underneath.
Grapes are traditionally tied to a trellis, which consists of two two-meter-high poles with an interval of three meters, between which the wire is stretched. The first wire is stretched at a height of 40 cm, the others at the same distance from each other. Dry perennial arms should be tied with separation at the first level. The remaining shoots are attached to the second wire at an angle of 45-60 degrees to the floor. It is very important that the shoots are not tied vertically. In this case, only the top 2-3 buds develop, and the rest grow weakly or do not wake up at all. It is most convenient to tie the shoots with a soft wire. Later, when the buds begin to grow, young green shoots are tied vertically to higher places.
In the spring, in the first row, sleeves are tied, and in the second row, shoots are tied.
Video: Spring shedding of grapes
Peculiarities of opening grapes in the regions
Our country is located in four climatic zones, so it is impossible to determine a single date of opening grapes. See the table below for the optimal winter quarter opening dates for your region.
There are even some real wild duties. In the Far East, there is a relic of the Amur grape (Vitis Amurensis). Although this species is not an ancestor of the variety, it is often used in landscaping, even in harsh northern regions.
Table: Terms of opening grapes in the regions of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus
| Region | Date of opening |
| Moscow region | End of April – beginning of May |
| Central Russia | beginning of May |
| Western Siberia | middle of May |
| Central Syria | end of May |
| Eastern Siberia | Early to mid May |
| Black Earth | Beginning to middle of April |
| Ukraine | Beginning to middle of April |
| Belarus | Mid April to mid May |
Depending on the climatic zone and the microclimate properties in your garden plot, the optimal time for the spring opening of grapes varies from early April to mid-May. Snow melt in the garden is a must and the most obvious sign that it’s time to remove winter protection.
