Every amateur who has at least one bush of his favorite berries growing on his property should know how to properly tie grapes. It is the garter that is the most important in plant care, on which both productivity and decorative properties depend. Under natural conditions, grapes grow shapelessly and look like a vine weaving along the ground, but such a bush will in no way decorate the garden. In addition, harvesting will be difficult, and its quality characteristics will deteriorate.
Why is it necessary to tie up grapes?
Grape bushes need a garter for this purpose, so that they do not entangle all nearby buildings and trees and do not create additional problems and inconveniences for the owner. If you garter correctly and in a timely manner in early spring, you will have additional benefits:
- due to improved ventilation, the risk of developing fungal diseases is reduced;
- good penetration of sunlight deep into the bush is ensured, as a result of which the fruits are formed large, with rich taste, and their ripening time is significantly reduced;
- a well-groomed grape bush looks aesthetically pleasing on the site;
- the procedure for caring for a neat and tied bush is significantly simplified;
- pollinating a tied grapevine is easier and faster, since insects have access to it;
- Proper spring gartering of grapes ensures that the branches will grow the same size and not stretch.
If a gardener wants to achieve not only an aesthetic appearance from his garden, but also high productivity, tying up grape bushes is necessarily included in the list of spring gardening tasks.
Best time to garter
For beginning gardeners, tying grapes in the spring seems like a difficult task and requires a lot of time. Not all of them know that two main types of this manipulation have been developed: green garter and dry garter. Their difference lies in the timing of the work.
The first option is carried out until the sap flow processes begin in the vine.The buds should not have time to bloom, otherwise many of them will be damaged and the yield will noticeably decrease. It is important to know that when tying grape branches at an acute angle of 45-600 or in a strictly horizontal arrangement, massive clusters are formed, and the fruits ripen very tasty.
The holding of the green garter falls in the summer. Its main task is to prevent fragile branches from being damaged by winds and heavy rainfall.
The branches are positioned strictly at an angle of 90 degrees. It is permissible to carry out this procedure only with those plants that have a long sleeve or a high trunk. As the length of the vine increases, repeated garters are carried out. Such procedures can be carried out only before flowering or the formation of ovaries, so as not to injure the developing clusters. In total, at least 4 such procedures are carried out per season.
Which material to choose?
The garter material for grapes is selected competently and responsibly, otherwise there is a risk of damaging the plant. To tie a branch to a support, use strips of soft fabric; twine or thick wire will also work. In no case should you use fishing line or thin steel wire, which can injure the plant, as a result of which the sap flow processes are disrupted and the branches may die.
The fixation of the shoots is done loosely so that during their growth there is no squeezing. Rigid fastening is used only during green gartering, since new shoots develop more slowly and easily break under the influence of a gust of wind.
Vertical poles for supports are made of wood or metal.Tiers of horizontal bars for gartering grapes are made of galvanized metal wire, the thickness of which ranges from 1.8 to 2.4 mm. Wooden supports are preferably made of oak, poplar, alder or mulberry. These rocks are less susceptible to rotting than others and last much longer.
Garter methods and main steps
The main methods used for staking grape vines are dry and green. When dry, all procedures are performed with lignified and already trimmed shoots. They are fixed to a trellis on the lowest tier. If the load is large, then the higher tier is also used. They are laid horizontally, and only last year’s shoots, intended to form the future trunk, are placed vertically. Old, frozen or damaged branches must be removed.
As soon as the length of the young shoots reaches half a meter, proceed to the green garter. This will help prevent the fragile vines from being damaged by strong gusts of wind and from tangling with each other. Green branches are attached exclusively in a vertical position and distributed in such a way that there are no more than 3 of them in one node.
Otherwise, pollination will be difficult, which will certainly affect the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the resulting crop. When tying grapes, the material used is initially wrapped around a support wire, and then the vine is secured with it. This helps not only prevent chafing of the branches, but also protect them from burns caused by overheating of the wire in hot weather.
How to tie up mature grapes?
If there is an adult grape bush at the dacha, then it must be tied up correctly in order to obtain a bountiful and high-quality harvest in the future. Long sleeves are fixed on the constructed trellis at an acute angle. Replacement knots should be secured to the bar located at the very bottom. The branches that should bear fruit this season are wrapped around a wire and fixed with a cloth or twine on the constructed trellis.
If it is not possible to hang all the shoots in a horizontal position, then part of it can be fixed at an angle.
Gartering an adult large bush differs from similar manipulations with a young plant in that the sleeves are positioned at an angle of 90 degrees. All actions are carried out with the utmost care, since the slightest careless movement will break the fragile grape branches.
Features of a young plant garter
In the first year of life, the grape bush is attached to small wooden pegs. It is allowed to install a small trellis for it, made of a special mesh. Fastening is done with special materials that will not harm the delicate young vine.
When installing a coarse mesh as a trellis, it is screwed to supports made of metal or wood. As they grow, the shoots themselves will weave vertically upward.
How to tie on trellises?
A trellis is a kind of fence made of a pair of posts and several wires stretched across them, to which the grapes will be tied. To build it, pillars made of wood or metal are buried in the ground at a distance of 3 meters. The depth of the hole is chosen to be 50 cm. The diameter of the column is 10-15 cm, its length is selected up to 2 meters.
If the future support will be wooden, then it is better to give preference to hardwood, which is less susceptible to aggressive environmental influences. To increase its service life, the lower part is dipped in a prepared solution of copper sulfate, then allowed to dry and coated with liquid resin. This procedure makes the structure for staking the vine even more durable.
The first tier of wire is planned at a distance of 40 centimeters from the soil level. The further arrangement of tiers is designed at the same distance from the previous one. Their number directly depends on the age and size of the grape bush. The greater the length of the shoots, the greater the number of tiers of wire constructed. As a rule, a couple of tiers are enough for small plants, and up to 5 for medium-sized plants. It is necessary to take into account in advance that when attaching the vine to the trellis, it does not sag and is sufficiently elastic. The cross-section of the wire is selected according to the strength of the bush.
With the described method of gartering, caring for grapes is simplified. The design is not expensive, since it does not require the use of a large amount of expensive materials. It can be easily built from available materials. Attaching a grapevine to a trellis is simple, so even a beginner can cope with this task. It is worth noting that this technique is only suitable for attaching medium and small plants. Under the weight of a large and powerful bush, the trellis will break. It also makes it possible to form a limited number of fruit-bearing vines.
According to their design, trellises are divided into single-plane and double-plane. The latter is a pair of ordinary trellises located on both sides of the grape row. At the base they are connected to each other at an angle.When constructing the first of them, the distance between the support pillars is left at least 60 centimeters, and their height is equal to the distance between the grape rows.
This is done with the aim of making the structure as stable as possible. If you need to tie shoots to a height of more than 2 meters, use a stepladder or ladder. You can tie grapes with 6 or 8 long sleeves to such a trellis. A two-plane structure requires large amounts of materials, which increases its cost. In addition, when preparing the vine for a cold winter, you will need to remove it from the wire.
To tie the grapevine to the trellis in the spring, specially designed scissors are used, which speed up the process of forming loops. This is especially true if there are a lot of bushes on the site. They also use wire wrapped in paper, which also allows for faster gartering. Modern technologies do not stand still, so summer residents often use an elastic band and a stapler to tie up grapes.
When making a garter, the skeletal branches are initially secured along the tier below. In no case is it recommended to take wire or fishing line for such purposes, since the branches are damaged during growth, development, or the negative impact of strong winds. Secondary shoots are tied to the second tier at an acute angle. Young branches will be attached to subsequent tiers. It is not recommended to direct all the branches vertically upward, because this is not only fraught with a decrease in yield, but also a loss of decorative qualities.
To prevent the grapevine from hitting the metal support during the growing season, it is recommended to fasten it with a figure eight. For this purpose, the twig itself is first wrapped with a fabric garter, and then it is attached to the wire.The procedure is performed slowly, tying each vine separately. Collecting it in bunches will not bring a positive result.
Fruiting branches must be attached in a horizontal position, and the arrows must be attached at an acute angle.
Can it be grown without a garter?
Gartering grapes has a positive effect on the yield and decorativeness of the bushes, but is an optional procedure. Plants can easily develop without it. In this option, instead of a trellis, a metal support is installed through which the vine is thrown. In this case, we must take into account the fact that in order to prepare the bush for wintering, it will have to be removed from its support.
Therefore, this technique is advisable only when cultivating grapes of medium and small height. The bushes must be correctly formed, otherwise the brushes will not have enough lighting, the plantings are poorly ventilated, and, as a result, fungal diseases develop and the yield decreases.
In order to get a properly formed grape bush, in the first year, during autumn pruning and preparation for winter shelter, only a few buds are cut from the vine, and its length is left about 1 meter.
In the second year, 2 shoots are formed at the top, and from the lower branch they form a replacement knot with two buds located on it. A fruit arrow with a pair of buds on it is formed from the upper branch. In the third year, the procedure is repeated, obtaining in this way another fruit-bearing link.
Growing a grapevine without staking simplifies the procedure, but is not a convenient and practical method, for example, as if using a standard trellis.
Common Mistakes
Errors when tying up grape vines in the spring most often occur among winegrowers who do not have practical skills. Experienced gardeners perform all manipulations easily, almost with their eyes closed. Beginners make mistakes more often due to lack of practical skills and doubts. First of all, they attach the vine that has survived the cold winter to the trellis using fishing line or rigid wire, which provokes a slow movement of the sap, weakening and death of the vine.
The second common mistake is that gardeners attach grape shoots to a support or constructed trellis in a strictly vertical position. In this case, the yield and weight of the formed brushes are noticeably reduced.
The third common case is attaching branches to the upper tips. After a certain time, the growth of such a grape shoot is directed to the side, and the nearby internodes simply dry out.
Another common case of making mistakes is strong bending or bending of the vine. Gardeners, one might say, make arcs or rings out of it. As a result of such actions, the paths through which nutrients reach the plant are compressed, and the grape bush begins to starve.
All of the listed mistakes must be taken into account not only by beginners, but also by experienced winegrowers, in order to avoid them on their site during all manipulations. After all, it is on the correctness of the garter that not only the yield of the grape bush, but also its general condition largely depends.
If you want to harvest a plentiful, beautiful and tasty harvest of healthy berries, then you should take some time to study the theoretical material on gartering grapes and apply the acquired knowledge in practice. You must act carefully so as not to harm the plant or injure it during basic procedures. The grapes will definitely thank you for your care with a generous harvest.
