To protect the vines for winter,grappling and covering of the vinesThe purpose of these treatments is to avoid frost damage. Seehow to protect the vines for winter , what materials to cover them with and when it is worth doing it so that the plants survive until spring in the best possible condition.
How to protect the grapevine for the winter?
Fig. pixabay.com
When the grapes have long been harvested, and the last leaves fall from the vine bushes, it's time to think about protecting these plants from frost. The feature of good vines cover for winter is proper isolation of plants not only from frost, but also from heat and sun, causing too early start of buds in springSecuring the vines for winter should be light enough not to cause rotting mesh during a mild winter. Shrubs of European varieties, more susceptible to frost, require particularly careful cover.
Remember!The most sensitive to low temperatures is the root ball of the grapevine (the roots can be damaged even when the temperature drops below -5 ° C). Therefore, the most important thing is to make a mound at the foot of the bush (we always do it every year).
Protection of the trunk and shoots is necessary in the case of young plants (up to the third year of cultivation)which have not yet obtained full frost resistance, and also in the case of cultivating varieties sensitive to low temperatures.In the case of frost-resistant grapevines that have been growing in the garden for more than 3 years, it is enough to make a mound at the base of the trunk
When to protect the vines for winter?
It often happens that the cause of bud freeze-up is quite sudden drops in temperatures in the second half of November. Thereforethe best time to protect the vines for winter is the beginning of November .
Grapevines
The firstway to protect the vines for the winter is moundingThe mound can be made of garden soil, compost, but additionally straw, dry weed remnants or conifer branches can be used for mowing.The mound should be about 30 cm high
Mounds are built primarily at the base of the shrubs , which protects the root ball and the base of the plant. You can also use them to secure the skids, which are bent to the ground and covered with a mound. It is possible as long as we lead the vines to the so-called low trunk.
Vine beds bent to the ground and secured with wires bent at U
Fig. © Joanna Białowąs
In the case of heavily branched grapevines, some shoots unsuitable for shaping are removed so that covering the remaining ones is not difficult.The skids left should be sufficiently long, as they are then flexible and do not break.The skids are cut from the wires of the structure forming the support.
After cutting the skid from the wire,the skids are bent down and placed on the ground along the row of plants , making a mound of the aforementioned soil, compost or sawdust.
Handles, although relatively flexible, sometimes need to be attached to the ground . We can help ourselves with small pieces of wire bent into the letter "U", which we hammer into the ground (fig. A). You can also use tent pins.
Conifers , dry weed remnants or straw can be placed on top of the mound to protect the vines for the winter. However, remember that being covered with straw or clumps of dry couch grass sometimes favors rodents overwintering in them.
The sawdust mounds, on the other hand, are usually refilled after a week or two, as they are usually lowered. Also checkeffectiveness of straw cover, which can be blown by windor scattered by birds searching for grain. The straw cover can be additionally strengthened with coniferous branches that are left over from autumn garden work.
The grapevine is rooted (B) and then covered with conifers (C)
Fig. © Joanna Białowąs
Covering the vines
The secondway to protect vines for the winter is to cover themUsually this type of protection applies to shrubs kept on a tall trunk. In such forms, some unnecessary shoots and fragments of stepchildren are removed.The left skids are arranged in a bundle, which is attached to the trunk or arms
Plants can be covered with straw tied repeatedly with string, creating a kind of mulch. Corrugated cardboard or several sheets of thick kraft paper folded together are more often used for this purpose. The layers of paper or cardboard have a tile-like overlap and are tied with string.For winter covering of grapevines, we can also use ready-made straw mats or white agrotextile with a weight of 50g / m² .
Vine legs bent upwards (A) and tied to the trunk (B). The whole thing is covered with white agrotextile, and at the foot of the bush there is a mound (C)
Fig. © Joanna Białowąs
MSc Eng. Joanna Białowąs
