Care of the grapes is quite painstaking, it requires the presence of certain knowledge and skills. Grape processing in early spring is necessary for the prevention of diseases and harmful effects of insects, especially it is important after strong moistening to avoid contamination of the vineyard mildew.
When spring spraying grapes from pests and diseases?
It is important to start caring for the grapes before bud budding and the beginning of sap flowing in the stems. First of all, it needs to be cut and tied. All cut off shoots should be removed from the site and at the opportunity to burn outside. The remaining vines must be tied up on the trellis.
Tying is best done in dry weather. And only after these preparatory works it is possible to start spraying the vineyard. Moreover, it is necessary to process not only the grapes themselves, but also the soil around it.
Grapes processing by spraying
Most often vineyards are affected by mildew, and this is due to overmoistening. It appears as a white coating on the reverse side of the leaves, which are then covered with rusty spots and dry up.
To prevent the development of such a scenario, it is necessary to know what to spray the grapes before bud blossoming and the appearance of leaves. One option is to use a 3% Bordeaux fluid solution. To make it, you need to either dissolve the finished product in water, or prepare it yourself.
To obtain a solution, you can take 300 g of copper sulfate and 300 g of hydrated lime and dissolve them in 10 liters of water. In this case, you must first pour lime into the water, and then copper sulphate, otherwise the solution will curdle like sour milk.
Note that the solution turns out to be very toxic, therefore it is necessary to use it with great precautions, and spraying should be done only in windless weather. In addition, be prepared that the Bordeaux fluid acts on the young shoots somewhat depressingly, hindering their development.
There are other options than sprinkling grapes in the spring before buds blossom. For example, recently began to use the drug Ridomil - it spares young growth. Spray them they need shoots and soil around. The drug is very well proven in the prevention and control of mildew.
Another advantage of Ridomil is that they do not need to be sprayed after every rain, as in the case of the Bordeaux liquid. It is effective even in the rainy season for 2 weeks. At the same time, its toxicity is several times lower.
There are also a number of agents that act simultaneously on fungal diseases, and on parasites (spider mite, etc.) - Tiovit, Topaz, Strobi.
When to sprinkle grapes in the spring with copper sulfate?
Spraying with a 3% solution of copper sulfate protects the vine buds from spring frosts. Do this in the early spring, when the kidneys are already swollen, but have not yet blossomed.
If the weather is warm and dry in the spring, in principle, this early treatment can be skipped. The second treatment is performed before the blossoming of the grapes regardless of the weather. It is called reserve, and you need to catch it in the interval when the inflorescences have not yet become covered with young leaves, that is, when
Another, the third treatment of grapes with copper sulfate is made at the end of flowering. And even it is not the last, because everything depends on the weather. If it rains, grapes should be sprayed after each new growth of the leaves. In dry weather, you can do this less often. Mandatory and autumn processing of copper sulfate, so that the grapes do not attack fungal diseases until the spring.