vineyard bird netting: What You Need to Know to Successfully Grow Grapes at Home

Four types of grapes are homegrown in the United States. In areas with mild winters such as California, European grapes are often grown. American grapes like 'Concord' and 'Niagara' are grown in the North, muscadine grapes are grown in the Southeast, and American-European hybrids like 'Pinot Noir', because of their mixed parentage, are grown in many regions in the country. In order to successfully grow grapes at home, it is imperative to learn about grape pruning and pest control.PruningTo follow a discussion of grape pruning, you need to be familiar with the parts of a grapevine. The trunk is the main stem of the grapevine. The arms are the main branches. Shoots are the current year's growth. Canes are shoots that have developed some bark and rigidity. Spurs are stubby growths on which some cultivars, especially muscadines, bear fruit.Pruning is the process of cutting away plant growth in order to stimulate growth. It is important to prune grape vines to destroy the previous year's fruity canes or spurs. Grapes require vigorous pruning. Left to their own devices, they will travel as much as 100 feet, generally bearing their fruit too high in a tree for easy picking. Un-pruned grapevines also lose productivity. Grapes grow on one-year-old wood. If you leave old canes on the vine, the plant will spend too much energy sustaining the old growth and too little making fruit. You need to use a hand pruner when removing year-old shoots; whereas, a handsaw can be used to cut larger wood on the vine.Pests in the PlantingSo what pests are you likely to encounter in your grape plantings? The primary pests are probably birds and fungal diseases. Most grapes require some fungicide application, particularly in wet years. Insect pests can be devastating, but they tend to be isolated, both in location and year. Alas, for birds, the only solution is netting. Be ready to net the plants when the grapes start to change color. Netting is a pain, but it's better than losing your crop.InsectsJapanese beetles: If you have raspberries or roses in your garden, Japanese beetles will probably go for those crops first, but they are also fairly fond of grape leaves. Both malathion and Sevin work well on Japanese beetles, so use these pesticides as needed. Several non-pesticide alternatives are available. One option is to simply knock the beetles off the plant and into a bucket of soapy water. The soap coats them, and they eventually die.Grape berry moth: These tiny moths feed on buds, flowers, and newly set fruit. They can cause devastating damage on commercial vineyards. If you see a reddish spot on the fruit, proceed with caution. Injured grapes will ripen prematurely, spilt and shrivel. This also opens up infection sites for the various rots. If the infestation is light, remove injured berries by hands. If you get a bad infestation, though, consult local extension personnel for pesticide recommendations.Grape cane girdlers: These are small insects with snouts that girdle the grape cane by chewing two rings of holes around the shoot several inches apart. These girdles are usually beyond the last grape cluster, so fruit is not lost. Canes that have been girdled will break off. If you see broken shoots hanging down from your vines, grape cane girdlers are the likely culprit. The broken shoots are most obvious in the early portion of the season. You need to Cut them off below the lower girdle, before the adult insects emerge in summer, should control the damage.Phylloxera and erineum mites: Though often found in grape plantings, the phylloxera root louse and erineum mites have to be present in very high numbers before they do any real harm to the plant. Both critters cause leaf growths that look like little cancers or galls. The gall of the erineum mite blisters on the top surface of the leaf and forms a felty brown patch beneath the blister on the underside of the leaf. Phylloxera leaf infections cause spherical galls that protrude on the lower surface of the leaf. A good rule of thumb is to that if 15 percent of the roots become infected, you may want to spray. If you have a light infestation, by all means remove and destroy the infected leaves.DiseasesWhen you grow grapes, you should simply expect some disease problems in wet years. The best way to minimize disease infestations is to keep the plants well pruned so that air circulates well through the canopy. The importance of this simple cultural management technique cannot be overemphasized. Think of the mildew that grows on your shower curtain. Nothing encourages it like the still, moist air that surrounds the curtain after you take a shower; moving that moist air out of the shower area limits the growth of the mildew. Likewise, when the leaf canopy on a plant is too thick, the moisture inside cannot get out because air circulation is limited. All the wind in the world may not be able to penetrate the layers of leaves of an un-pruned grape canopy, thus making an ideal environment for many fungi. Allow air to circulate by creating a more open canopy, and the fungi all of the sudden are not so comfortable. And fungi are not good sharers; once in your canopy, they can quickly decimate the entire crop.As you can see, in order to be a successful home grape grower, you need to spend some time learning about grape pruning, pest and disease control.Happy grape growing! [EXTRACT] Four types of grapes are grown in the United States. In areas with mild winters such as California, often European grapes are grown. American grapes such as 'Concord' and 'Niagara' grown in the north, Muscat grapes grown in the southeastern United States and Europe and hybrids such as 'Pinot Noir', because of their mixed ancestry, is grown in many regions of the country . To successfully develop the grapes at home, it is imperative to learn about pruning and grape pests control.PruningTo follow a discussion of pruning grapes, you must be familiar with the parts of the vine. The trunk is the main stem of the vine. The arms are the main branches. The buds are growth this year. Rods are the shoots that have developed some bark and stiffness. Spurs are thick growths in some varieties, especially muscadine, fruit. Bear Pruning is the process of cutting the growth of plants in order to stimulate growth. It is important to prune grape vines to destroy stalks of last year, fruity and spurs. The grapes require vigorous pruning. Left to themselves, will travel up to 100 feet, in general, taking off too high in a tree to gather easily. Unpruned vines also lose productivity. Grapes grow in a year-old wood. If you leave old canes of the vine, the plant will spend too much energy to sustain growth and fruit-old doing very little. You must use a hand pruner to remove years of age, buds, while a hand saw can be used to cut wood in the vine.Pests largest plantings in which pests are likely to encounter in plantations of grapes? The main pests are probably birds and fungal diseases. Most grapes require an application of fungicides, especially in wet years. Insect pests can be devastating, but tend to be isolated, both on-site and year. Unfortunately for the birds, the only solution is compensation. Be prepared to plant network when the grapes begin to change color. Mesh is a pain, but better than losing crop.InsectsJapanese beetles: If you have raspberries or roses in your garden, Japanese beetles will probably go for the first crop, but are also very fond of vine leaves. Both malathion and Sevin work well in Japanese beetles, in order to use these pesticides as needed. Several pesticides are not available alternatives. One option is to simply remove the ground beetles and a bucket of soapy water. The layers of soap, and berry moth finally die.Grape: These moths feed on young shoots, flowers and fruits just created. They can cause devastating damage to commercial vineyards. If you see a red spot on the fruit, proceed with caution. The grapes ripen early injury, stroke and wrinkle. This also opens the infection sites of various rot. If the infestation is light, remove injured berries by hand. If you get a bad infestation, however, check with your local Extension staff cane recommendations.Grape girdlers pesticides: These are small insects with their noses around the grape cane by chewing two rings of holes around the shooting of several inches. These strips are generally beyond the clusters, the last, so that the fruit is not lost. Canes that have adhered to break. If you see broken buds hanging from his vineyard, grape cane girdlers are the most likely cause. Broken Outbreaks are most evident in the first half of the season. You need to cut below the lower band, before the adult insects emerge in summer, and must control the mites damage.Phylloxera erineum: Although often found in plantations, grape phylloxera louse root erineum mites have to be present in high numbers before doing any real damage to the plant. Both creatures cause growths that look like leaves, such as cancers of little or gills. The gall mites erineum blisters on the upper surface of the leaf and forms a brown spot below the bulb Felty at the bottom of the page. Phylloxera infections cause leaf spherical galls that protrude from the lower leaf surface. A good rule of thumb is that if 15 percent of the roots of the infection, you may want to spray. If you have an infestation of light, by all means remove and destroy infected leaves.DiseasesWhen growing grapes, simply wait a few disease problems in wet years. The best way to minimize disease infestations is to keep the plants well trimmed for good air circulation through the canopy. The importance of this simple cultural management technique can not be overstated. Think of mold growing on your shower curtain. Nothing encourages as air still wet around the curtain after taking a shower, which moves the humid air from the shower area limits the growth of mold. Similarly, when the foliage is very thick, moisture inside can not leave because air circulation is limited. All the wind in the world can not be able to penetrate the layers of a canopy of leaves without pruning grapes, which makes it an ideal environment for many fungi. Air to circulate through the creation of a more open canopy, and fungi, are suddenly not so comfortable. And fungi are not participants in a good, once in the flag, you can quickly decimate crop.As everything can be seen, to be a home grower of grapes successfully, you need to spend some time learning about control of grape pruning, pests and diseases. happy grape growing!