Winter-protection Of Grapes

With a little care as to winter-protection, grapes may be grown

profitably in northern regions where, without protection, the vines

are killed or injured by low temperatures. Indeed, it is little short

of amazing how well grapes can be grown in northern regions where

nature wears a most austere countenance in winter, if hardy early

sorts are planted in warm soils and situations, and the vines are

covered in the winter. Occasionally one finds grapes grown profitably

in commercial vineyards in the northern states in regions where

protection must be given to prevent winter-killing, the extra work of

giving protection being more than offset by the high price received in

local markets for the fruit.



In all locations in which winter-protection must be given, several

other precautions are helpful or even necessary. Thus, cultivation

must cease early in the season, and a cover-crop be sown to help

harden and mature the vines. The grapes, also, must not be planted in

soils rich in nitrogen, and nitrogenous fertilizers must be applied

with care. The pruning should be such as does not induce great growth.

These simple precautions to hasten maturity often suffice in climates

where the danger of winter-killing is but slight, but where danger is

imminent the vines must be covered either by wrapping or by laying

down. Wrapping with straw may suffice for a few vines, but when many

vines are to be protected, laying them down is cheaper and much more

effectual.



By laying down is meant that the vines must be placed on the ground

and there be protected by earth and snow or other covering. It is

obvious that to protect thus, the vines must receive special training;

otherwise the trunks may be too stiff for bending. Some method of

training must be chosen in which renewals may be made rather

frequently from the ground so that if the trunks become large, clumsy

and unpliable, a more manageable trunk can be trained. If the

provisions for renewal are kept in mind, any one of the several

methods of training grapes explained in Chapter VIII on training may

be used.



Laying down must be preceded by pruning, after which the arms and

trunk are loosened from the wires and bent to the ground. Bending is

facilitated by removing a spade full of earth from the side of the

vine in the direction in which the vine is to be bent. The trunk is

then laid on the earth and sufficient soil placed on it to keep it in

place on the ground. If the danger of winter-killing is great because

of the tenderness of the variety or the austerity of the climate, it

often becomes necessary to cover the whole plant lightly with earth.

Small growers often make use of coarse manure, straw, corn-stalks or

similar covering, in which case the vines are held on the ground by

fence-rails or other timbers; but protecting with material that must

be brought into the vineyard is expensive and not more satisfactory

than earth.



The vines can be put down at any time after the leaves drop and before

the earth begins to freeze. It is more important that the vines be

taken up at the proper time in the spring. If uncovered too early and

cold weather follows, injury may result and more harm be done than if

the vines had not been covered. On the other hand, if the earth is

permitted to remain too long, foliage and vine are tender both to

sunshine and frost. A grape-grower in New York who has had much

experience in laying down vines in a vineyard of some thirty or forty

acres says that the work may be done at a cost of $6 an acre at the

average wage paid for farm-labor. It must be expected in a large

plantation, no matter how well the work of covering is done, that

occasionally a trunk will be broken, making it necessary to graft the

vine if a shoot does not spring up from below the break.