Vine Shelter
Definition - What does Vine Shelter mean?
There are many ways to help train new vines during the planting of vineyards, one is to use vine shelters or vine tubes/guards to protect the newly budding vines from outside elements. Vine shelters and tubes help the shoots by wrapping completely around the new growth to protect them, assist in attachment to the trellis and encourage plant growth.
The plastic tubes wrapped around the vine are able to mimic a greenhouse environment, which is especially helpful for new shoots and during the beginning of the growing season when climates are not as stable.
WineFrog explains Vine Shelter
Vine shelters are beneficial for new vineyard establishment when the original vines are in their first stages of planting. The vine tubes are placed around the new shoots and help with rapid, straight growth and attachment to the trellis. There are various types of vine tubes; most recently, it has been noted that switching to blue-colored tubes has been shown to increase growth rates due to plants photosynthesis process reacting positively to amplified blue light.
Vine tubes also prevent infiltration from rodents, pests, rabbits and migrating or drifting chemical sprays which maximizes the survival of young vines. Using vine shelters also assists in a quicker production of fruit and higher yields over the first few years of growth. However, it has been found that after a certain period of growth, vine shelters should be removed or they could actually stunt the growth of more mature vines. Once the vines grow out of the top of the shelter, they must be additionally supported with wires or twine to prevent abrasion damage of the leaves hitting or being blown into the top of the tube.
