Before I hauled the grape prunings away yesterday…
I decided to save a few for a special project. It was not for making wreaths, but for propagating more grapes.
Growing new grape vines from cuttings is easy and fun. This is the low-tech way I do it.
First, pick out some likely prunings from your pile:
They should be about the diameter of a pencil and have 3 or 4 bud nodes. In the photo below, I show a nice collection of cuttings. See the one at the top? It has 4 nodes and is about 10″ long or so. The cutting in the middle has 4 nodes also but they are so far apart that you can only see two of the nodes and it is over 20″ long…no good.
Then just stick them into a pot of moist potting mix so that two of the bottom nodes are covered with soil. Keep them misted or put them into a clear plastic bag to keep up the humidity. Make sure they are out of direct sunlight until after they have formed leaves. Then take off the bag.
Now, here in this photo below, is a grape vine that slipped off of the arbor last season and rooted itself at three nodes. I just cut it off and stuck it into a pot…instant grape vine!
I even found a cane that I cut off last year and didn’t pick up…it rooted itself right there where it landed!
A couple of other things to keep in mind: take your cutting from the middle of the grape cane, not the tip or base (tips and bases don’t root as well), and make some kind of mark so that you know which end of the cutting is “up”, that is, closest to the tip and make sure that end stays above the soil.
That’s all there is to it. You don’t even need rooting powder, as a matter of fact, some grape growers feel that rooting powder can inhibit rooting in grapes.
Potted grape vines make great gifts for your gardening friends.
Bob
unbelievable…maybe in a year or two i will be able to plant some cuttings, in the meantime, i’ll have to get the husband to build a suitable arbor.
gardening question for you: i tried taking cuttings from other plants/shrubs such as lilacs but i couldn’t get them to grow…i’m thinking i didn’t have enough nodes or took them too close to the tip. is the process for taking cuttings from other plants similar to this process?
Comment by vanessa — April 21, 2007 @ 9:55 pm
It’s too bad I didn’t get a chance to read this last entry………before I burned the mound of cuttings.
The grapes are pruned and tidy. They’ve been a reclaimation project since we moved here. When we moved in, we weren’t even aware there was a grape arbor. The arbor and the fence were so overgrown with wild grapes, wild black raspberries, mulberry saplings and poison ivy, it wasn’t until I was clearing off the fence that I discovered the grape arbor. I suspect they hadn’t been pruned in years, if ever.
The arbor is not in a location I would have chosen, but since that’s where it is, I’ll make due. At least it’s looking like a grape arbor now. :o)
Comment by Vicki — April 23, 2007 @ 7:08 am
Vanessa, I think I’m going to write a post about cuttings since I plan on taking cuttings later this week from some herbacious plants we kept over winter in the greenhouse. It’s later in the season than I would like it to be but we should be OK….stay tuned!
Comment by Bob — April 23, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
Vicki, I know those reclaimation projects are a lot of work, but it sure gives one a sense of accomplishment. Just think of all of those grapes you’ll be picking from now on!
Comment by Bob — April 23, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
thanks, bob, i’m looking forward to reading about the cuttings!
Comment by vanessa — April 26, 2007 @ 3:27 pm