Propagation of grapes by cuttings in autumn

In order to decorate your garden with green vines and get a good harvest of grapes, it is not enough to grow one plant. Of course, for breeding a crop, you can buy several grown seedlings, but they are by no means cheap, and there may be problems with the grade of plants. It is much cheaper and more reliable to propagate grapes on their own by cuttings. Further, in the proposed article we will talk in detail about how to prepare cuttings in the fall, how to properly store and germinate them. This information will certainly be useful to both beginners and experienced growers.

Harvesting cuttings

To carry out the propagation of grapes by cuttings is only, at first glance, quite difficult. Under certain conditions, the roots of grapes begin to actively develop both on green and on mature pieces of the vine. Cuttings can be done in spring or autumn. Autumn cuttings are preferable, because with proper storage and rooting, by spring, the cuttings (chubuk) will be planted in a permanent place of growth. The probability that it will take root, in this case, is close to 100%. Planting material harvested from autumn is stronger and healthier. Such a vine is able to quickly grow root and greenery, develop fruit-bearing arrows.

Harvest cuttings in the fall during the main pruning of grapes. This must be done no earlier than 2 weeks after the plant has thrown off the foliage and before the onset of severe frosts. The selection of planting material must be carried out with particular quality, focusing on the following criteria:

1. It is preferable to choose chibouks with a diameter of up to 6 mm. Thicker shoots are considered fattening and are not able to take root.
2. Propagation of grapes by cuttings in the autumn season should be carried out only using fruit-bearing, matured shoots.
3. A quality cutting should be solid. When it is bent, you can hear a slight crackle.
4. The bark of the vine should be a uniform light or dark brown color.
5. On a cut of a healthy cutting, you can see a green color. Brown blotches indicate the development of the disease or the freezing of the shoot.
6. During visual inspection, attention should be paid to the absence of mechanical damage, signs of disease and other defects on the surface of the bark.

Such general rules will make it possible to procure only the highest quality planting material for next year. Having chosen shoots that are suitable in all respects, you can start cutting the cuttings. Their length should be at least 30 cm. 2-4 eyes should be left on each shank.

Storing chibouks in winter

Cutting grapes in autumn involves long-term winter storage of planting material under certain conditions with a temperature not higher than +4⁰C. Before laying for storage, the shank is cleaned of the remnants of foliage, mustaches and stepchildren. Segments of the vine are twisted with a soft elastic band or rope into a bundle, if necessary, a tag is imposed indicating the variety.

Among the most affordable ways to store grape chubuk are the following:

• Storing grape cuttings in a cellar or basement is not difficult. Planting material just needs to be dug in a container with wet sand and left in a cool cellar until early February.
• Storage in the garden involves digging a trench 50 cm deep. Its length should correspond to the length of the grape cuttings. A layer of sand 10 cm thick is poured at the bottom of the trench. Bundles of chubuks are laid on the sand and sprinkled with the remaining soil, fallen leaves, sawdust, and straw. On top of such a bookmark, you need to lay a flap of polyethylene.
• The optimum temperature for storing planting material can be found in the refrigerator door. Before storing in a refrigerator, grapes are soaked in cold water for 1-2 days, and then wrapped in a plastic bag. This method is good in the case when grape cuttings are harvested in small quantities.

Of course, the most convenient way is to store the vine in the cellar, but in the absence of such a room, it is preferable to use a refrigerator. When laying the chibouks for storage, you need to remember that already in January they will have to be taken out for germination at home.

Methods for rooting grape cuttings

It is recommended to start rooting grape cuttings in late January – early February. At this time, the pipes are taken out of storage and treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. After processing, the cuttings should be soaked in water for 1-2 days. Immediately before rooting, the cuttings on the cuttings are refreshed. On each cutting, two oblique cuts are made. At the same time, it is important that the inside of the cuttings on the cut have a green color, and at least 2 eyes remain on the cutting itself. In the lower part of the chibouk, scratches (furrows) are made with a needle or a thin blade of a knife. This part of the vine is dipped in Kornevin. Next, you can choose one of the rooting methods:

Rooting in sawdust

To do this, it is necessary to pour slightly moistened sawdust into a small container and put bunches of cuttings in them. Place the container with planting material on a heating radiator or other heating device. Moisten sawdust every 5 days. After 3 weeks, small roots will appear on the grape cuttings.

Rooting in the ground

To grow roots on cuttings of grapes, you can use nutrient soil of low acidity. It should include light peat, sand, humus and fertile soil. Pour the nutrient substrate into plastic pots or bottles cut in half. Drainage holes must be made in the bottom of the container. When filling pots, it is necessary to provide for the presence of a drainage layer of pebbles, expanded clay or broken bricks. Cuttings are planted in nutrient soil at a slight slope, leaving 1-2 buds above the soil surface.

Rooting in water

This method of rooting grape chibouks is the least laborious. For its implementation, it is necessary to pour a little water into a glass jar and put chubuki inside the container. An example of such rooting is shown in the video:

The method is great for growing grapes at home.

Proper rooting begins with building up the root system. Premature formation of greenery will indicate a violation of this process.

As soon as the root system began to develop in the lower part of the chibouks, and the length of small roots reached 1,5-2 cm, you can start planting grape chibouks in separate containers. For cultivation, you can use the same fertile soil. Containers must be selected with a diameter of at least 10 cm and a depth of 20-25 cm. A drainage layer must be poured onto the bottom of the containers.

A week after planting the chibouks in separate containers, they should be fed with potassium or wood ash. It is necessary to introduce a microelement at the rate of 30 g per plant. It is worth noting that nitrogen-containing fertilizers for grape cuttings are not used at an early stage of cultivation.

Planting seedlings in the ground

Rooted cuttings at home are planted in open ground in early May. By this time, leaves and small roots should appear on the grape stems. The planting process can be described in the following steps:

1. Initially, you need to choose a sunlit area with well-drained soil.
2. Dig up a plot of land deeply with the addition of humus, nitroammophoska and coarse sand.
3. Form a landing groove of the required depth.
4. Place the seedlings in the groove at a distance of 30-40 cm from each other.
5. Close up grape seedlings to such a depth that the upper eye is at a height of 7-10 cm from ground level.
6. Sprinkle the lower part of the seedlings with fertile soil, which subsequently needs to be compacted.
7. After planting, water each seedling abundantly, mulch the soil.

When all the above rules for storage, rooting and planting are followed, it is very easy to propagate grapes by cuttings. By next autumn, you can get healthy seedlings with a fairly developed root system. After wintering in open ground, with the advent of heat, the grapes will begin to grow actively.

Is it possible to plant grape cuttings directly into the ground in autumn

The above method of propagating grapes by cuttings in the fall is quite laborious and painstaking. It is necessary to prepare cuttings, take care of their safety in winter and carefully root at home closer to spring. A set of such measures allows you to get a lot of healthy and strong seedlings at the exit. But grapes reproduce in a simpler way, which involves planting chibouks immediately after harvesting into the ground. This method of growing is quite simple and is similar to the propagation of grapes through layering. To implement this method, you must:

• Prepare healthy cuttings, make oblique cuts at the ends of the vine.
• In the prepared hole, 50-60 cm deep, place the cutting at an angle of 45⁰.
• One eye should be left above the ground.
• Dig the chibouks of grapes with fertile soil, compact it and water it.
• Before frost, chibouks should be watered regularly.
• For the winter, cover grape cuttings with foliage, straw, and burlap.
• With the arrival of spring warmth, the shelter should be removed and the green leaves of young grapes should appear.

This method, of course, is much easier than propagating grapes by cuttings with storage and rooting at home. The only significant drawback of this propagation method is the low survival rate of seedlings. So, out of the total number of cuttings in the spring, only 60-70% wake up. Such a low viability of chibouks must be taken into account even during the planting of plants in the ground: 2 cuttings of grapes should be planted in one hole at once. If both of them take root, then the weakest cutting will have to be removed.

Thus, the above information allows you to understand how to harvest grape cuttings in the fall, how to save the harvests made and root them.

The video clip will also allow you to answer some of the remaining questions and see firsthand the whole process of grape propagation by cuttings.

This simple method allows you to breed a whole plantation of young seedlings from cut, ripened shoots of one shrub. Of course, this will require a certain amount of effort and time, but it will save money for the purchase of already grown seedlings.