Grape Plants
Whether you want to expand your own vineyard or start one from scratch, it is easy to grow grape plants from cuttings. The best time to mark the grape plants from which you wish to take cuttings is at harvest time. Then go back after the plant is dormant to get the actual cuttings. A good time to do this is when your are completing the yearly pruning.
If you live in a very cold climate, you might have to keep the grape plants inside for a year before planting them. When you are making your cuttings, never use the wood on the tip of the cane. You should cut the top of the cutting at a slant and the bottom straight across so that you will always be able to tell the tops from the bottoms. You should never take more than two cuttings from one plant.
Keeping the cuttings in storage until planting time can take a bit of work. The cuttings need to be kept cold but also above freezing. One of the best methods is to wet the cuttings, dry off any dripping water, lie them on a piece of plastic, sprinkle with a layer of shavings, and then roll up the cuttings in the plastic. They are now ready for storage in a place where they can remain cool. Depending on where you live, this could be a garage or underground--any place it won’t freeze. You can even take an extra precaution of covering the package with straw. There are two things to be sure of--never let the cuttings freeze and never let them dry out--they must remain moist at all times until planted. Do not put them into the ground until the temperature reaches at least 65 to 70 degrees.
It is also possible to plant green cuttings to grow grape plants. That means taking the cuttings off of live and growing grape plants as opposed to dormant ones. This is a good method for some kinds of grapes that do not grow well from dormant cuttings. One of these types of grape plants is Muscadine grapes. They have a very low rate of growth from dormant cuttings but are up to a 70 or 80 percent success rate with green cuttings.
With green cuttings you need to keep them in a warm humid place until they have rooted and can be planted outside. One way is in a black plant pot with a plastic covering over it. You will need to put something inside to hold up the plastic over the cutting, such as a stick or metal stake. You can then put a giant rubber band around the bottom of the plastic and the pot to hold it in place.
Once the cuttings start to grow shoots, fertilize the grape plants, and in approximately 6 to 8 weeks they will be ready to plant in your vineyard. When you first plant them in the ground make a covering around the stem with something like a cardboard milk carton. The plant needs this protection because it has never been outside before.
That’s all there is to growing grape plants from cuttings. You can easily multiply your grape plants by dozens or even hundreds if you use these techniques.