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In order to decorate your garden with green vines and get a good grape harvest, it is not enough to grow one plant. Of course, to propagate a crop, you can buy several grown seedlings, but they are by no means cheap, and problems may arise with the variety of plants. It is much cheaper and more reliable to propagate grapes yourself by cuttings. Next, in this 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 winegrowers.
Harvesting cuttings
At first glance, it is quite difficult to propagate grapes from cuttings. Under certain conditions, grape roots begin to actively develop both on green and mature pieces of the vine. Cuttings can be carried out in spring or autumn. Autumn cuttings are preferable, since 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 in the fall is stronger and healthier.Such a vine is capable of quickly growing roots and greenery, and developing fruiting shoots.
Cuttings are prepared in the fall during the main grape trimmings. This must be done no earlier than 2 weeks after the plant has lost its leaves and before the onset of severe frosts. The selection of planting material must be carried out with particular quality, focusing on the following criteria:
- It is preferable to choose pipes with a diameter of up to 6 mm. Thicker shoots are considered fattening and are not able to take root.
- Propagation of grapes by cuttings in the autumn season should be carried out only using fruit-bearing, ripened shoots.
- A high-quality cutting should be hard. When bending it, you can hear a slight cracking sound.
- The bark of the vine should be a uniform light or dark brown color.
- On a cut from a healthy cutting you can see a green color. Brown inclusions indicate the development of the disease or freezing of the shoot.
- During a visual inspection, you should pay attention to the absence of mechanical damage, signs of disease and other defects on the surface of the cortex.
Such general rules will allow you to prepare only the highest quality planting material for next year. Having selected shoots that are suitable in all respects, you can begin cutting cuttings. Their length should be at least 30 cm. 2-4 eyes should be left on each chibouk.
Storing pipes in winter
Grape cuttings in the fall involve long-term winter storage of planting material in certain conditions with a temperature not exceeding +40C. Before storing the chibouks, they are cleaned of any remaining foliage, tendrils and shoots. Sections of the vine are twisted with a soft rubber band or rope into a bundle, and if necessary, a tag indicating the variety is tied.
Among the most accessible ways to store grape stems are the following:
- Storing grape cuttings in a cellar or basement is not difficult. Planting material just needs to be buried in a container with damp 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 onto the bottom of the trench. Bundles of chibouks are placed 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 piece of polyethylene.
- The optimal temperature for storing planting material can be found in the refrigerator door. Before storing in the refrigerator, the grape stems are soaked in cold water for 1-2 days, and then wrapped in a plastic bag. This method is good when grape cuttings are harvested in small quantities.
Of course, the most convenient way to store grapevines is in the cellar, but in the absence of such a room, it is preferable to use a refrigerator. When storing the chubuks, you need to remember that already in January you will have to take them 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 treatment, the cuttings should be soaked in water for 1-2 days. Immediately before rooting, the cuttings are refreshed. Two oblique cuts are made on each cutting. In this case, it is important that the inside of the cuttings have a green color when cut, and at least 2 eyes remain on the cutting itself. In the lower part of the chibouk, scratches (grooves) are made with a needle or a thin knife blade. This part of the vine is dipped in Kornevin. Next, you can choose one of the rooting methods:
Rooting in sawdust
To do this, you need to pour slightly moistened sawdust into a small container and place bunches of cuttings in them. Place the container with planting material on a heating radiator or other heating device. Moisten the sawdust every 5 days. After just 3 weeks, small roots will appear on the grape cuttings.
Rooting in the ground
To grow roots on grape cuttings, you can use low acidity nutrient soil. It should include light peat, sand, humus and fertile soil. Pour the nutrient substrate into plastic pots or bottles cut in half. Be sure to make drainage holes in the bottom of the container. When filling pots, it is necessary to provide a drainage layer of pebbles, expanded clay or broken bricks. Cuttings in nutrient soil imprisoned at a slight slope, leaving 1-2 buds above the soil surface.
Rooting in water
This method of rooting grape stems is the least labor-intensive.To implement it, you need to pour some water into a glass jar and place the jugs inside the container. An example of such rooting is shown in the video:
The method is perfect 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 has begun to develop in the lower part of the stems, and the length of the small roots has reached 1.5-2 cm, you can begin planting the grape stems in separate containers. The same fertile soil can be used for cultivation. 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 fertilized with potassium or wood ash. It is necessary to add a microelement at the rate of 30 g per plant. It is worth noting that nitrogen-containing fertilizers are not used for grape cuttings at an early stage of cultivation.
Planting seedlings in the ground
Cuttings rooted 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 stages:
- Initially, you need to choose a sunlit area with well-drained soil.
- Dig up a plot of land deeply with the addition of humus, nitroammophosphate and coarse sand.
- Form a landing groove of the required depth.
- Place the seedlings in the groove at a distance of 30-40 cm from each other.
- Plant grape seedlings to such a depth that the top peephole is at a height of 7-10 cm from ground level.
- Sprinkle the lower part of the seedlings with fertile soil, which must subsequently be compacted.
- After planting, water each seedling generously and mulch the soil.
If all the specified rules for storage, rooting and planting are followed, it is very easy to propagate grapes from cuttings. By next autumn you can get healthy seedlings with a sufficiently developed root system. After overwintering in the open ground, with the arrival of warmth, the grapes will begin to grow actively.
Is it possible to plant grape cuttings directly into the ground in the fall?
The method proposed above for propagating grapes by cuttings in the fall is quite labor-intensive and painstaking. It is necessary to prepare cuttings, take care of their safety in winter and carefully root them at home closer to spring. A set of such measures allows you to obtain many healthy and strong seedlings. But grapes can also be propagated in a simpler way, which involves planting the stems immediately after harvesting in the ground. This method of growing is quite simple and is similar to propagating grapes through layering. To implement this method you need:
- Prepare healthy cuttings, make oblique cuts at the ends of the vine.
- In a prepared hole, 50-60 cm deep, place the cutting at an angle of 450.
- One eye should be left above the ground.
- Bury the grape stems with fertile soil, compact it and water it.
- Before frost, the chibuki should be watered regularly.
- For the winter, cover the grape cuttings with leaves, straw, and burlap.
- With the arrival of spring warmth, the cover should be removed and green leaves of young grapes should be expected to appear.
This method, of course, is much simpler than propagating grapes from cuttings with storage and rooting at home. The only significant drawback of this propagation method is the low survival rate of seedlings. So, of the total number of cuttings, only 60-70% wake up in the spring. This low viability of the stems must be taken into account even when planting plants in the ground: 2 grape cuttings 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 prepare grape cuttings in the fall, how to preserve the preparations made and root them.
The video clip will also allow you to answer some remaining questions and see with your own eyes the entire process of propagating grapes by cuttings.
This simple method allows you to grow an entire plantation of young seedlings from cut, mature shoots of one shrub. Of course, this will require some effort and time, but it will save money for the purchase of already grown seedlings.
