Starting grapes from hardwood cuttings
It's that time again --- time
to expand your vineyard. Don't have much cash? Don't
worry. It's free.
Grapes are perhaps the easiest and cheapest fruit (after strawberries) to propagate. First,
find someone in your area who
grows grapes and offer to help them prune in exchange for taking some
of the prunings home. Trim the prunings into pencil-thick
sections with four buds apiece, cutting each one just below the lowest
bud (see above.)
Next, soak the cuttings for three days --- this step is very important and will at least double your success rate. Finally, push each cutting into the ground so that two of the buds are submerged, making sure the buds are all pointing up.
Weed and water just as you would the rest of your garden all summer, then in the fall dig up your new grape plants and put them in your vineyard. The photo to the right is a seven month old plant I started from a hardwood cutting --- granted, it was the biggest of the batch, but they all looked pretty darn good!
Grapes are perhaps the easiest and cheapest fruit (after strawberries) to propagate. First,
find someone in your area who
grows grapes and offer to help them prune in exchange for taking some
of the prunings home. Trim the prunings into pencil-thick
sections with four buds apiece, cutting each one just below the lowest
bud (see above.)Next, soak the cuttings for three days --- this step is very important and will at least double your success rate. Finally, push each cutting into the ground so that two of the buds are submerged, making sure the buds are all pointing up.
Weed and water just as you would the rest of your garden all summer, then in the fall dig up your new grape plants and put them in your vineyard. The photo to the right is a seven month old plant I started from a hardwood cutting --- granted, it was the biggest of the batch, but they all looked pretty darn good!
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
I have a front yard garden. To attempt to shield from view most of my mess I've planted a variety of blueberries along the front corner where the pine tree used to be :D.
I'll have to check, most of what I put in was northern, but now I'm running to find my tags. Not all of them are suckering... About 2 of the 6 varieties I have are and I'm moving those down the line and amending the soil like crazy in hopes they'll take. Pine needles being the "amendment" of choice for my budget and goals.