How to grow grapes: propagation by green cuttings

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Grapes are a valuable crop that many summer residents dream of having in their garden plot. Its berries are very tasty. But, in addition to direct use in food, there are many more ways to use ripe berries. They make wine, juices, compotes and much more. Recently, as a result of the constant work of breeders, a wide variety of varieties have been bred. Among them there are those that have large fragrant berries, and valuable technical varieties, and those that are particularly resistant to the main diseases of the grapes. However, their cost is quite high. Therefore, having acquired one precious copy and being convinced of its excellent qualities, the owners begin to think about how to get more bushes that will bring the same delicious grapes. Reproduction by green cuttings in this case is one of the most convenient and common ways. Planting ready-made seedlings in the ground usually does not cause any particular difficulties. But getting them yourself from an already growing bush can be difficult.

When to cut?

BIn principle, propagation of grapes by green cuttings can be performed at almost any time of the year. But in order to achieve the optimal result, it is advised to prepare the material in May-June, just a couple of weeks before flowering. Young shoots should by this time gain enough strength for subsequent independent life. The most important thing when preparing future planting material is to prevent even the slightest drying out in order to get viable grapes. Reproduction by green cuttings should therefore be started at high humidity, namely in cloudy weather in the early morning or evening.

How to choose material?

Stepsons, young shoots of bushes, as well as the upper parts of the branches are suitable for cuttings. Usually, a part is chosen that contains 3-4 developed buds that can produce quality grapes in the future. Propagation by green cuttings begins with the preparation of green material. The cut branch must be shortened from above, just above the eye, and cut at the bottom 3–4 centimeters after the bud. Live green leaves are very important for subsequent rooting. If there are 3 promising buds on the shoot, 2 upper leaves are left. If there are fewer of them, you need to leave one leaf so that strong and strong grapes grow from it in the future.

How to root?

Reproduction by green cuttings requires the preparation of sufficiently capacious dishes (for example, a cropped container from under water with a volume of 5 liters is suitable). It must be filled with an earthen mixture, in which halfwill be garden soil, and the other half - compost. Holes must be made in the bottom of the container. Then, four young cuttings are placed in the corners of the pot prepared in this way. They need to be watered, and then wrap the container well with a plastic bag. Then the cuttings can be removed to a well-lit place and not touched for about a couple of weeks until the grapes take root. Reproduction by green cuttings will then consist in caring for small seedlings. It will be enough to open them once a week for airing and watering. And when noticeable new shoots appear, which will happen in about two months, planting material can be transferred to open ground. If the cuttings were started in June, then the future bushes will be in the open air in August and will have time to take root well until October and even form a tree trunk. In other cases, you will have to place the seedling in greenhouse conditions.

Propagation of wild grapes by cuttings is performed in a similar way. The most important thing here is to save the cut cuttings. To do this, they must immediately be placed in a bowl of water and closed well to prevent moisture from evaporating.