Grapes are a plant that is often grown in their backyard by the owners of country houses and cottages. This is a thermophilic culture that requires proper care. One of the important issues that gardeners have to solve is the proper propagation of grapes by cuttings. The rules for this process will be discussed in detail below.
Benefits of cuttings
Grapes are one of the most beloved horticultural crops that almost every gardener wants to grow on his plot. Despite the fact that grapes are a heat-loving plant, at present, thanks to selection work, many varieties have been bred that can be grown not only in the south, but also in more severe climatic conditions.
At the same time, the issue of choosing planting material becomes very relevant. To ensure that you get grape seedlings suitable for growing in this particular climate zone andpossessing all the necessary features, it is best to practice self-propagation of grapes by cuttings at home. This is a very common and quite affordable way to propagate the presented culture.
Cuttings are based on the ability of this plant to form roots on shoots, both green and lignified. Planting cuttings are harvested from such shoots (they are also called chibouks). As a result of proper harvesting, storage and germination, he althy seedlings can be obtained ready for application to the ground in the open air.
Preparation of cuttings
You can start propagating grapes by cuttings at home in spring or autumn. Each method has a number of features. Material cut in the spring takes root well. However, it is not always possible to do this in the spring. More popular with gardeners is the propagation of grapes by cuttings in the fall, while pruning the bushes.
To obtain he althy and sustainable material, the best mother bushes are selected without any damage and disease. The vine should be ripe, woody and crunchy when bent, with no damage to the bark and with live intact buds. The cutting thickness is allowed 6-10 mm.
Gardeners' recommendations differ on length. Some advise harvesting chibouks 2-3 or 3-4 cm long, others insist on a length of 6-8 cm, citing the fact that long blanks are better stored and produce less waste in the spring. Cut shoots should have two to fourkidneys (eyes). There should be no gray, brown or dark brown spots on the bark of the harvested cuttings, and the cut should be green (if it is brown, the vine is frozen and not suitable for planting). It is advisable to harvest straight, non-curved shank.
Immediately after pruning, they should be soaked for half an hour in a 5% solution of ferrous sulfate or potassium permanganate or for a day in water, then dried and packaged.
If the cuttings are cut in the spring, they should be soaked in water for at least three days before rooting, because moisture freezes out of them during the winter and they dry out badly.
Storage
Proper storage of planting material cut in autumn is the key to successful propagation of grapes by cuttings. Before storage, the pipes are cleaned. Prepared shoots are tied into bundles with soft wire or rope and stored in the basement, in a box with wet sand. You can also save the cuttings in the garden in a specially dug trench up to half a meter deep.
Dig a trench on an elevated place, where there is no groundwater. A ten-centimeter layer of granular sand is poured at the bottom, the cuttings are laid horizontally and sprinkled with a layer of soil on top. With the onset of frost, the trench is covered with a layer of dry leaves, sawdust, straw or peat and covered with polyethylene.
If there are few cuttings, they are left in the refrigerator, wrapped in a damp newspaper and placed in a plastic bag in which holes must be made for ventilation. The package is placed in such a way thatthe material did not freeze, and its temperature and humidity are periodically monitored.
To reduce moisture loss, some gardeners recommend lowering the ends of the cuttings into melted wax or sticking them with plasticine before storing them. Doing this is helpful, but not required.
If possible, it is worth checking the material monthly, rejecting unsuitable shank. When the cuttings dry, they can be kept in water, when mold appears, wipe with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Winter preparation for planting
Preparation for propagation of grapes by cuttings begins in January in winter. They are removed from the storage and sorted, leaving the chubouks without mold and mechanical damage. The selected material is treated with a solution of potassium permanganate and washed with clean water.
Then completely update the cuts on both sides. From below, the cut is straight, at a distance of approximately 10-15 mm from the kidney, from above - oblique 25 mm above the eye. When cutting seedlings, you need to pay attention to the color of the wood. It should be bright green. The kidney in a transverse section should also be green and dense. Prepared cuttings are soaked, usually for a day, but not more than 48 hours. It is desirable to use filtered water, adding a growth stimulator to it. The water should completely cover the stems.
After soaking, for better rooting, vertical grooves are applied at the lower end of the cutting with a sharp knife or needle, into which the growth stimulator is rubbed. The cuttings are now ready to root. There are several methodsreproduction of grapes in the presented way.
Method 1
Pour about 3-5 cm of water into a transparent container and place the cuttings in it, so that the second kidney is above the edge of the dish. It is better to add a growth stimulator to the liquid. Water is changed once a week, without the addition of a stimulant. You can cut the bottom of the cuttings and rub Kornevin there.
Chubuks are placed in such a way that the lower part is warm, for example, on a radiator or a heated mat, and the upper part remains cool. This is necessary so that the upper green part develops more slowly than the lower one and does not slow down the formation of roots.
The first leaves on the shoots will appear in about 15 days, and the roots in 24-28 days. If a flower brush appears on the handle in the form of a tiny lamb, it should be cut with small scissors.
Roots on chibouks usually appear at the point of contact of water with air. Therefore, there should not be much liquid so that the seedlings do not die due to lack of air.
Method 2
In a transparent plastic glass with a capacity of half a liter, make several holes in the bottom with an awl. A layer of a mixture of humus and earth (one to one) about 2 cm high is poured into it. Another glass is placed in the center, with a capacity of 200 ml without a bottom.
The free distance between the walls is filled with dense soil and watered. A small glass is filled with sand. It is being watered. Thentake out the small inner container. A hole four centimeters deep is made in the sand and a process is inserted into it. The sand is watered and a plastic bottle without a bottom is placed on top with the cap removed.
Water the cuttings depending on the humidity, once a day or even two days. The plastic bottle is removed when the roots fill the entire glass, and up to five leaves appear on the handle.
Method 3
Propagation of grapes by cuttings can be carried out by placing them in swollen wet peat tablets. The upper cut of the shank is waxed. Then the cuttings with peat tablets are placed in a plastic bag and left in a dark place for three weeks, after which roots will appear on the seedlings. The advantage of this method is the germination of roots without the appearance of leaves, which gives the seedlings additional strength and stability, as well as compactness and ease of planting.
Before planting, you should first cut the mesh on peat tablets. This must be done carefully so as not to damage the root system.
Some gardeners replace peat tablets with wet foam rubber. The cuttings are placed in it for ten days, until the buds of the roots appear, and then they are planted in a plastic cup, as described in the second method.
Method 4
If the gardener has an aquarium, you can use it to propagate grapes from cuttings. Prepared chibouks are placed on a foam bridge. The lower part of the shank is under the foam for a couple of centimeters in the water. An aerator is used to enhance root growth. By heating the water in the aquarium to 25 degrees, you can create conditions favorable for the development of roots. At the same time, the cool air on the surface will prevent the leaves from developing quickly.
If desired, the aquarium can be replaced with a pan, but in a glass container it is better to observe the development of the roots.
Disembarkation in the tank
After the cuttings are rooted, they are planted in growing containers. To do this, you can use cropped bottles made of transparent plastic. The containers are filled with a substrate prepared from a mixture of sand (2 parts), garden soil (1 part) and humus (1 part). The cuttings are planted 8-9 cm deep, very carefully so as not to damage the young roots.
Seedlings are watered about once a week, taking into account 100 g of water per cutting. If the soil is well breathable and its temperature exceeds 15 degrees, it is possible to irrigate more abundantly. In a cold room, it is recommended to water seedlings every 15-20 days.
Outdoor planting
The next stage of propagation of grapes by cuttings in the spring is their planting in open ground. It is carried out, depending on the climatic zone, from May to June, when the threat of frost is completely excluded.
Pits for grapes about half a meter deep are dug two weeks before planting cuttings. A drainage layer of gravel and crushed stone is placed at the bottom, then a couple of buckets of humus, half a kilogram of superphosphate, a kilogram of ash, and all this is sprinkled with a thin layer of fertile soil.
Half an hour before planting, moisten the soil in the pit. Seedlingwith an earthen clod, they are placed in a pit and sprinkled with fertile soil, then with a mixture of soddy soil and sand in a ratio of two to one, and again with fertile soil. Top mulched with sawdust.
Cut off all the upper shoots of the seedling, leaving only two buds on it. By fulfilling all the requirements for propagating grapes by cuttings in the spring at home, you can get a high result.
Propagation of parthenocissus
Using the methods described above, it is possible to propagate girlish grapes by cuttings. This is a beautiful ornamental plant in the form of a liana. Its fruits, unlike garden grapes, are inedible. But it is widely used in landscape design due to its decorative effect, unpretentiousness and resistance to pests and diseases.
It is recommended to start propagation of girlish grapes by cuttings in the spring. However, you can plant shoots throughout the summer until autumn. To do this, take the shoots that have become lignified from last year and root it using the methods described above. From cuttings taken in the summer, the seedlings are thicker, thanks to the side shoots already present at the nodes.
The above recommendations allow you to get he althy, strong plants. They will give a good harvest, perform decorative functions on the plot.
