Gardening Interview Question:

A friend wants to start a grape vine from a set of vines growing at his mother's house. Should we start from seeds, or would it be best to take cuttings of the old vines?

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Although grapes can be propagated from seed, this is rarely done because most grape plants are cultivars and won't come true from seed. But you have three other options. The first option is to take hardwood cuttings. All grapes grown in the U.S., except Muscadine, can be propagated from hardwood cuttings. In the winter, take one-foot cuttings that have three buds and store them in moist sand or sawdust until early spring, when they should be planted with the top bud level with the surface of the soil. The cuttings should produce vines by the end of the first or second season.

Your other options are to take softwood cuttings or to layer a vine. Both methods work with all grapes, including Muscadine. Softwood cuttings should be taken before the stems harden in early summer and planted immediately. Layering involves taking a vine growing on the parent plant, breaking-but not severing-it at a node, and burying the node in the soil alongside the parent plant. Once roots form-usually within a year-the new plant can be separated and transplanted.
Submitted by: Administrator