Can You Grow Cabernet Grapes From Seeds?

Seed Propagation

• Grape seed propagation is difficult for beginners and home gardeners, but if you are up for a challenge choose the largest, healthiest fresh Cabernet grapes. Store the seeds in their skins over the winter in moist sand in a cool temperature. Plant the seeds in the spring in rows set 1 foot apart and 3/4 inch deep in rich, light soil. Keep young plants shielded from direct sun at first. Thin to approximately 6 to 9 feet apart when the seedlings are 6 inches tall.

Hardwood Propagation

• Hardwood propagation is the best way to ensure that your Cabernet grapes have the correct flavor and texture. Grapevines grown from seeds do not have the same characteristics as their parent plant. Purchase dormant cuttings or potted vines and plant them in a sunny location in spring when the soil can be easily worked. Pinch the vine back to the two healthiest-looking buds and water thoroughly.

Trellising

• Train your young grapevines to climb a trellis. Building a trellis for grapevines can be an in-depth process; to save time and money, use steel fence posts at each plant with lengths of wire in between for the vine to climb across as it grows.

Care

• Apply 4 to 6 inches of mulch around grapevines to prevent weeds and retain water. Keep vines irrigated as needed, but don't over water. Never use fertilizer that contains herbicides near grapevines, but do feed your vines annually in early spring with a 10-6-4 nitrogen-based fertilizer and prune the vines to ramble along the trellis and not the ground.