Do Grape Vines Have to Be Grafted?

Cold Region Muscadine Hybridization

• In regions with harsh winters but warm summers, European grape varieties often will be grafted on to the rootstocks of North American muscadine grapes. The muscadine root system is better adapted for the climate and conditions of North America and can readily supply the European variety with sufficient nutrients through the summer to grow and thrive.

Grafting for Propagation

• As a method of propagation, grafting often is employed with grapevines, as well as other fruit-bearing plants such as pears and apples. Grafting, in this case, is done to replicate a plant with desirable traits more rapidly than rooting cuttings from that plant. A cut is made in the vine that is to receive the cutting and a cutting is taken from the vine that is to be transplanted. The cutting is then placed into the cut in the established vine and taped over. Over the period of a few weeks, the cutting will merge with the receiving vine and begin taking nutrients from it and growing independently.

Water Rooting

• If propagation is the intended aim, water rooting cuttings can be more successful and quite a bit easier. Take a few clippings from the green, new growth of a grapevine and place them in 1 inch of water. Allow them access to full sun, and over a period of a few weeks small white roots should emerge from the bottoms of the clippings. These clippings can be transplanted into soil immediately.

Soil Rooting

• Grapevines also can be rooted by being placed in soil. Take a number of cuttings from old growth or woody vine. Dust the bottoms with rooting hormone and plant them 2 to 3 inches deep in well-drained topsoil. Cover the cuttings with a clear plastic bag to help reduce water loss, and allow them a few weeks to root. Once they begin to send out new shoots, dig them up and transplant them to their final growing location.