How to Root a Grapevine

Viticulturists, or grape growers, propagate grapevines after the parent vine is dormant. A hardwood stem about the thickness of a pencil is cut from a section of the plant that has become woody over the previous summer. Green cuttings will not propagate, and cuttings that have black lumps on them have a mildew infection and should be destroyed. Rooting the healthy cuttings in a trench for one growing season gives them enough of a start to be able to grow in a permanent location the following year.

Garden plot
Trowel
Sand
Secateurs or pruning clippers
Rooting powder

Instructions

- 1
  Dig a trench in the ground where you want the new grapevine to propagate for one season. The back of the trench should be vertical with an overall V shape. Put 2 inches of sand in the bottom.
- 2
  Choose a healthy, woody stem of a growing grapevine. Between November and February, clip a 9- to 13-inch section of the vine that has three or four buds, or nodes. Make a sloping cut just above the nodes on either end.
- 3
  Dip one end of the cutting into water and then into hormone rooting powder and place it against the vertical back wall of the trench with the powdered end in the sand. Space it 4 inches from other cuttings you might want to plant.
- 4
  Cover the cutting with earth, leaving only one node exposed at the top. Only about 1 inch of the cutting should be showing. Step on the dirt around the cutting to firm up the earth.
- 5
  Allow the cutting to grow for one growing season. Transplant to its permanent position during the next winter after it is dormant.

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