Have you ever had a friend or neighbor with a blackberry, raspberry, blueberry bush or even a grape vine that was the talk of the town? You would love to have one too, but you just don’t want to start with one of those baby-sized plants you tend to find at the garden center. It feels like the take forever to grow and start producing fruit.
Don’t want to wait a few years to get your first tiny harvest? We’ll, I have a short cut that will definitely cut your wait time to harvest in half!
How? You ask? By planting cuttings.
The biggest benefit of this type of propagation is that you get a plant that is identical to the one that it was taken from. That means there’s no guessing games about what it will produce. The other benefit is that you get a plant that is already in progress, it doesn’t take as long to begin producing. In fact, the cuttings that I will show you today, already grape blooms on them.
How do you get these cuttings?
If you know of a friend or neighbor with berry bushes or grape vines you can simply ask them for a few 12 inch cuttings from their bush or vine and the rest is simple. If you already have your own, you can multiply what you have by following the steps below.
You will need:
- nippers
- rooting hormone
- peat moss
- clear plastic cup
- stickers or tape for labeling
Note: This should typically be done in early spring. These steps can also be used on a blackberry or a raspberry bush.
Instructions:
Using sharp nippers, take a few 12-inch cuts from a healthy looking vine. Be sure to cut at an angle. This provides more surface area for water intake.
As you make your cuts, make sure you remember which end of the 12-inch cutting is the top and which end is the bottom. A good way to help you remember is to use a piece of tape or a sticker to remind yourself which is end up.
After you cut the vine or bush, immediately place the cuttings in a jar of water (bottom down).
Next, fill the plastic cup up with moistened peat moss or potting soil.
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Then, dip the wet (bottom end) of the cutting into rooting hormone powder and shake off the excess.
Plant the cutting in the cup of soil or moss powdered end down in the cup.
Water and keep the soil moist. Soon, you will be able to see roots through the cup. Buds and leaves will start to grow.
Once you have roots and leaves, replant in a larger container or right into the ground and keep moist.
Pretty soon you will have your own vineyard full of grapes and berries of your very own. You may even get a first year crop.
As you can see, there’s really not much to growing new grape vines from cuttings. It’s a quick and easy way to get started quickly. So try it out and let us know how it works for you.
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