Propagation of the Grapevine

By Read Books Ltd.

This book is thoroughly recommended for the professional and amateur winegrower. Experts on the subject write about the propagation of vines. Contents Include: Propagation of the Vine; Propagation of the Vine, by Seeds, in Open Air, and by Layers; Propagation of Vines; The Propagation and Multiplication of Vines; Propagation; Propagation and the Raising of New Kinds; Propagation of the Grape; Propagation by Single Buds; Propagating Houses. This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Oct 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447491866

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Propagation of the

Vine

by

John Phin

PROPAGATION OF THE VINE.

YOUNG vine plants may be raised from seeds, eyes, or cuttings, or by layering or grafting, all which modes are in common practice, though some are only adapted to peculiar circumstances and objects. We shall give a few practical directions for each.

LAYERING.—This is the mode in which large, thrifty vines may be most rapidly obtained; but it is by no means adapted to general use, where large quantities are required.

To procure a young vine by layering, we take a cane of the preceding year, having a well advanced shoot; and about the middle of June, or first of July, cut it half through, as shown in Fig. 45. It is then bent down and pegged into a hole, about three or four inches deep. It should be well watered, and the application of a little mulch, consisting of long litter, new-mown grass, weeds, or any similar matter, will prove of much service. Roots will soon push, and at the proper time for transplanting, it will have formed a fine healthy plant. Larger and stronger vines, which will in some cases bear the succeeding season, may be obtained by layering older and stronger shoots; but the most healthy and, we believe, the most vigorous, plants will be produced by following the directions just given.

Instead of one plant, several may be obtained from the same layer, if it be simply buried its whole length, as in Fig. 44. Roots will start from each joint, and consequently each joint will form a plant. But where a single plant is wanted, the method shown in Fig. 45 will give the finest results.

Fig. 44.

If very fine plants are wanted, in a short time, the best method is to sink a six-inch (or larger) pot in the ground and layer the shoot in it. This is best done by first making a hole in the ground, sufficiently large to receive the pot; then by running the loop end of a doubled cord through the hole in the bottom of the pot, and passing a stick through the loop or double, it will be easy to tie the shoot in any desired position. The whole process will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig. 46; and we much prefer this plan to pegging down the shoot, or laying on bricks or weights, as pegs are rather uncertain when used in pots, and bricks take up too much room to the prejudice of the roots.

Fig. 45.

The young plant should be detached from the parent vine in about five or six weeks after layering, and may then be set out in its proper location. As this will be about the latter part of July, or the first of September, the vine will have plenty of time to become well established, and make good roots before winter sets in; and it will form a strong plant, capable of throwing up two permanent canes or producing a specimen bunch of fruit, during the succeeding season—provided, of course, that the variety propagated is of a vigorous and prolific character. An Isabella vine, layered in this manner in an eight-inch pot, threw up, next season, two canes, one twelve and the other sixteen feet. Another, treated in the same way, bore sixteen bunches of fine fruit.

In several instances, we have used common four-inch semi-tubular tile, instead of flowerpots, and with excellent results. They have the advantage of cheapness; but, in other respects, the flower-pot is to be preferred. In some cases, the shoot is drawn through the hole in the bottom of the pot; but although we have tried this in one or two instances, we have not found it either convenient or satisfactory.

A bearing shoot, layered in a good sized pot, or in a common water-pail, may be made to produce a well-rooted plant, which will perfectly ripen several bunches of fruit the same season, even after being removed from the parent plant. This forms a very elegant and ornamental object; but, except as a matter of curiosity, such a process is worthless. In rare instances, perhaps, specimen bunches might be grown out of doors, and perfected in the house, thus avoiding numerous evils to which the finer varieties of the vine are subject in this climate. In all cases, it is essential that the layer be kept moist and warm. As the earth does not seem to be warm enough to induce the formation of roots, before June, it has occurred to us that very early and strong plants might be produced by inserting the pot (Fig. 46) in a slight hot-bed. A few barrow loads of manure would answer every purpose; and by producing roots thus early, strong specimen plants might be procured more easily than by any other method.

Fig. 46.

It may be well here to state that wood of any age from the oldest gnarled stems to the succulent growth of the current year will root if properly treated. We have always found, however, that the best and healthiest roots always spring from the junction of the old wood with the current year’s growth.

It is recommended upon good authority (with which we in general coincide) to separate the plants from the old vine at least by the end of September, unless previously removed. In the case of some varieties, however (Diana, e. g.) this will not always answer, as roots are produced with such difficulty that two years are often required to make good plants.

CUTTINGS.—Where large quantities of young plants of the common varieties are required, this is one of the cheapest and easiest methods of procuring them. Where wood is plenty, each cutting may consist of several buds or joints, as in Fig. 47. In ordinary cases, however, a length of three buds is sufficient, and we have grown very good plants from cuttings of only one joint in length—that is, having two buds. Indeed, the latter make by far the nicest and cleanest plants, and though not quite so strong at first as those from a greater number of eyes, yet we question if in the long run they would not prove quite their equals.

Fig. 47.

Fig. 48.

Cuttings to be good should be of thrifty, well ripened, close jointed wood—long reedy canes and spindling twigs being alike to be avoided. The best cuttings are those which have the base of the shoot attached, and this may be either as in Fig. 47, where the cutting has been cut away close to the old wood; or it may be a mallet cutting, as it is called, where a small section of the two-year-old wood is left, as in Fig. 48.

The proper time for procuring cuttings is at the regular fall or spring pruning. The cuttings may then be preserved in a cool cellar, either buried in moderately dry sand or simply laid on the floor and covered with straw or leaves. Excessive dryness or dampness are equally to be avoided, and the temperature should be low though never sufficient to freeze the fluids in the cutting. In this state they should be kept until the middle or end of April, as nothing is gained by setting them out at an earlier period. Indeed, we have found those which had been well preserved during the winter and set out in May do quite as well if not better than any others. In some experiments we used the previous year’s wood, cut from the vines when the young shoots had grown two inches, and yet in this case they grew finely and made strong plants. But of course this is not an example to be imitated except where it is desired to procure scions of some particular variety, and the opportunity for so doing occurs only at the period indicated. Such cuttings should be set out as soon after being cut off as possible, and if the weather be dry and warm, shading, watching and watering will all be necessary.

In planting cuttings it is best to choose a plot of rather sandy soil (heavy soil will not do); trench it deeply, mixing it with manure thoroughly rotten and converted into a black mold. (Any decomposition going on in the soil will ruin the cuttings.) Then plant the cuttings in rows twelve to eighteen inches apart and six to eight inches apart in the rows. They may be planted either in holes made by a dibble or laid in trenches made by the spade—the earth from the next trench being used to fill up the trench in which the cuttings are placed. Some authors direct us to place them perpendicularly, but we have always obtained the best results when they were placed as shown in Fig 49. In placing them, always be careful to have the end bud which is out of the soil uppermost, and be careful that the end be cut with a slant, the same as that in the figure, so that it will not throw the rain on to the bud as in that case it may cause it to rot. In long cuttings the upper bud should be left about three inches above the surface of the soil, so that it may not be covered by the coat of mulch, which it is well to apply. Short cuttings must be inserted more deeply, but in all cases the bud should be uncovered unless in very late planting. We are aware that many advise the bud to be covered, but our own experience has been uniformly against it. Neither should several buds be left above the surface, as they can do no good and require constant watching, as it is important for reasons to be hereafter detailed that only one shoot should be allowed to grow. With cuttings of four or more buds, a very good rule is to place the second bud even with the surface of the ground. In this case the cutting should be turned one-fourth round from its position in Fig. 49 so that the two upper buds may lie one on each side.

Fig. 49.

Another mode of planting cuttings is to make a hole with a dibble, and after inserting the cutting about two-thirds its length, bend it over and peg it down, as shown in Fig. 50.

Fig. 50.

Fig. 51.

Fig 51 shows a method of inserting cuttings which we have practised with success. As it is well known that a cutting will grow, no matter which end is stuck in the ground, a scion is taken containing at least three buds, and after bending it into a semicircular form, both ends are inserted in the ground, leaving the middle bud above the surface. As soon as this bud begins to grow, it will be supplied with nutriment from both ends and will make rapid progress. The plants produced by this method are very strong and if designed to remain where they are first set out they give very certain and satisfactory results. But they do not transplant well.

The following plan described in Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary is one which we have tried with success: "Having an Iron bar of an Inch or more in Diameter, a little pointed at the End, they therewith make a Hole directly down about three Feet and a Half deep; then, being provided with an Instrument they call a Crucciala, having a Handle of Wood like that of a large Auger and the Body of Iron four Feet long and more than half an Inch in Diameter, at the End of which there is a Nich something like a half moon, they after twisting the End of the Cutting, put it therein, and force it down the Bottom of the Hole, where they then leave it,