I have 3 grapevines (all seedless slipskin) that are going on their 4th year and was thinking of pulling all of them and replacing with some varieties of seedless table grapes but now have been thinking of maybe grafting non slipskin to the vines.
Is it possible to do this?
I did some research on grafting grapes last winter. I think there are some issues that come up that are different from other types of grafting. The grape vine floods the graft with sap making it fail. To reduce the flow of sap a cut is made into the root stock below the graft. In a video I watched it looked like a rootstock that was 2 1/2 inches in diameter was cut almost half way across. What I attempted was taking cuttings of native Missouri grapevines, bench grafting them and then I allowed a calluse to form on the native vine and planted them out in the spring. I had two that almost made it but I believe that they got too dry and failed to root.
I think this links that thread.
Since it can be done my next question would be, are all grapes compatible? Say, non slipskin to a slipskin variety rootstock.
Yes those would be compatible.
You do not see much grape scions for sale from the quick Google search I did so does anyone know of vendors that sell them.
Lon Rombough’s family sells cuttings I think (Lon was selling them himself before he passed away).
http://www.bunchgrapes.com/grape_cuttings.html
For grafting grapes a key is keeping them warm, they callous best in the 80-85F temperature range. For that reason they are relatively much easier to bench graft than field graft.
I did my grape grafting latest this last spring and painted them black and got good takes. Draining the sap with cuts is also important but if its too cool no number of cuts will help. I would recommend cleft grafts or green-to-dormant wedge grafts (wait until you have a spring shoot a couple feet long and graft the dormant wood to that). The green shoots don’t bleed so it solves that problem and overall seems the most reliable way to me.
Thanks scott, that was actually the only place that came up when I first Google it earlier. They have a 5 scion min per variety and I need 3 varieties.
Anyone else looking for grape scions, I might have a few extras?
Has anyone done business with the above mentioned link? From reading the home page about their pricing and paypal it almost seems like they are trying to talk you out of buying g from them.
Maybe it’s just me.
Most of that writing is what Lon wrote when he was alive, he was a bit cranky about people not being clear on their orders etc. I always got exactly what I ordered from him, and always excellent quality. I have not ordered since he passed away however.