Talk about callus formation. Have a look at this after ~14 days. Grapes should be easy to graft but aren’t because of excessive bleeding. They do root easily. Roots will soon pop out of that callus.
After attempting to root about 10K fig cuttings I can only wish they were this easy.
Can you share your setup? coco coir + bottom heat? If this is same as your fig setup, I am sure you’d have shared it somewhere - link would be great.
some of my nashi scions had about 1/6th of that callous… those look very ready to root.
yea, thats some nice callus formation!
if seen grapes pop like a peeled banana from callus
the callus actually split the grape cutting itself.
if actually had good luck grafting grapes and rooting them in 1 go. All with dormant material. And thus no bleeding.
These where W*T grafts of grape scions that only had 1-2 buds. To a strong growing grape i had spare pruning material off.
just grafted. And than put in a box (lid was on, not shown on picture) that was filled for 1/3 with coco choir. (choir packed at the bottom of the box where you see the roots now. The tops where “free” in air)
The coco choir should be just damp. If you squeezer a fistful as hard as you can, not more than 1-3 drops of water should come out. It actually feels almost dry to the touch at that point.
I just put that box in a dark room temp spot. And take the lid of for a minute every few days.
I think that’s the correct approach for grapes. I’ve done that with figs and maybe get 50% success, ie both roots and successful graft.
This was moist coco coir and warmth, about 80F. I’ve done the same with figs with some success. Grapes just root easier.
this could be a newbie question - are there two stages here (that need different setups)? callus formation and rooting itself? or I can stick the cuttings in moist coco coir on heat mat maintained at 80F and wait until it is rooted?
I guess that would have been my next question - does it need any artificial lighting? Looks like once rooted, I can transfer it outside (still milder temps here in spring) and keep it in part shade to push growth?
I know professional company’s have a callus formation phase and a rooting phase. If I’m not mistaken callus can form at quite a low temp. So keeping the early grafted at low temp callusing till your done grafting and than raising temp. makes them all the same for planting out.
However for us hobbyists you can just immediately keep them room temp. And they will callus and root automatically.
I keep my dormant cuttings in the dark usually. I’m not sure, but my thinking is it might delay bud brake or leaf growth. Giving the cutting more time to root. And usually i can plant out my cuttings before buds brake or leaf’s form. And put them directly in sun light. Since the buds brake in full sun. I don’t need to acclimatize them. If you have formed leaves under artificial lighting or darkness. You need to slowly let them get used to higher intensity light.
Thanks Oscar. That helps. Do you cut the bottom of the cutting just below a node and score that area, like it is recommended for figs? From your pics, that doesn’t seem to be the case, but @fruitnut seems to have cut his sticks just below a node. I wanted to confirm.
also do you use a rooting hormone? if yes, which one?
If i have to much material i cut my cuttings so they have a node at the bottom. However usually i don’t have spare scions/cuttings and they root fine without a node. (same goes for figs with me. )
I never score. I can’t find it now. But i remember reading an interview from a propagator/horticulturist from a university’s garden that tested it and scoring did little to increase total rootmass on cuttings. And did introduce extra room for infection/disease. It’s anecdotal. But if not seen a reason to experiment with it (yet)
for the same reason i tend to cut the bottom part of cuttings flat (90 degrees) smaller wound=better healing. And the top part diagonal. (so i can easily spot what’s bottom and top on a cutting)
if taken cuttings with both rooting powder. Dissolvable pills of rooting hormone that you let the cuttings sit in overnight or dunk into. And without assistance.
My favorites are the water soluble rooting hormone. And leaving the cuttings 12 hours with the bottom in the solution or dunking them for a minute in a stronger solution.
However they root just fine without hormone to. It just tends to take a little longer.
If i recall correctly the cuttings i posted pictures of above where without hormones.
The quality and moisture level of the coco choir in my opinion matters more than the rooting hormone.
Great. One more (hopefully last) question - do you cover the top half of the cuttings with parafilm and then bury the whole thing in coco coir or only the bottom half?
if done it both ways. With and without parafilm.
Technically the parafilm is not needed. Since you put a lid on the box. The humidity stays close to 100% and the scions don’t dry out. Even where they are in air.
However if i have poor quality coco choir or get it to wet. I have had problems with fungus. And than you need to air more. (remove lid partially or fully) and when that happens, having the top in parafilm can help slow the drying out of the scion.
If i make loads of cuttings from spare pruning’s i skip the parafilm.
If i trade or buy a scion i take the little extra effort and get the parafilm insurance.
I pack 1 side of the box with coco choir. to the height of the lid. (even a little more. so when you close the lid pushes against the choir)
and stick the cuttings in the choir horizontally with the bottom. This leaves 1/3 of the box filled from bottom to lid with choir. Where the bottom of the cuttings are pushed into. And 2/3 of the box filled with air and the tops of the cuttings “floating” there.
i hope this makes sense.
Ill try and post a picture or manual some time in the future. Unfortunately I’m to busy coming weeks to do so.
if you look at the picture i posted earlier. All the coco choir is spread out. When i was taking the cuttings all the choir was at the bottom of the picture where the roots are now. Packed tightly filling the box from bottom to lid on the lower side on the picture. And the parts that are in parafilm where floating in air where the box was empty.
the rooting hormone if used was Indole-3-butyric acid - Wikipedia
This thread was inspiring! I’ve been playing around with some Munson hybrid grape cuttings. Placed them in a sealed plastic box, sandwiched between layers of moist (but not wet) long-fiber sphagnum moss, at a temperature of about 85F (~30C). Basal pruning cuts (just below node) were lightly painted with Clonex gel. Box briefly opened every few days to let in fresh air.
One cultivar callused quickly—in about 12 days:
The other two varieties are not showing much—though I think I see some dots of incipient callus on a couple of sticks.
The Munson grapes are kind of a genetic salmagundi, so some varieties root more easily than others.
