T-bud graft grapes

@Fruitnut did a nice tutorial last year on t-bud Grafting which I used to graft pears. Pears are pretty easy so I’m bored with those and was remembering @Derby42 wanted to graft some wild grapes. Why not tbud the wild grapes with concord? Think I might try a few grape tbuds this year and improve my skill a little bit. Anyone else want to try some grapes or have you done it already? A friend has a couple hundred acres full of wild grapes ( I know there is more than 20 large vines) but I thought first I would try it on one or two of my own ( all I have) .

You may have seen me bemoan this in another thread, but I find grapes very tough to graft. I’ve made 60+ attempts, about 2 dozen of which were chip/T buds, with the rest cleft and double-cleft. None of them took. I finally had 3 successes last summer, 2 of which I just found today when I was pruning in preparation for grafting. The problem is that I don’t know exactly what I did for those 3, nor how many attempts I made. The stuff that is missing from my records was the late cleft grafts that I made last summer. I’m pretty sure that I grafted to green wood, sometime from late June to early August. I’m not sure if I used dormant scions, or fresh green wood. Looking at the grafts now, I know I used black rubber electrical tape and parafilm.

You may ask why I keep trying…it’s because I don’t like grape seeds and there were already seeded grapes (probably Niagra) growing here (from several points along a fence) when I moved in. So, the vines have nice big root systems, which I feel bad about wasting. But, I think I’m to the point of saying: OK, whatever I graft over successfully this year gets to live…

Summer 2016 grafts:

This one I actually saw growing last year. It has some small grape flowers on it, so maybe I’ll get to find out what it is this year.

This one looks like it took last year as well, but I never noticed it and it doen’t seem to have any flowers this year.

I’m not sure that this one grew at all last year. It looks like it could have just had a dormant bud, which successfully overwintered.

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Bob,
Are you grafting at 85-90 degrees and cutting to drain sap every couple of days? Not sure if you saw Jason’s experiment Grafting grapes onto wild rootstock. The hardest part I have is finding a spot for the right conditions. Grapes are just very difficult to learn to graft but the experts are getting nearly 100% take rates. Seems crazy to me they are doing that well! In Kansas we are still way to cool with this fluctuating weather. We are barely warm enough now to graft whips. I’m worried about pears and apples in this weather so grapes are a definite no for me at the moment. By the end of the week we are close to grape range again. I made one apricot graft but the temperatures have been all over the place. I didn’t graft cherries this year and will tbud those later.

I tried my first recently.

maybe to cold here still tho…

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Honestly I think the learning curve is why everyone uses rooted cuttings Grapevine Cutting Sales by Lon Rombough | bunchgrapes.com | Information | Rooting of Cuttings

85-90 degrees, as in vertical, or Fahrenheit? They are at a mix of angles, but some are almost vertical. The weather is under 85-90- more like 70, with some days in the 60’s. After my experience with peaches, I assumed that 85-90 was too hot- I could have grafted last week when we had 3 days like that (up to 94F in one). But, I did have the 3 takes from last summer, so maybe the upper limit is pretty high.

In the past I think I flooded them too much. When I started, I didn’t cut any drains. Then I did a bit last year. This spring I did quite a few, cutting almost halfway in with pruners. I’ll check them every few days and cut more as needed…

As you can see in the picture, I cut a drain about half way using a tree saw and also I put another about 6 inches above that thats about 1/4 of the way through from the opposite side. I checked yesterday and it seems to be draining well still. I dont see any growth from my graft yet and its been a couple weeks… Might not see anything until the drains heal tho? This is Vanessa on Edelweiss roots if I remember correctly.

Bob,
Yes 85-90 Fahrenheit. Take a look at Scott’s post in this thread Grafting grapes onto wild rootstock - #3 by scottfsmith. Cooler temperatures are not something grapes take very well. I try and get plastic bags over them in cooler weather to heat them up. I learned grapes don’t root well in cool temps when I tried to root them in ground years ago several times. I rooted some in black plastic pots because of the extra heat. Same with the grafts. Here is another link confirming the 85 degree temp requirement for callus Northern Grapes: Grapevine grafting (part 2): Callusing and rooting.. I’m going to pack a bag with some damp peat moss or paper towell to bump up humidity around the graft.


Took your advice about building a small greenhouse to hold in heat. Also a bit concerned about the cut I made to keep liquid pressure down. Will that just heal on its own or should it be bandaged eventually?

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Yes just let the cut bleed. I’m not an expert but I know a little bit about grapes.

You can make a small horizontal cut about 3 inches below the graft to let it bleeds out and that will help slowing down the bleeding on the top cut.

Tony

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I had a friend root some grapes in pots over the winter on a heat mat using dormant cuttings. The only way I did grape rooting large scale that was really easy for me was using a bunch of black plastic pots. I took a bunch of pots and put them around the base of the grapes bent the canes into the pots and filled the lot up with moist peat and clay soil and they rooted. That’s a fast way to get rootstocks or grapevine on a large scale just like raspberries that tip root. I got the idea from observing plants that naturally top root. At the end of the year I cut them loose from the main vine.