# muscadine vine cuttings



## Doc (Jun 5, 2003)

I have a friend who has a very old muscadine vine -- it's even going up in a tree! I want to get a couple of cuttings to propagate.

Where on the vine should I cut? Best way to do this? Thanks.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I don't know, man..but I would sure love to be in your shoes!! Aahh.. the smell of muscadine in the trees on a hot summer afternoon.. the sweet burst of juice in your mouth... am dying here!!! I love muscadines and scuppernongs.. my favorite things to eat on earth!!!


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## swamp man (Dec 25, 2005)

Young growth, just after it "goes woody" is easiest to root, but......
If you can, take an "air layer", or three.......it's nearly foolproof, and I've gotten a 100% success rate with them. Bend an attached vine down to reach the ground , and use a brick (or whatever you have handy) to weigh it down, so it keeps firm contact with the soil. If you wanna' get all fancy with it, you can score the bark at the point that it contacts the soil, and bury the vine just a little. Check it after a few weeks, and when you see some roots develop, clip it from the mother plant, dig it up, and transplant it. Taking outright cuttings from grapes of any kind ain't all that tricky, but keeping the moisture level just right for success can require quite a bit of attention. With an air layer, the mother plant does the work for ya', as her root system will generally provide proper moisture and nutrients requirements until her pup has roots enough to support itself.
I've taken countless cuttings from my muscadine vine (and a few from my neighbor's) like this, and I ain't lost one, yet.


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## Michael Kawalek (Jun 21, 2007)

Hi Doc
I have very good success rooting grape cuttings with root hormone dips. Cut any woody part of the vine into about 18 inch lengths. Dip the bottum end of the cutting (the part that was originally closest to the roots, in commerical rooting hormone that you can get at Home Depot. Plant the dipped cutting into a long pot or pipe section, with just two or three buds above ground, and let the cutting set for several months with occasional watering. You can also just plant them directly in their final location. Growth will be somewhat slow till the roots are firmly set, but by the second year you should be getting robust growth. I usually make my cuttings in December, so you are several months behind. If you want to try to make it work for this season, do it immediately, before the buds burst. You will have success only if you start out with a dormant cutting.
Good luck,
Michael


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

swamp man has it right. that is the easiest way to get grapes to propagate.


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## Steve L. (Feb 23, 2004)

MELOC said:


> swamp man has it right...


 Except for the name of the technique he's using. 

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/ornamentals/airlayer/airlayer.html


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I've done it with Swampmans method, but instead of just laying it on the ground, I used a clay flower pot. That way it's not so traumatic when you transplant it.

I had a nice vine started until the chickens ate it!! Luckily around here there are enough wild vines that I still get all the grapes I want


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## NativeRose (Nov 15, 2003)

Thanks for these posts. We have some old vines back in the woods on our place and I have wanted to get starts of them to plant near the garden. I love wild muscadines. My mama makes the best muscadine jelly in the world. Mine never tastes as good as hers.


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> I've done it with Swampmans method, but instead of just laying it on the ground, I used a clay flower pot. That way it's not so traumatic when you transplant it.
> 
> I had a nice vine started until the chickens ate it!! Luckily around here there are enough wild vines that I still get all the grapes I want


 Me to. I've tried cuttings with rooting hormone and potting them with no success. Layering on the ground or pot of soil with a brick or rock on the vine , always works for muscadines. I've heard for bunch grapes, you just push a rootless cutting in the ground where you want the vine and they take root and grow, but I've never tried those. Eddie


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> I've done it with Swampmans method, but instead of just laying it on the ground, I used a clay flower pot. That way it's not so traumatic when you transplant it.
> 
> I had a nice vine started until the chickens ate it!! Luckily around here there are enough wild vines that I still get all the grapes I want


 Why not go in the woods and cut the vine about a ft from the ground and transplant it where you want it. It will work to do that right now before the buds open. I have done that with good success. Also if you have anything for it to run on, measure and cut the vine that distance and all you will have to do is tie the new runners to the wire and you will be eating grapes earlier. Eddie


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

EDDIE BUCK said:


> Why not go in the woods and cut the vine about a ft from the ground and transplant it where you want it. It will work to do that right now before the buds open. I have done that with good success. Also if you have anything for it to run on, measure and cut the vine that distance and all you will have to do is tie the new runners to the wire and you will be eating grapes earlier. Eddie


I'll have to give that a try. There are some wild Black Grape vines I'd love to get started in the yard, and there's one vine I've found of some type of bunch grape (If I can find that one again LOL)


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## VALENT (Dec 6, 2004)

Bearfootfarm, my mom started a lot of wild grape vines from the seeds left after making juice. She has quite a stand. I guess boiling grape seeds dont prevent germination.


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> I'll have to give that a try. There are some wild Black Grape vines I'd love to get started in the yard, and there's one vine I've found of some type of bunch grape (If I can find that one again LOL)


 As I mentioned I have transplanted those wild black grapes with good success. There is a small blue bunch grape that grows wild around here that we always called "fox grapes" they are good and sweet, but I never transplanted those. I just found out last week that the oldest known muscadine vine growing is on Roanoke Island. http://www.isons.com/ Eddie


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i would take a vine and lay it on the ground. i would cover every other bud site on the vine with soil/brick etc., but leave a few buds on the end of the vine to grow as normal. after the covered buds make roots, i would cut just above every exposed bud so that each rooted segment of vine had a viable branch. when the new crowns start sending up shoots and making leaves, i would prune the bud i left originally so i have all new growth straight from the crown.


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