Newbie propagation questions

[jamesjr]

I live in central fl. I have 2 muscadine growing along my fence only about a yr old. I bought them on impulse before even thinking of making wine so now I got into this hobby and I want to grow more vines and ive read all over but no true solid way of propagation Indoors ( its cold here now). I did find some things amd try to copy wat they did.
Got cuttings 3 buds long shaved off some of the bottom and stuck them about an inch or two deep in some old worm dirt I had an old worm bed and wrapped in a bag and put on top of my freezer.
Now my questions to yall is am I even close? I was wanting to grow them up as much as possible indoors by march. Do I need lights? Different propagation technique?
I was going to use a big Tupperware with rooting potting mix and rooting hormone . Any help at all would be great and very much so appreciated.

 

[Pat57]

Normally dormant hardwood cuttings are taken in mid-late winter and put into the frig in a plastic bag with some "lightly" damp newspaper or paper towels around them. you want to just keep them damp, not wet. Then in early spring you can treat the bottom end with some rooting hormone if you want and stick them in a slightly damp peat/perlite mix with just one bud above the media. They should callus up in a few weeks and start rooting soon afterwards. At least that's how I do it, usually get at least 75% of them to root.

Pat

 

[RedSun]

There are some variations of hardwood cuttings. Most of the web info is for vineyard or nurseries.

The reason to take cuttings in late fall or early winter is that some of the canes will be killed over winter. So you do not want to take cuttings in early spring. The desired time to root for nursery is still early spring.

For nursery, they can't plant the cuttings right away. So they cold store the cuttings.

When soil warms up in spring, nursery sets the cuttings outside to grow.

For home gardeners, you can set up your propagation station and start it much earlier than spring. You'll need heat source and light source.

You take hardwood cuttings when the vines are dormant. Then you callus the cuttings with heat source. After the cuttings grow good root system, you turn on light source and promote top growth (already with good roots). But still keep them grow slowly. When spring comes, set them outside to harden off and you are ready to go.

I believe winter rooted cuttings can catch up to the bare root vines in the same season. The vines never experience the stress and they may put out larger root system by May when the bare root vines were shipped. With the rooted cuttings, I do not think you need to prune hard at planting, since the root system can support the top growth....

 

[garymc]

Layering is the most sure fire way to propagate muscadines. Its possible, but very difficult to propagate them with cuttings, unlike vinifera grapes. A misting bed is normally used. If you have shoots that can reach the ground, dig a trench a foot long and lay the shoot in it. You can scratch the bark and use rootone if you want. Cover the part of the shoot in the trench with dirt and pin it down with a u shaped piece of wire. I put a brick on it to remind me not to trip over it. When it has taken root amd gotten established, cut it loose from the mother vine. If you layer it now, you'll cut it from the mother vine in October 2015 and transplant it in Feb or March 2016. You can do this in June with a new shoot if there are none near the ground now. You want to bury a shoot almost as big around as a pencil or bigger.

 

[garymc]

Another thing you can do during the winter is research the different varieties of muscadines. If you find that your previous impulse purchase could be improved upon, then just buy a couple more vines. I recommend the "delicious" variety for purple and "Tara" for a bronze variety, both self pollinating.

 

[jamesjr]

Wow guys thanks for all the very helpfull info. That was exactly wat I was looking for also I just baught a new vine ill take pics and get more info later

 

[jamesjr]

Ok I went out and layed down some shoots in the soil and also I got some I put rooting hormone on and put in a wet napkin and wrapped in a half plastic bag.
Also I havent got any pics yet but this new vine I got is about 3 ft tall but its everywhere and has alot going on. No leaves so is it already dormant? And is it safe to trim it back to one main stem yet? There's a few good ones to pic from ill try to get pics soon amd its a bunch grape supposedly sweet home or something like that for fl.