Vineyard From the Beginning- Grapeman

[mgmarty]

I know you've done this before Rich, what is your success rate?

 

[RedSun]

G-man,

I have the same setup as yours. But I found that, with all the heat mats I have, it is impossible to achieve 80F at the root zone. I set up mine at 80F, and the heat mat is on all day, still below 80F. Last year, I had to use two layers of heat mats, though that is not recommended. But this year, I need the other heat mats to start my vegetable seeds, so just one layer for now.

Just an observation. Great work.

 

[grapeman]

Marty I will let you know the success rate after they have callused and rooted and grown. The point of this grant is the whole process and not just one factor. It may be a huge success but failures are accepted as they are something to learn from. Rooting success last time was around 75% but to me more importantly was the 99.5% survival rate of planted vines.

RedSun I don't know what is different with my setup but I have the thermostat set at 81 degrees and the data loggers are both consistently within 1 degree of that and usually a bit higher. If it was not maintaining the temperature, I could raise the ambient room temperature a couple degrees. The loggers are so sensitive that they record the temperature change that occurs when I water as I can never get the water exactly 80.

 

[grapeman]

A bit of a note here from something I find interesting. 12 days ago I started callusing two varieties my son Rick had taken last November after dormancy and stored until preparing for callusing. They are barely showing signs of beginning to callus. I decided to start a few varieties for replacements to some missing vines here and there in the vineyards. I put them in the callusing process just a week ago. Almost all of them have callused a bit now and one I checked had a half in rootlet. If not for worrying about dead buds from winter freezes maybe spring cuttings before breaking dormancy are better. Just anecdotal evidence but interesting all the same.

 

[BlueStimulator]

I think with Cab S and Viognier I am sitting at less than 50%. About 35 starts were tried with one vine per pot. Better success in the Viognier than the Cab S. I tried my best to get 2 buds in the soil. A few budded out then died. I did use heat mats and rooting hormone. I only needed 6 Viognier the rest I am giving away. So far it has been a fun experiment.

 

[BlueStimulator]

Above are the Viognier below are the Cab S

 

[grapeman]

So you all know what the calluses look like here is a picture of a cutting with some callusing going on. In a few days they should begin to push small roots.

 

[RedSun]

G-man,

Do you remove the cuttings to individual cells after the callusing process? Or you wait for the roots to form a bit?

I put 3 cuttings in the same cell trays you are using. After 12 days of callusing (with heat mat), I removed the heat today. I can either keep the same cutting for now, or plant them outside. I just do not have more of those trays.

Those are the cuttings I took at the end of February. Leaves have started to emerge.

 

[grapeman]

They really should be spread out some. You can either remove the ones that aren't beginning to root and grow and keep the best one in those cells or else get some more containers and put one in each.

 

[grapeman]

To give you all an idea of how much these vines can grow quickly, here is a picture o the same vines planted in June 2012. These are not four full years old yet and most of the Marquette are pruning out around 4 pounds of one year wood. That is vigorous by any measure. The vines on the left got so heavy they pulled the inch and a half staples out last year and I will need to replace with larger staples to prevent it from happening again. The second picture shows the goal of finish pruning, although I may shorten the spurs a bit later.

 

[grapeman]

The cuttings have callused and been put into the cell plugs and moved into the little greenhouse, a couple times. The weather keeps being fickle and since there is only a little space heater in there if it gets too cold I have to bring them back inside. Snowing outside this AM and up to an inch and a half or so and tonight it is expected to be in the mid 20's. If it quits snowing I will need to move inside, again.

 

[ibglowin]

A beautiful Spring day in NY!

 

[grapeman]

That's for sure! Cars were even sliding off the road this AM.

I moved the baby vines back inside a properly heated space from the little greenhouse nursery a few minutes ago. It was a balmy 75 inside the greenhouse as the clouds brightened up from the 2 or 3 inch snowfall this AM. Expecting mid 20's tonight and wanted to insure they don't freeze. Here is a picture of one of them a bit farther along showing a couple flower clusters. Those will get picked off as they get large enough to remove safely. Right now they are a bit bigger than a pencil eraser.
Here is a closeup.

 

[BlueStimulator]

Help I have no idea what I am doing, Grapeman since you have experience growing grapes from cuttings I need a little advice here. My cuttings were growing great. 5 weeks on a grow mat in December and January, then the sprouted. I think I may have watered them too last much last month, because the leaves eventually wilted and died. They do have good long roots and I was wondering if They will put out more green shoots in time. I would sure hate to buy plants if these migh grow. I did cut a few of the tops and the cuttings are still mostly green. A week ago I planted the best six and inside to grow tubes one has put out a new green shoot the others leaves have wilted and died but all of them had roots that were at least 3 to 4 inches long. This picture shows the worst Of the plants. The single pots in the back are red vines and they seem to be doing a little bit better. The smaller individual plants like you have in your greenhouse are the Viognier which look to be wilted. Since that picture all the shoots have wilted and dried up. I will put a picture below so you can look at what happened

 

[BlueStimulator]

Here is the growth they had a month or so ago. I did mix a very week B root stimulator and very weak miracle grow fertilizer. I used these 3 weeks apart when they were growing well

 

[RedSun]

Did you harden the vines before you put them out in the field?

This is my vine holding area. I planted them about one week ago, all are still good. I started about 75 cuttings and lost about 2 or 3 of them in total. Happy about it.

Here is the growth they had a month or so ago. I did mix a very week B root stimulator and very weak miracle grow fertilizer. I used these 3 weeks apart when they were growing well

 

[grapeman]

Jason you probably did overwater a bit and the leaves got diseased. It can be tricky to make sure they don't dry out, but overwatering is worse than not quite enough water. Let them dry out a bit and hopefully a few will regrow a bit. Generally though when they start growing tops and then die back, it is because they didn't have enough roots. Try, try and try again. They didn't cost you a lot, so go for it again.

 

[BlueStimulator]

I will let them dry out and see what happens. Thanks for the advice if only a few live then I will be happy. I was planning on giving some to a friend he wants tonrestart his vineyard but not sure if enough wl survive.

 

[BlueStimulator]

Did you harden the vines before you put them out in the field?

Not sure what holding is as I have no idea what I am doing. They were cut in Jan and put on heat mats in small pots for a 4-6 weeks then the grew slowly and looked good after another 4-6 weeks. A few weeks ago they started wilting. I think the due to, to much water and or fertilizer and or my brown thumb. I planted the 6 best in grow tubes and well am hoping for the best.

 

[OilnH2O]

Sometimes less is more. I have been amazed at what I thought were "sticks" that, after forgetting about them and leaving them alone for a couple weeks, suddenly were putting out leaves and showing life.

You might be surprised!