Grafting grapes with green cuttings in spring, summer and autumn on an old bush

Many experienced growers consider grafting grapes to be the best way to improve their properties. Carrying out such a procedure rejuvenates the bushes, improves the taste of a ripe crop, and even enhances protection against common pests and diseases. Before you start vaccination, you should familiarize yourself with its description and features of the implementation.

What is the vaccine for

Some gardeners don't know why they graft their plants. Therefore, it is recommended to figure out in advance why such a procedure is carried out. Grafting is done to:

• Strengthen the stems. After grafting, plant stems are strengthened by increasing their diameter.
• Adapt to new conditions. Grafted bushes quickly get used to the soil in which they grow and to weather conditions.
• To give grape seedlings certain properties. These include immunity to most insects and diseases, earlier fruit ripening, accelerated growth.
• Shape the most suitable shape of growth. Grafting allows gardeners to shape their bushes into one form or another.
• Grow several different varieties of grapes at once. Thanks to this, you can save space in the garden.
• Upgrade cultivated varieties. Features of the procedure allow you to renew old or diseased grapes with the help of grafting.

Basic vaccination rules

Grafting is considered a complex procedure that many inexperienced growers cannot handle. If you do not know how to do this correctly, you can damage the bushes, because of which they will die.

Therefore, it is better to familiarize yourself with the basic rules of vaccination in advance and figure out what you should pay attention to.

The basic rules that will help to carry out the procedure successfully include the following:

• when grafting grapes, green to green or black to black methods are used;
• in order for the scion to take root well, only the most suitable grape varieties are used for certain climatic conditions;
• a graft with resistance to pests and diseases is selected for grafting;
• growth rate and fruit ripening time for scion and rootstock should not be different;
• if grafting in a bole is carried out in spring or late winter, then the graft will have to be harvested in early autumn;
• when carrying out the procedure in the summer, they use recently cut branches;
• to cut the scion, use a knife disinfected in an alcohol or manganese solution;
• when cutting cuttings, the knife blade is directed away from you so that the cut does not turn out to be concave;
• Vaccination should be done when the temperature is above 15-17 degrees Celsius.

What tools and materials are needed for vaccination?

Grafting of grapes begins with the selection and preliminary preparation of special tools. Choosing the right tools should be taken seriously. If they are not sharp enough, the scion or rootstock can be damaged.

To perform the procedure, you will definitely need a knife. There are several types of knives that you can use:

• Garden. Such a tool is ideal for cutting stems and cleaning the cut.
• Budding. They are used during budding with the help of a kidney. The features of such a knife include the concave shape of its blade, which simplifies trimming the bark.
• Copulation. It is considered the best knife for grafting plants by cuttings. The copulation tool has a perfectly straight blade that allows you to make straight cuts.

In addition to the knife, they use a grafting pruner, which will be needed to cut the grape stems. The procedure can be carried out with the following types of secateurs:

• Standard. Most often, it is they who use it when cutting branches of grapes, since it does not damage their surface and makes even cuts. The distinguishing features of standard models include the fact that their lower blade is slightly offset.
• Anvil. Such tools do not have blade offset and therefore it is not easy to cut thick branches. Gardeners advise using an anvil pruner only for cutting dried old branches.
• With ratchet. This is a universal model that is ideal for cutting dried and young branches. Due to the ratchet mechanism of the tool, cutting the stems requires little effort.

Preparation of cuttings

Before grafting, cuttings are pre-harvested. It is recommended to do this in early autumn, before the first night frosts. Cuttings cut in winter or in the second half of autumn are not suitable for grafting.

When harvesting, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

• Cuttings are cut with secateurs only from he althy bushes that bear fruit well. At the same time, you can not cut them from the top of the shoots, since such branches will not take root well. Therefore, part of a he althy shoot is cut off at a distance of about 30-40 cm. It is also important that the cut branches do not have mechanical damage and are not too thin.
• To cut branches, use a sharp pruner or knife. The length of the cut handle should be 10-12 cm.
• If you cut a branch unevenly, then in the future it will not take root. Therefore, it is recommended to practice a little on old branches before harvesting. When cutting, make a cut with a depth of 5-6 mm and then carefully insert the knife blade to the end of the branch so that the cut is even.
• Cut cuttings are placed in a large container filled with copper sulphate. This is done to disinfect the cut site.

Vaccination in spring

Some gardeners are grafting grapes in the spring. The procedure should be carried out in mid-April, when the soil warms up to 10-12 degrees.

Budding

When budding is carried out, you will have to cut off a small shield on the stem. Then a cut with the same dimensions is made on the rootstock so that the scion can be combined with the rootstock. After crossing the branches, the place of their connection is carefully wrapped with a plaster.

Cleavage grafting

The method of grafting grapes into a split is considered the simplest and most common among winegrowers. To carry out the procedure, you will have to select the blackest and thickest branch in advance, from which a cutting 6-7 cm long is cut.Then, a cut 2-4 cm deep is made on the rootstock, to which a cut branch is applied. The junction of the branches is carefully wrapped with a tourniquet.

Grafting into a split on an underground trunk

A few days before grape grafting, harvested stems are placed in a solution prepared from Epin. Then the trunk of the plant, to which the stems will be grafted, is dug in to a depth of 15-20 cm. After that, the roots located on the surface of the soil are cut off, and an incision 3-5 cm long is made in the center of the trunk. A graft is inserted into the created incision, after which it is lubricated clay and wrapped in cloth.

Inoculation with a drill

Before grafting, the drill is disinfected for half an hour in a solution of manganese, after which a hole is drilled in the grape trunk. Its depth should be about 5 cm. Then a cutting is inserted into the drilled hole and the joint area is carefully lubricated with clay.

Autumn vaccination

Grafting grapes on an old bush is most often done in the autumn. By crossing young stems with old bushes, they increase the level of fruiting of the plant, so that in a year it is possible to get a tasty harvest. Grafting of grapes in autumn is carried out in early September, when the summer heat subsides. At the same time, you will have to monitor the minimum daily temperature. If it falls below 15 degrees, the scion will not take root.

First, the thickest stems are cut from the old bush. To do this, use a sharp pruner or saw if the branches are too large. All sections must be treated with a manganese solution to disinfect them.

After pruning the old bushes, they begin to prepare the cuttings. They are treated with a liquid to improve growth and soaked in water for 2-3 days.When more than three swollen buds appear on them, they are carefully inserted into the prepared cut on the stem of an old grape bush. Then the junction is filled with sawdust and tied with a tourniquet. Some gardeners wrap it with plastic oilcloth.

Summer vaccination

Grafts are grafted in summer with green or black cuttings. In the latter case, branches harvested in the autumn are used. They are pre-soaked in water to speed up the process of swelling of young buds.

August is great for grafting. Some growers carry out the procedure in July. During grafting, the scion is carefully cut at an acute angle. Then a split is made in the largest stem of the stock, into which a grape branch is inserted. She is carefully wrapped with twine and wrapped in a film.

Sleeping bud budding

Many people consider this method of budding the most reliable, since the survival rate of plants is about 90%.To vaccinate, it is enough to prepare one grape bud. It is cut from the most mature branch, and it is cut off along with a piece of wood and bark. The cut kidneys are wrapped in a damp cloth and soaked for 3-4 hours. Then, an incision is made on the surface of the bark of the rootstock, into which the harvested kidney is placed.

The area with the incision is carefully smeared with plasticine, which is necessary to retain moisture.

Winter vaccination

Vaccination in winter is most often used to cross bushes over two years old. This is done in the last week of February or in the first half of March, when the frosts weaken. Some graft in winter and young seedlings that are grown in pots. In this case, you will have to deal with vaccination at the end of December.

The bushes have been prepared since autumn. In October, they are dug out and cut off so that the length of the trunk does not exceed ten centimeters.Then the dug seedlings are sprinkled with sawdust, treated with a solution of manganese and transferred to the basement. 3-4 days before the procedure, they are placed in a container with warm water for two days and grafted into a split.

Grafted plants stand for about a month in a room with a temperature of at least 20 degrees. During this time, you will have to ensure that new shoots do not grow on them. It will be possible to plant grape seedlings in the garden when the temperature outside is about 17 degrees Celsius.

Vaccination care

You need to properly care for the vaccine so that it takes root well. You should familiarize yourself in advance with the features of caring for the grafted vine so that it does not deteriorate and does not have to be re-grafted. There are several rules that will help when caring for grapes:

• The grafting site should be tightly wrapped with a cloth or any other material. If juice seeps from the junction of the branch and the trunk, you will have to wrap the plant again.
• 2-3 times a week check if the grafted branch takes root. There are times when the stems do not grow together well and you have to re-cross them.
• For two weeks, the bush is treated with potassium permanganate or Bordeaux liquid. It is useful for protecting against diseases and stimulating fruiting.
• If the procedure was carried out in the autumn, the base of the bush is periodically covered with sawdust or straw. This shelter protects him from low temperatures.

Conclusion

Many growers are grafting grapes to cross different varieties. Before doing this, you will have to familiarize yourself with the main nuances of the procedure, the tools that will be needed for its implementation, and the care of the grafted vine.

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