Grapes are grown easily from cuttings made from dormant vines. Most growers collect their cuttings during December or January while they are pruning the vines. The vines will be leafless and are easily stored until spring when dormancy ends. Growing a new plant from cuttings takes advantage of the plants ability to build roots in the ground from existing buds. Once the cutting is planted in the ground, roots spring from the nodes, or the area where the leaves previously had been, and create a new, healthy plant.
Cut the vine diagonally from the base of a new shoot off of the parent vine. The best cuttings are made from recently grown shoots with no blemishes. The shoot should be 1 to 2 feet in length and then cut into pieces, with each piece containing 3 to 4 nodes.
Bundle your cuttings together, and store them in a plastic bag filled with damp peat moss. Keep the plastic bag in an extremely cold area without freezing them. The best temperatures range between 32 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove the cuttings from the bag 1 to 2 weeks before they are to be planted. Wrap the cuttings in damp paper towels, and store them in dark or opaque plastic bags.
Place the bag in a warm area around 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The top of your refrigerator or a warm garage are good places.
Wait 1 to 2 weeks and watch the cuttings. They should eventually grow white shoots from the nodes. This is called callusing. When the cuttings are callused, they are ready to plant.
Plant the cutting in a temporary location, such as a garden bed. This location should be in full sunlight for 6 hours a day. Be extremely careful not to break off any white shoots. Three-fourths of the cutting should be planted underground with one node sticking out of the ground.
Water the cutting but not to where the soil becomes extremely soggy. A light dousing or enough to keep the soil moist is best.
Prepare the soil in the cutting's permanent location. Till the soil and remove any weeds. Mix equal parts of compost and native soil to the area where the cutting will be planted, and add a handful of sand to the mix.
Transplant the cutting to its permanent location once its root system has matured. The best time to transplant is typically one year after the cutting was planted. Plant the cutting at the same depth it had been planted in the garden, and pat down the soil around it to knock out any excess air.