Layering Grape Vines
In this article I want to share a neat little trick grape growers use to propagate new grape vines in established vineyards.
If you have ever tried to replace dead or weak grape vines in an established vineyard, I am sure you will agree that is a daunting task. You normally struggle to get these new vines to the trellis wires because of competition for food and water and because of over shading from the existing vines in the vineyard.
Although it is always advisable to try and replace dead vines with new ones, there might be times when you don’t have new vines or if you failed to grow a new vine, then you can use a simple method called “layering”.
Layering is done in the dormant season, when you prune your grape vines. All there is to layering, is to make a new planting hole where you want to establish the new vine and then take a cane from the existing vine, bend it down towards the ground and loop it inside the planting hole for about one foot and then up again. To keep the cane in place, before you fill up the planting hole, you can put a stone on the cane and then cover it with soil.
In the following picture you can see new shoots starting to develop from the layer!
From there you train the grape vine exactly as if it is a newly planted vine. During spring, new shoots will develop from the buds on the layer. If you have the Complete Grape Growers Guide, then train a new training shoot exactly as I show you in the guide.
Anyway, roots will develop from the buds that are buried under the soil and your new vine will get its food from the existing vine, until the roots of the new vine are strong enough to support the grape vine.
After a year or two, some growers remove the part that is coming from the existing vine, but I prefer to keep it until I am sure the new grape vine is well established and producing a crop.
The disadvantage of using layering is that your new vine will have no rootstock and could be more susceptible to soil diseases like Phylloxera and nematodes – off course it depends on how susceptible your variety is to those diseases.
Tags: grape vine trellace, harvesting grapes, seedless grapes growing, grape vine internet, grape growing climate
Danie
all I have is marble size grapes that taste bitter, liyyle and orrible. about three bubches on each three year old grape vine , growing in a raised brick bed two feet deep, two feet wide and twenty feet long .
yours a
disappointed grape grower,
pete
Great tips for a beginner like me! Thank you sooooooo much!!
how do you water your vines
Thank you so much for all the help on my grape vines. I have 3 and this year I have a few grapes. I have not pruned them as I didn’t know how. Thanks to you I do know how and when to do it. Also I know when to fertilize my grapes. Thank you for all the information. I would like to buy your book but sometimes my ss just doesn’t go far enough Kaye
very interesting and educative
very interestig and educative
I have doing this for years with my blackberries,it is easy,cheap new vines,and it works.Good advice.I do have your book.F.D.C.
thanks for this new info
Hi Danie,
Thank for your neswsletter. I am learning alot about grapes. I’m even growing grapes from seeds. I would like some imput on taking care of young seedlings.
I am from Jamaica West Indies,