Chip-budding grapes

Chip-budding grapes.

My intention is to increase my stocks of Rombough Seedless grape.

I don't have a lot of wood on the RS vine because it is not in a great place, it is shaded for half the day by a pear tree. I have lots of buds but not much length of cane. 

One of the quirks about cutting the length of wood that contained the bud is that I could not make the same kinds of cuts I did with apples and pears. The shape of the grape stem was like a knee with the bud on the knee-cap. There is also a diaphragm at the bud which deflects the blade. The "trick" was to use my loppers to cut the stem off about an inch below the bud I was going to transfer and then whittle wood away from the backside of the stem. Then to roll the stem over and make the angled cut at the bottom of the chip. As a final step, to reverse the stem and make the angled cut at the top of the stem. Best do this where you can find the chip if it misbehaves and falls to the ground.

One possible solution is to move some of those bud and put them on grapes that are growing on a good site and are easy to root. In my case, that would be wild Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia).

It may be a lost cause. It is pretty late in the season. On fruit trees I target late-June for my chip-budding. But if all goes well, I will collect my cuttings with the buds intact and store them in a sheltered place. Then I will "stick" them in pots.

Vitis riparia and its hybrids are eager and prolific rooters.

I was able to make about 10 bud transplants and have enough buds cut for about ten more.