Homemade V.S. Store Bought

[jvls1942]

thanks for the tips. I am planning on doing 4 different kinds of propagation with the grapes.
the apple tree I am taking cuttings from, and doing the pop bottle method is one that grew from a seed here .. it has two trunks and two different kinds of apple.
both are very good pie apples..
I have taken hardwood cuttings and had very good luck with them,,.
so this year I am going to air layer, green scions and later take some hardwood cuttings.
I have 9 acres to play with.
but my immediate plan is to use a bare spot between the road and where my pine trees start. about 200 ft wide and 100 feet deep..
the elderberry that the town destroyed is already sending up shoots. I am going to chop off several chunks of roots and transplant them,,. then if the town tries to cut those down, they will have a bumpy ride because it will be over my dead body.
I finally have all the items I need for doing the propagation.. new hand pruner and a bale of spagnum moss , cling wrap and aluminum foil and rooting compound..
.......jiminwisc.....

 

[jvls1942]

today I attempted my first air layering with the apple tree. let me tell you, I am really clumsy .. I did one soda bottle, and one just spagnum moss with saran wrap.. I don't expect either one to take..
we had a storm tonight . got over an inch of rain.. really cooled it outside. supposed to stay cool for a couple of days..
good news. three grapes that I transplanted last year are growing.. they are in the area where I hope to make like a park with edible trees and shrubs..

....jiminwisc.....

 

[jvls1942]

update on the air layering .
I got four grapes done .. I gave up on the pop bottle and the saran wrap.. I thought I would try those flimsy sandwich baggies.. turns out they are super easy to work with
I got rained out just as I was getting the hang of it.
I took a picture or two..don't have the camera right here with me.. pics later..
......jiminwisc......

 

[jvls1942]

good morning, I hope to get some more grapes air layered before the rain moves in.
in the mean time, here is a picture of Ollie and the black walnut tree that we uprooted. gotta prove I do what is said.

 

[jvls1942]

today I finished the ten grape air layers .
tomorrow I will stake those vines up..
I have some pictures .

this is the cub cadet I used to mow down those tall weeds.. in this picture it is sitting in front of the overgrown grape arbor.
you can see how tall the weeds are..

this is the tangled grape vines after mowing and pulling weeds by hand.

this is my portable work bench with all the grafting supplies.

the baked potato looking things are the air layers..
In a couple of months I will check to see if any of them have roots. If they will, then I will transplant them into individual pots and next spring they will go into a permanent row.. my goal is to have 10 good roots in a 54 foot long row..
no guarantee that any of them will sprout roots. just have to wait it out and hope..
.......jiminwisc......

 

[cavemanrich]

today I finished the ten grape air layers .
tomorrow I will stake those vines up..
I have some pictures .
View attachment 1484785
this is the cub cadet I used to mow down those tall weeds.. in this picture it is sitting in front of the overgrown grape arbor.
you can see how tall the weeds are..
View attachment 1484790
this is the tangled grape vines after mowing and pulling weeds by hand.
View attachment 1484794
this is my portable work bench with all the grafting supplies.
View attachment 1484795
the baked potato looking things are the air layers..
In a couple of months I will check to see if any of them have roots. If they will, then I will transplant them into individual pots and next spring they will go into a permanent row.. my goal is to have 10 good roots in a 54 foot long row..
no guarantee that any of them will sprout roots. just have to wait it out and hope..
.......jiminwisc......

Long time ago, a person I casually knew showed me how he created a canopy cover growth from grape vines. Created a nice patio with natural shade. He told me at that time, that he would take a 4 foot section of a grape vine and bury 3 feet of it in a trench type hole in the ground. 1 foot would be sticking out in the air. He of course would water and nurse these new vines so they would take. I am not sure of the time of season when he did this.. It was long ago,,
Your air layering may work fine just the same. Not sure,,,, but I think same watering on the BULB part may induce root growth.

 

[jvls1942]

your friend is correct. but it works better if the vine stays connected to the mother plant. this works best during the growing period, spring to early summer..
my bulbs are sealed plastic sandwich bags. inside the bag is water logged sphagnum moss. it will stay moist for 8 weeks at which time roots should be developing .. then the vine is cut loose from the mother plant, the bag is removed, and the rooted vine is put into a pot of compost.
today I got five of the vines tied up onto stakes. I still have 6 more to do.. It got too hot out to work any more..
after the leaves fall off and the growing season is well over, you can take cuttings and root them in water or moist sand.
it is call hardwood cuttings..
all this info is on you tube..
......jiminwisc......

ETA: I got up early today and finished staking all the vines with air layers on them. I thought I had 10, turns out I have 12.
the more the merrier, eh?

 

[jvls1942]

update: I am just about finished with my propagation efforts.
I have 12 grapes air layered and staked up.
I have 4 each of two apple trees air layered.
I have 2 air layers in the mulberry tree.
I have one bucket of grape scions .green cuttings. about 2 dozen of them.
I have one bucket of apple scions. green cuttings. about 2 dozen of them.
now all I have to do is wait until the end of September to see if I am successful with any of them..
almost forgot. I have the 3 grapes that I transplanted last year tied to stakes to establish their main trunks..
....jiminwisc....

 

[cavemanrich]

I will try next spring air layering a couple of Crabapple trees I have. (never done this before) Only if any of my offsprings want them in their gardens. I have a Red and a Golden variety. They only differ in the color of fruit. Blooms are same.

 

[jvls1942]

my parents had a red crabapple tree when I was growing up.
Mom used to can them whole. I have no idea how she did it.
the tree has long ago been cut down. along with the other two trees.
I tried to clone them when we could see that they were on their way out. but I had no idea of how to air layer back then..
you can take scions after the tree goes dormant for the winter. I did that last year.
didn't have a real good success rate, but some of the scions did develop roots and leaves..
lots of Utube videos of that..
......jiminwisc....