North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

If the cuttings manage 4-6 inches of growth by frost, they MIGHT make it.  Cover them with coarse mulch like corn stalks that mice are less likely to nest in.  They may be late to bud in spring, or will push from below the soil.
Or pot them this fall and hold them in a cold, not freezing, buildling  and set them out in spring,
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
Grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/

On Sep 4, 2010, at 5:32 PM, Ginda Fisher wrote:

I have a grape vine that doesn't thrive for mysterious reasons, and the one year I got grapes they were unexciting, so I decided to replace it and see if some other variety might do better in the spot.  I decided I wanted to try either NY Muscat or Jupiter.  I have had NY Muscat and like it, and seedless grapes appeal to me.  Not being able to decide between them, nor finding a convenient source for plants, I bought cuttings of both from Lon Rombough.  (Thanks, Lon).  He gave instructions for preparing the soil to root them in situ.

So I bought rooting hormone, ordered the grapes, and tucked the grapes in the fridge until the season turned warm enough to "plant" them.  Then I got busy with non-gardening things and forgot about the grape twigs.

Sometime in early August (I think) it occurred to me that I was never going to get around to properly preparing the soil, but if I put the twigs in the soil they might grow, and if I left them in the fridge they surely wouldn't.  So I pulled out all the obvious weeds from the spot where I wanted them, dipped the bottoms of the cuttings in hormone mix, and buried a few inches in the soil, planting 3-4 each of Jupiter and NY Muscat.  It was really hot (which seemed good for rooting) and I made a point of watering the twigs from time to time.  Then I forgot about them again.

Today I notice that two of the twigs have clearly sprouted.  A Jupiter has a full-sized leaf, and a NY Muscat has a bit of stem growing out of two different nodes.  Some of the others seem to have swollen buds, and only one looks like it has dried up.  Tough buggers.

So . . . what are the odds that any of these will make it through the winter?

Happy gardening,
Ginda
eastern MA, zone 6, where we just caught the edge of Earl.  We needed that rain!
_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.
Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
No exceptions.
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/