Muscadines are almost hopeless from dormant cuttings. Best to ask a friend to layer a vine in place, and dig the layered shoot, which is still attached to the main plant at the end of the growing season. Helps to wound the one year old shoot a bit to encourage callus and root formation. A bit of rootone may also help. Most other species of grape will root to some degree or other as a dormant cutting.

Any recommendations for how long you leave a plant layered before you try to sever it from the main plant?

I have layered muscadine vines very successfully in the past usually about 90% rooted. They rooted successfully in about 5 weeks at which time I cut off the rooted vine and potted it.

Hans

www.MuscadinesAndMore.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Muscadines And More

My grandpa layers them this way:

1. Take planting pot and fill half way with dirt.
2. Take a new (green) muscadine runner and lay it in the pot, being sure to the end sticking back out of the pot.
3. Fill remainder of pot with dirt.

He will leave it this way all summer. As fall approaches, he will cut the runner from the main vine.

Your Grandpa's method is fine if you want to propagate a few vines for your self, but I am more interested in propagating several thousand vines each year. Because of this I use a fog system, a mist system and I air layer. By using all of these systems I hope to achieve my goals.

Hans

Muscadines And More LLC

Most of my Muscadine vines have leafed out. I only lost 3 or 4 this winter, but have replacement vines. In 4-5 wks I will start taking cuttings and my propagation season begins. At present I have 17 different varieties. Most of my vines are patented, but the patents are all over 20 years old making it legal for me to propagate them. I will go with 3 methods this summer, mist, fog and air layering.

Early this Spring, when I pruned my Muscadines I just could not bare to throw all of the pruning's away. I took hard wood cuttings and processed them. According to studies the success rate from hard wood Muscadine cuttings is only 1%, but about half of my 4-5 hundred cuttings are leafing out. I am keeping my figures crossed and hoping that they set roots.

I will check them in a few weeks.

My brother in law has sold his 200 acre Muscadine vineyard, but he got most of his plants from dormant cutting, green leaf cuttings, later from layering.

We always took dormant cutting, never layered until I was in my late teens & never heard of green cutting until I was in my 30's.

Now everyone are saying no dormant cuttings.

It is true that we only got 50%, 70% to live if we were lucky, but we could put out thousands from one mature vine.

I now layer all my vines, but I only root a few each year.

jolj(7b/8a) ,

I would love to learn from your success. When exactly did you take your cuttings? What were the steps in processing your dormant cuttings?

I have a small home based Muscadine Propagation business and trying to increase my production to keep up with my customer's needs. The name of my operation is Muscadines And More LLC.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Hans

We used roottone & take the cutting in early Spring/late Winter, just before bud swelling.

We had some luck in late Fall, at or after leaf fall, but before a hard freeze.

Never let cutting freeze or dry out.

I worked with a S.C. nurseryman who has past away, so all this is from memory.

I did not grow green cutting, my brother in law did that, & he like it better.

This may help: http://www.amazon.com/Reference-Manual-Woody-Plant-Propagation/dp/1604690046l