Seven, they are Seven

An experiment as far as we are concerned; propagating vines from bare wood cuttings!

Black-fingered Slotovino has purchased £12 of cuttings from the vine mostly found in Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario -  'L'Acadie blanc'. This is a Canadian hybrid from Cascade and Seyve Villard 14-287.Amazingly, this obscure vine is listed at Sunnybank Vine Nurseries of Herefordshire and they were kind enough to send us 7 cuttings for the price of 6. We reckon that if L'Acadie can grow in Nova Scotia it could also grow in the UK, eventually at our experimental vineyard in the Thames Valley.

So instructions in hand we dipped the 7 cuttings into some rooting gel and buried them in soil up to the 2nd bud, hopefully the right side up. We have put polythene bags over them and stuck them in a spot on the terrace away from direct sunlight. We have to keep them well watered and they are supposed to grow roots and then flourish, bearing leaves and eventually grapes.

We know plenty of people do this kind of thing but we never thought of ourselves as belonging to them and so no one will be more surprised than us if even one cutting takes. What next? Grafting?.

We'll be sure to keep Slotovino readers informed. Exciting isn't it?