How to Germinate Grape Seeds

Tips

• Grape seeds will not germinate until they are out of the fridge, so they can be stored for indefinite time. However, leaving them for at least 3 months increases the likelihood that the seeds will germinate.

The success rate is not likely because only a small percentage of seeds will ever germinate, and if they do, they are not ready to bear fruit for about 3 years. It's easy to buy stock from a greenhouse or nursery, but germinating grape seeds can be an interesting experiment, and a successful effort is a major success.

Save the seeds from several grapes, soak the seeds in a bowl of warm water overnight, then skim out and discard any seeds that float to the top.

Put about a cup of organic material such as moist perlite or peat moss in a plastic bag and push the grape seeds into the middle of the bag. Make sure the organic material is just damp, but not wet wet.

Grapes sprouting from seeds is a job reserved for gardeners looking for challenges.

In addition, the genetic make-up of the original seeds will not be passed on to the new plant, so grapes may have very different characteristics and flavors.

Place the baggie in the fridge and leave for at least three months. This process is called stratification, repeating natural conditions in nature, where the seeds will fall on the ground and will winter over before they are ready to germinate in the spring.

Fill a 2-inch planting pot with a commercial clay pot or peat pot. Remove the grape seeds from the fridge and plant 2 or 3 seeds in each pot. Seeds should be stored at about 72 degrees during the daytime. If the room is too cold, put the pot on the heat plate or under the heat lamp to keep warm. Look at the sprouts in a few weeks, keep the soil moist evenly with mister spray.

• Place the baggie in the fridge and leave for at least three months.
• If the room is too cold, put the pot on the heat plate or under the heat lamp to keep warm.

Grow grape seedlings into large pots when they're about 2 inches tall. Leave seedlings in the house for at least a year before trying to move them outside.