Abstract Cuttings from grapevines sprayed with a calcium cyanamide (Ca N-C≡N) mixture broke rest 14 days after their bases were placed in water at 25°C. By 40 days after the beginning of the experiment there was 90% budbreak. Maximum rooting was attained 57 days after the cuttings were placed in water at 25°. Control cuttings did not break rest or produce roots during the experiment, which lasted 100 days. Results similar to those of the control were obtained from cuttings stored at 0° for 3 days or 1 week. After 2 weeks at 0°, some control buds broke and some roots grew, but greater budbreak and root growth occurred in plants that had received the chemical treatment. When cuttings were removed from storage after 4, 8 or 12 weeks, there was little difference in budbreak or root growth between control and treated cuttings. Free ABA in untreated bud meristems (buds without scales) initially dropped and then rose again after 2 weeks of storage. With treated bud meristems the drop for free ABA was less after the beginning of storage than in control buds. In bud scales there was an increase in free ABA after the beginning of storage, especially with calcium cyanamide-treated cuttings. The bound ABA in bud meristems dropped markedly in the first 3 days of storage, both in control and treated cuttings. There was much less bound ABA in the bud scales than in the bud meristems, especially at the beginning of storage. When bud scales were removed, both budbreak and rooting were more rapid than in cuttings with intact buds.