Add Varieties To Your Orchard
The season of scion exchanges is here. There is a handful of them coming up, in different parts of California, all organized by the California Rare Fruit Growers association and listed at CRFG web site.
For those new to the topic: what is a scion exchange?
Would you like to have different varieties of fruit growing in your backyard but are pressed for space? Then scion exchange is just for you! Local gardeners bring cuttings of their own, favourite, non patented fruit or nut trees, called scions. They are labelled, so you know what you are picking. Anyone is welcome to take a cutting of their liking and then graft it onto their existing fruit tree. There may be demonstrations of how to do it at the scion exchange. Different varieties of apples go on an apple tree, but plums, nectarines and peaches can all be grafted onto one tree. If you are interested, come by to learn more.
There will be a grafting demonstration, apple, pear, and stone fruit rootstocks for sale, plus experts and hobbyists to answer questions. Custom trees will be created for attendees on the spot for a small donation, and some young grafted trees will be available for purchase from one of the CRFG members. In order to prevent the spread of certain diseases and pests, citrus and greenwood scions will not be exchanged.
If you want to take some scions for grafting, bring gallon size plastic zipper bags, masking tape and a waterproof pen to mark your acquisitions to take home. There will be $2 bag/label/pen kits for sale at the event. If you want to share scions of your own fruit tress, check here for a list of what you should bring to a scion exchange.
More information with a video are available on the Golden Gate CRFG chapter web site.