Note to all the Plant Propagation students: the field trip to the Huntington has been moved to 01 March - we will meet on 09 February with the California Rare Fruit Growers instead. There will be several grafting gurus there to teach grafting and a scion wood exchange - that meeting will be held in Santa Monica at the Ken Edwards Center, 1527 Fourth Street between Colorado and Broadway. That meeting will be only from 10 to noon, leaving us with two extra hours to make up which we will determine in class.
I think this is a rare opportunity (like a rare fruit itself) and very beneficial for of us - a much more full experience than I alone could give you.
From the West Los Angeles Chapter’s newsletter about the upcoming scion wood exchange:
Scion Wood Preparation
Prepare a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. Immerse your scion wood cuttings in this solution for about ten seconds before placing them in the plastic bag. This will insure the prevention of the spread of most diseases from one garden to another. One infected twig can kill the whole tree onto which is grafted, and possibly surrounding trees too. A newly infected tree from your garden may not be showing visual signs yet, but without proper processing of cuttings you could unintentionally be responsible for killing trees in the gardens of many of your fellow members.
Select straight wood from last year’s growth and cut as near to our scion wood exchange date as possible.
Wood should be ¼” to 3/8” diameter (pencil size) and contain several buds.
Cut to lengths that fit easily into a Ziplock-type bag. Cut with a slanting cut on the top (distal) and a flat cut on the end that would have been nearest the trunk (medial).
Bundle by variety in a moist paper towel(s) and place in a Ziploc-type bag, leaving a slight opening in the bag for the wood to breathe. Put only one variety in each bag. Make sure that the towel(s) stay damp for as long as the wood is stored..
Label the outside of the bag with the fruit type and variety as well as any additional information you feel is pertinent (i.e. minimum chilling hours; needs pollinator; vigor; area where successfully grown, etc). It's nice to add your name so that those collecting your wood know where the wood came from and can ask you questions about the parent tree.
Keep the scion wood bag in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator until the morning of the exchange. Be careful not to let the scion wood freeze!
At the exchange, please wait to make your selections until directed by the Chair. Please limit your selections to two of any one variety until everyone has had an opportunity to collect wood. Then feel free to go back. Please do not collect wood you do not plan to use.
What to do with your collected scion wood after the scion exchange:
If you don't plant to graft as soon as you get home, remember to add moist paper toweling to the bag and refrigerate until you have time to graft. Do not freeze! Be careful with the label. An all too frequent mistake is to put the label in the bag with the wood. When you add moist paper toweling, the label becomes unreadable.
N. B. All meetings and activities of the West Los Angeles CRFG are open to the public. You do not need to be a member to attend. However, membership is only $8 a year and puts you on our mailing list. Membership also helps pay for our meeting sites, supplies, and mailings. Please note, paid members who bring wood choose first! You can click to WLA Chapter's site or to the California Rare Fruit Growers site.
If students want to participate in the scion wood exchange, I will make a few of TLG's trees available to them for wood collection.
And more syllabus notes:
Theodore Payne has asked us to come on March 22. We will meet there that day at our usual 9:00 AM time. Address and more information to follow as we get closer.
These changes then make our upcoming weeks look like this:
02/09 Lecture: Grafting and Budding with the California Rare Fruit Growers in Santa Monica.
Demonstration: Grafting and budding
Practical: Grafting and budding/Scion wood exchange
02/16 HOLIDAY
02/23 Instructor out of town
03/01 Field Trip to The Huntington’s Propagation Area
03/08 Lecture: Grafting and other propagation techniques, Pages 75-91 and 114-123
Demonstration: Grafting a fruit tree
Practical: Graft a fruit tree
03/15 Lecture: Non-commercial Tissue Culture
Demonstration: Solution for tissue culture
Practical: Making material for tissue culture
03/22 Field Trip to Theodore Payne Foundation
If this is not clear, please talk to me.
david
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