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| tongue & whip graft |
He was extremely thorough in his presentation, including hands-on practice with scions (new wood cuttings) in front of every seat, and razor blades to boot so everyone could practice their new "tongue & whip" graft technique (seen here).
He raved about Johnny Apple Seed trees and growing America's history in your backyard. He even brought scions of an official Johnny Apple Tree to share! Not only did he bring those scions, but he also brought a whole long table lined with over ten different varieties of apples, and some pears, plums & persimmons.
At the end of the workshop, I had to go over to the table and gather the scions as everyone else did, so that I, too, could fullfill the hopes of this grafter to go home and try it myself. All the while I was thinking, hmm, well, I really hope I don't let these go to waste- because I don't know of any fruit trees that I can graft these onto.
Silly me!
HA! It wasn't until I arrived home the next morning, and in telling my husband about the scions - he responded with "oh, that's good, you can graft them onto the crabapple tree." DUH! I had completely forgotten that not only do we have one crabapple tree (that seems of some kind of dwarf variety), but there is also another one on the tree lawn of the lot next door! Two apple trees just waiting for larger edible fruit to be grafted onto them!
My Lordy!
So, I am very excited by this. A chance to try out my new skills, and to also hopefully bring us some apples throughout the growing season.
Here are the varieties I accrued from the teacher:
-Melrose
-Jonathan
-Cortland
-Rome Beauty
-Yellow Transparent
-an official Johnny Appleseed tree
-Bartlett pear
(did you know that you can graft a pear to an apple- but it's not always such an easy match and you have to monitor it fairly closely to make sure the tree is handling it okay. Interesting, eh?)
Isn't it fun to imagine all these apples growing on one tree?!
Now, I just need the grafting wax!
Hopefully, I'll have a digital camera by the time I go to graft these, so I can document.
At the end of the workshop, I had to go over to the table and gather the scions as everyone else did, so that I, too, could fullfill the hopes of this grafter to go home and try it myself. All the while I was thinking, hmm, well, I really hope I don't let these go to waste- because I don't know of any fruit trees that I can graft these onto.
Silly me!
HA! It wasn't until I arrived home the next morning, and in telling my husband about the scions - he responded with "oh, that's good, you can graft them onto the crabapple tree." DUH! I had completely forgotten that not only do we have one crabapple tree (that seems of some kind of dwarf variety), but there is also another one on the tree lawn of the lot next door! Two apple trees just waiting for larger edible fruit to be grafted onto them!
My Lordy!
So, I am very excited by this. A chance to try out my new skills, and to also hopefully bring us some apples throughout the growing season.
Here are the varieties I accrued from the teacher:
-Melrose
-Jonathan
-Cortland
-Rome Beauty
-Yellow Transparent
-an official Johnny Appleseed tree
-Bartlett pear
(did you know that you can graft a pear to an apple- but it's not always such an easy match and you have to monitor it fairly closely to make sure the tree is handling it okay. Interesting, eh?)
Isn't it fun to imagine all these apples growing on one tree?!
Now, I just need the grafting wax!
Hopefully, I'll have a digital camera by the time I go to graft these, so I can document.
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