While I’ve known some farmers who have talked to their trees in the springtime to encourage a successful fruit set, there’s a practice farmers employ that reminds me much of a surgeon fixing bones. It’s called grafting—it’s when tissue from one plant is fused with the tissue of another plant. Farmers graft their trees for multiple reasons. Whether it’s to help protect against disease or pests or to change varieties of fruit in order to diversify their crops, grafting can be an important tool for farmers to employ.

A farmer’s graft of a plant has a big impact on the outcome of their work. If a farmer takes an existing tree and cuts it diagonally on the trunk, leaving the root-stock in the ground, she/he can then graft a new scion (a new plant selected for its flowers or fruit) on top of the root stock. You may have read about this practice in the wine-grape industry as a way to help produce grapes with more hardy root stocks that are resistant to certain diseases. Backyard farmers can have fun with this concept too by taking an existing tree (say a plum tree) and grafting individual branches with new kinds of other fruit stems. If done correctly, so that the vascular tissues of both plants fuse properly, you could have a backyard tree that produces plums, peaches, and nectarines—oh my!

Sounds a bit Frankensteinian, but it’s just the way that humans have learned to adapt their farming techniques using natural methods. At this time of year, we’re hoping that the weather favors the farmers’ methods for propagating their trees by allowing for proper flowering, which leads to sweet summer fruit.

Remember to visit our mix page or go to our home page and click the ladybug icon to see what’s in your mix this week.

Enjoy & Be Fruitful!

—Chris Mittelstaedt, chris@fruitguys.com

WEST
Filoli Opening – Daffodil Daydreams
Feb 26, 27
Woodside, CA

Cookbook Swap
Feb 25
San Francisco, CA

Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival
Mar 5, 6, 7
Sebastopol, CA

EAST
Composting in the City
Feb 25
Brooklyn, NY

Fight for Air – Stair Climb
Mar 20
Bell Atlantic Tower, Philadelphia, PA

Grafting Workshop
Mar 27
Lancaster, PA

CENTRAL
Peace on Earth Film Festival
Feb 26, 27, 28
Chicago, IL

Hustle Up the Hancock – Stair Climb
Feb 28
Chicago, IL

Grafting Workshop
March 14
Weaton, IL

The first time I went to a Scion Exchange I didn’t know what to expect—was it a science fiction convention? As I drew nearer I saw people entering the building with little sticks under their arms—was it some sect of Wicca? The Wicker Wiccan maybe? But no, a Scion Exchange is where farmers and home gardeners bring twig cuttings from their best fruit and nut trees to swap so others may grow heirloom varieties. The requirements are simple: bring some, take some, and make notes.

The Exchanges take place in winter, when trees are dormant and the gardeners and farmers are restless with spring planning. I went to an exchange in Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma county). They can be found through your local chapter of the Rare Fruit Growers Association or Farm Extension Service. Inside a Scion Exchange you’ll find long tables with heaps of branch cuttings in labeled plastic bags and marking tape. They are laid out under their genus headings for Pears, Stone Fruit, Cane Berries, and Apples. Bags with intriguing names like “Sweet Victoria,” “Fiesta,” “Sunrise,” and “Api Etoile.” Some names allude to previous growers: “Tydeman’s Late Orange Apple,” “Hudson’s Golden Gem,” and “Jeffers.”

The hall, often a grange or school cafeteria depending on the town, is abuzz with gossip—what pests are around, water issues, the dirt on soil, and, of course, the weather. The Scion Exchange is where you can learn the fine art of grafting fruit trees. Grafting is the art of inserting a cutting from one fruit tree into another to propagate a plant. Orchardists wait patiently for a turn with a Master Grafter, who will demonstrate by grafting the special scion wood onto an appropriate rootstock – which you then plant. With grafting know-how and some luck you could successfully graft one variety, of say a Waltana Apple, onto an existing Gravenstein Apple tree. Grafting various varieties onto one tree is a way for orchardists to maximize their harvest and space. Grafting is cloning, but not GMO – it is an ancient technique dating back to Mesopotamia. Growing trees from seeds is not a realistic option on our human time scale.

When I asked one orchardist what she was looking for at the Scion Exchange she replied “Disease resistance. I don’t want to have to spray.” Growing organically is by far the prevailing sentiment among orchardists. The exchange of these varieties not only builds community among gardeners, but diversity in the fruit varieties available. It is a way for outstanding varieties to get known. This is just the bare tree part of the story. The fruit tasting is in September.

- Heidi Lewis