Scion Exchange

The California Rare Fruit Growers held their annual scion exchange in San Francisco and I consider that a good enough reason to put up with Bay Bridge traffic to get over there. The number of fruit varieties represented in the piles of pruned wood at a scion exchange is a little staggering, but it's pretty fun to rifle through it all, searching for just what you need or for something new you didn't even know you want.

For just a $3 entry fee I was able to pick up nine scions from five different varieties: Black Tartian, Van, and Republican cherries; Santa Rosa plum; and Desert King fig. The cherry scions will all get grafted onto my dwarf Ranier cherry. The plum will be grafted onto a peach rootstock that I'd tried grafting onto last year in my class; the graft took at first, but then failed, so now I'll try again. The fig scion is not for grafting, but to try rooting.

My yard is small but I'd really love to see it filled with small fruit trees someday. These scion exchanges are a great opportunity to build my mini-orchard.

Never Have So Many Been Made So Happy By So Many Sticks of Wood

Today I went to the annual scion exchange of the California Rare Fruit Growers Golden Gate Chapter. Unbelievable! For anyone interested in growing fruit, a scion exchange is like a glimpse of the promised land--so many possibilities, so much potential.

This was my first time at a scion exchange and for anyone who's never been to one, here's how it works: Members of the CRFG bring scions (generally, 6-12" cuttings) from their dormant fruit or nut trees. The scions are piled in labeled ziploc bags on tables, grouped by fuit type, and for a small admittance fee anyone can take one or two scions of as many varieties as they like to bring home and graft onto their own trees. Grafting allows you to get more variety from one tree and can also provide cross-pollinators--both of which are big bonuses if you have a limited space in your garden.

In addition to all the goodies you get to bring home--and perhaps even more importantly--you get access to people who have a wealth of information and years of experience growing fruit and grafting. At the Golden Gate Chapter's scion exchange, Idell Weydemeyer performed some quick demos that made the whole process seem quite easy and absolutely doable. Clearly, Idell is not timid with a grafting knife--one of her apple trees has over 40 grafts on it.

So what did I come home with for my $3 entrance fee and $2 raffle ticket (guaranteed to win something)? Four kinds of cherry scions (Black Tartian, Van, Black Republican, and Lapins); Granny Smith apple scions for a classmate; Fuji and Early Fuji apple scions for me and two apple rootstocks to graft them onto; and a Mission fig cutting to root. I also purchased a couple dollars' worth of Parafilm to wrap the grafts in. I could have brought home a lot more, but why be greedy? There's always next year's exchange.

The scions are now safely stored in the vegetable bin of my refrigerator, wrapped in damp paper towels and sealed in in ziploc bags, waiting for the right time for grafting. A few more weeks, I think, and surgery can begin.