July 20, 8am–12pmWhere
OARDC 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691
There’s a gardening skill called grafting. It’s used a lot on apple trees. And it can help you turn a favorite tree — whether an apple, a pear, a dogwood or another — into more new trees just like it.
When someone grafts a tree, they splice a scion — typically a twig or other cutting — from one tree onto the rootstock — the roots and stump — of another. It turns them into a single new tree that features the best traits of both.
The rootstock of a grafted tree typically provides helpful basic features such as resistance to disease or hardiness in winter.
The scion, meanwhile, is usually cut from a favorite or outstanding tree — a tree that a gardener wants to duplicate. That tree might produce especially tasty apples, for instance. The new grafted version benefits from the stronger rootstock. It also will flower or bear fruit much sooner than a tree started from seed.
The workshop will emphasize chip budding, a “nearly universal graft” that’s easier to learn than other methods.
Chip budding, according to its Wikipedia entry, involves splicing a chip of wood containing a bud from a scion into a cut that’s made in a rootstock. The bud grows to become a tree.
Bring your own scions if you want
Scions and rootstocks will be provided for the workshop’s participants, who can take home the trees they create.
Participants are encouraged to bring scions from trees in their own gardens, especially apples.
How to register
The workshop will be in the arboretum’s Jack and Deb Miller Pavilion on Williams Road.