Apple Grafting Workshop

Androscoggin Valley SWCD

Get hands on experience with grafting from a local professional.  Each participant will graft two of their own apple trees to take home.

Pleasant Pond Orchard

Join us for a grafting workshop at a local orchard. Why is it necessary to graft fruit trees? Why did we start grafting trees? Learn this and more at this hands on workshop! Participants will get a chance to practice grafting techniques and then graft two apple trees to take home and plant on your own property!First, we will learn basic history of and reason for grafting, tree anatomy terminology, and the tools and materials needed to properly graft a tree.Students will learn safe and effective cutting techniques and have ample time to practice. After you feel comfortable making consistent cuts, you'll get to graft your own trees! We will be marrying rootstock with scion using the 'whip and tongue' method. Each participant will get to graft two trees to take home, if you'd like to graft more each additional tree is $10--while supplies last. Root stock are smaller trees, that will be well adapted to a low maintenance home orchard, and we will have 4-6 different scion to choose from, with options for early to later fruiting, and better for pies or storage.If time (and weather) allows, we will head outside to topwork a tree together. Topworking is a method of grafting scions onto much larger and established trees. It's often used in commercial orchards to change over to a more desirable apple. Note: If you need eyeglasses for up close work, please bring them. Lining up the grafts correctly is crucial to a successful union.Unfortunately there are no restrooms on site. MEET THE PRESENTER:Shane Patrick was raised on a farm in Wisconsin. Each fall, he and his brother picked apples from an abandoned orchard on the back forty. Several families got together and made a year's worth of apple pies and froze them to bake and enjoy throughout the seasons. Shane went to Alaska after college where, among other things, he worked as a commercial landscaper under a Certified Arborist. When it was time to leave Alaska, Shane and his partner, Jess, moved closer to her family and bought Pleasant Pond Orchard. Shane and Jess trained under the late Michael Phillips, regarded as the leader in growing apples without petrochemicals. Shane participated in a grafting clinic in February of 2022. His first attempts resulted in an abysmal 50% success rate. Shane got further instruction from other apple growers and now routinely achieves better than 95% success. Shane serves on the Executive Committee of the Maine Pomological Society and still eats lots of apple pie.

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Apple Grafting Workshop

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Apple Grafting Workshop

More events from Androscoggin Valley SWCD

Discover more events from Androscoggin Valley SWCD, from Science & Tech to other experiences you might love.

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