Yes, our biggest meeting of the year is just about upon us. And for 2020, we are again going to provide intimate, close-up-and-personal grafting demos by having four different experts each holding down his own table and teaching a variety of different grafts, the Cleft Graft, the Budding Graft, the Veneer Graft, etc.
The meeting will be in the MultiPurpose Room of the Culver City Veterans Memorial complex. The schedule will be as follows:
10 – 10:30 – Registration, affixing of the name tags, the Bringing In and Arranging of the Scion Wood (Click here to access a .pdf on how to collect and store scion wood from your orchard) Please place each variety in its own ziploc bag and label it! Also, if you intend to collect wood at our exchange, bring more ziplocs, and a Magic Marker to label your precious finds.
NOTE: Because of huanglongbing disease, NO CITRUS scion wood, fruit or roostock should be brought to the meeting or otherwise moved around the state.
10:30 – 11:00 The Grafting Demos (you are encouraged to watch each of them, but obviously you can camp for the duration in front of Fang Liu, for example, if you are trying to master the veneer graft)
11:00-11:30 – Members allowed to select scion wood
11:30 -noon – Non-members allowed to select scion wood
Alas, because our Chair is currently on medical leave, we will not be doing the hands-on grafting we did last year. We hope, however, to be able to add it again for 2021
Checking to see if I need to pre- register for this class being a non- member
Randee, no, the class is open to the public; though chapter members get priority at the scion exchange.
Thanks to everyone who made the Scion Exchange and Grafting displays such a wonderful event for visitors. Each mentor patiently answered questions and presented techniques that were carefully followed by their audiences. Loved seeing the young person watching and listening and asking questions while his mentor patiently answered and helped him to graft a tree. I really appreciated being able to get scion wood. Valuable to talk to Paco about the new technique of grafting Pitahaya that will help my cold damaged plants revive and provide a crop this year! I also was fortunate to meet the person bringing the Strawberry Verte fig cuttings, who described the flavor of Unk Pastiliere. Those two conversations were worth the whole trip through the rain from way south of you. Fabulous, sharing, wonderful plant people, I thank you! Oh last but not least, have to give a shout out to whoever thought of making the name tags and putting the heart stickers for donations, that is a genius organizational strategy! Really helps to keep the scion exchange people flow organized in a friendly way! We might be copying that with your permission!
Hey ya’ll. Are there any courtesy rules like: if you bring 5 cuttings, only take home 5 cuttings? Thanks
Alex, we don’t actually have a specific courtesy rule though I will pass on your suggestions to our program chair. I believe we usually just stipulate: only take a reasonable amount of scion wood you can actually use.
Okay thanks. If people can only take as many as they bring they may be encouraged to bring more scion wood. 🙂
Hello Alex,
You make a good point, and I’m glad you brought this up! We try to encourage generosity, and in most cases that’s what we see. CRFG’s scion exchanges are about *everyone’s* benefit — not just your own. And in the past, I’ve seen a good supply of scions on display.
But we still welcome everyone — even people who can’t bring scion wood. We hope that by next year, everyone’s grafts will have grown, and you’ll all be able to contribute more than you did this year. And *everyone* benefits from that!
About priority access: We “reward” being a member of the West LA chapter, and bringing scion wood by giving priority access:
1. Chapter members who donate scion wood that morning will get first choice for maybe 15 minutes. I’ll ask that everyone limit what they choose to 2 pieces of each variety at this point, and only pick what they’ll realistically *use* within a month or so.
2. When they’re through, then other chapter members get access also (same guidelines apply).
3. Third, people who don’t belong to our chapter (again, same guidelines).
4. Finally, if there are still more scions left of a variety that you want, you can take another few pieces.
Again, we ask that everyone pick up no more than they’ll realistically *use* in the next month or so. One reason for this is that leftovers do not get thrown away – they’re stored and taken to another scion exchange the next week.
Hey caramatti,
I’m not a member of crfg or the west Los Angeles chapter but am an enthusiastic fruit grower and have been adding to my collection for a few years. I plan on bringing cuttings to the exchange and am wondering if non members who bring cuttings have priority over non members who don’t bring cuttings? I’ve never been to an exchange so I don’t know what to expect. Thanks!