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Scion Exchange/Grafting Demos/Hands On Class February 9th

Yes, our biggest meeting of the year is just about upon us.   And for 2019, we are finally providing what has long been requested:  a chance  for you yourself to take a shot at grafting under the eyes of an expert.

We are also 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:

9:30-10 –  Registration, waiver signing, 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.

10-10:30 – 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)

10:30-11 – Members allowed to select scion wood

11-11:30 – Non-members allowed to select scion wood

11:30-noon Hands on Grafting Classes with our Experts

Note:  while we will have knives, parafilm and grafting tape on hand, we will not necessarily  have enough rootstock and matching scion wood for all comers to take home an actual grafted tree.   The classes are designed to teach you the craft, period.  Odds are we will have a lot of avocado rootstock and  a lot of pear scion wood.  Despite the fact that avocados are sometimes referred to as Alligator Pears, this WILL NOT work.  Plus, your beautiful graft may be lopped off and replaced by the next student.

If you have a rootstock and scion wood of your own, however, that you want to learn to “marry” for life, feel free to bring ’em.

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Field Trip/Workshop January 12th @ 10 am

Okay, so hopefully there will be no snow on the ground, but we are taking the opportunity of visiting a member’s relatively  new orchard to discuss our various preparations for winter.  Do you do dormant spraying? Do you remove the leaves from your trees in this most unseasonable of winters?  How do you train the young trees you planted last bareroot season?  How are you getting ready for the trees you will plant this year?  How do you prepare your orchard for the (fingers crossed) winter rains?  There will be plenty of time to tour the garden but also yak.  Come with ideas!

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Party! Party! Party!

Chapter members, just a reminder: our holiday party is Saturday and the plant raffle is really starting to shape up,. Gros Michel banana pups, rose apple seedlings, and a one-gallon ice cream bean tree are among the offerings. This is a pot luck so bring your best dish (as well as plants to include in the raffle if you have them)  See you there!

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Paradise Nursery address

Yup, forgot it in previous post:
10943 De Soto Avenue,
Chatsworth, CA 91311

This is just south of the DeSoto exit on the 118 at Rinaldi.  Entrance is easy to miss, so keep eyes peeled.

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November 10th @ 10 am: Paradise Nursery

Oh, do you guys have a treat in store!  We are going to Paradise Nursery in Chatsworth.  This is a family-owned nursery that propagates and grows its own beautiful trees (primarily fruit,  including many Persian specialties you won’t find elsewhere).  Plus many of their trees are ENORMOUS!  Walking around the grounds is sort of like walking through a forest, and it gives you a rare chance to see what your trees will look like full grown. Paradise of course also carries trees small enough to fit in the back of my Toyota Corolla, so don’t think you won’t also be able to bring home trophies from the hunt.

Cribbing shamelessly from their website :

“(Owner) Dr. Majid Jahanbin is an Agricultural Engineer with a doctorate from the University of Bologna, Italy. He fell in love with plants at the age of  seven, while visiting his father’s farm in Abadan, Iran. He has over 50 years of professional experience and hosts a popular radio show on 670AM KIRN, giving gardening tips and taking questions on air in Farsi.

His son Ashkan Jahanbin now runs the nursery and is a horticulturalist with degrees in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Horticultural  from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.  Ashkan consults and designs edible gardens and home orchards that are beautiful, enjoyable, and environmentally sustainable.”

Ash has kindly agreed to meet with us and answer any questions we have about his trees.   There is parking;  but on a Saturday morning it might be somewhat limited, so car pooling is highly suggested.

Also fellow chapter member Alex Silber’s Papaya Tree Nursery is only a couple of freeway exits away from Paradise and if you have never been there, it would be well worth your time to arrange with Alex to stop in before or after.  Since he operates quite literally out of his family’s backyard, he can’t take all of us but said he would welcome individuals who call him first.

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Plants available today only (10-15-18!)

A member living in Brentwood has to vacate her apartment suddenly. She has many many rare plants, some in 50 gallon containers and she is making them available to anyone who wants them. Because she is sight-
challenged, she cannot accept texts but call her at 310-936-3150 if you can take them today. For the bigger plants, you will need a dolly and truck.
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Black jacket

It was left at our October 13th meeting (Edgar Valdivia on Cherimoyas and Figs).  Please let me know if it’s yours.

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Badges

Because many of you have asked about the attractive permanent name badges some of our members wear, we are going to have a sign-up for them at the October 13th meeting.

To order a badge give a check or cash for $15 to our treasurer Andreé at the time of the order, i.e., before the order is placed. The West LA CRFG name badge has the distinctive CRFG logo and two lines of engraved black text (see badges worn by Sofia Ames and Jane Beer).  The badge is roughly 2″ x 3″ and has a magnetic clasp, although you may request a pin clip if you prefer.

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More about our October 13th meeting

Cribbed from the excellent newsletter Margaret Frane writes and sends to our members:

“Edgar is well known in the CRFG throughout California for developing great tasting (and beautiful) dragon fruit (pitahaya) varieties. You can purchase his dragon fruit varieties, such as Tricia and Edgar’s Baby, in many specialty nurseries.  Edgar grows well over 100 other fruit such as at least 20 varieties of cherimoya, lucuma, mulberry, and figs.  You can see a small smaple of them on the CRFG, Inc., “Let’s Find Out” series #12: https://www.crfg.org/piwigo/picture.php?/4733/category/53.

To hear other examples of Edgar speaking, listen and watch him on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZtoyxK-Fqs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR-Zt-c0gu0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqrOkUAxYCE ”