Not the most photogenic of pics, but you'll get the idea. Sticks planted in good, healthy soil The apple and quince/pear interstock rootstock I've ordered to get the grafting started for Piopio Heritage Fruit Tree Project arrived yesterday at Struan Farm. Bare roots by courier.
I'd ordered these months ago from Thunder Mountain Nursery. Fifteen Northern Spy apple and four quince/pear interstock (some pears are grafted directly onto quince, while others are grafting onto pear grafted onto quince, called "interstock"). Now that the rootstock is safely planted in a nursery at our back gate I need to get out and cut scion wood from the heritage trees around Piopio I've been out to visit. There are still others I have yet to get out to meet, see and document, but that will be next season. The scion wood is kept in the fridge until September, when grafting is done.
It's a project that is "bigger than Ben Hur," so I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm learning about rootstock and how to graft. Pears are meant to be harder, so we'll see how I go. I'd hoped to get to a Tree Crops Association grafting workshop, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Reading and YouTube videos may have to suffice!
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