Grafting workshop at Penn State
Our first grafting workshop, held last month and led by Orchard Manager Noah Vincent, was a huge success! We couldn’t believe how much interest there was in this event- Noah had to start a waitlist for reservations! If you were hoping to attend and couldn’t, have no fear! This is definitely one that will be repeated, considering the great response and turnout. In fact, after seeing the high level of interest, it was decided that Noah will be speaking about grafting at our upcoming Spring Growers Meeting! (Get your ticket(s) here!)
Grafting is a remarkable way to preserve the genetics of a specific tree. A twig (scion wood) from a tree with desirable traits is collected, and then connected to the rootstock of another tree, or sometimes even to the radical of a seed. Both methods were demonstrated at this workshop. It is a delicate process. If all goes well, the scion wood becomes one with the seed radical or rootstock and begins to grow a new tree. All scion wood from the same tree is genetically identical, and any new trees made from that wood will be genetically identical to the parent tree. You can see how this process aids our mission to encourage more strong trees shown to have resistance to blight. It removes a lot of guesswork and chance and is relied upon heavily by most growers of fruit and nut trees. For us, it is an important tool in the Recurrent Genomic Selection program.
This workshop was another example of how wonderful our chestnut community is. If you know chestnut folks, you probably know how they love to talk trees! Get in a room full of growers and you can feel the energy radiating around the buzz of animated conversation. With one common goal of restoration in mind, this is a group who gets excited by science and progress and is always generous with their time and knowledge. Simply put, they are the sort who understand when a success for one is a success for all. So at an event like this, there are actually many helpful teachers, not only the designated presenters. In turn, there are many humble learners. Most turn out to be both!
Special thanks to our regional science coordinator, Lake Graboski, for assisting in planning and logistics, and to our other two presenters, Ethan Olsen and Jared Quesenberry. Noah, Ethan, and Jared each shared a different method of grafting with the group. Many of the attendees brought scion wood to share, and all were able to complete a graft using the techniques learned. The last photo of the bunch is a growing tree grafted at the workshop. Our board vice president, David Deaville, made this graft, to which he shares “This graft is an interesting experiment with an American root and a Chinese stem. The idea is to see if the root drives the stem to assume a timber-type shape. One day it might be a 100-foot, blight-resistant giant towering over my backyard. (Isn't that what we all think every time we plant a Chestnut seed?) All credit goes to Steve Delp for supplying the Chinese scion and Noah's super easy grafting technique.”
(Click on any photo to see the full image.)
