Peninsula Fruit Club will hold our annual Spring Grafting Show on March 19, 2022, at the West Side Improvement Club, 4109 West E St, Bremerton, WA from 10 to 4.  We normally have about 350-400 different apple scions, probably 75 pears, and some plums, kiwis, and grapes.  Scion wood is $2.  Admission is free.

Daniel,

The absence of the HOS "scion fair" is much to be missed.  There was always a fascinating diversity of cultivars that can be hard to acquire otherwise, if one were sufficiently aware of the rarity of certain varieties.  I'd occasionally be fascinated to find a rare variety that I didn't know to be in cultivation in the U.S., and of course I'd have to grab one while I could.  I suspect that those may have been from Nick Botner's personal collection.  God bless 'im.  He was not just a collector, but a connoisseur and, perhaps, may be worthy of sainthood for his efforts.  His collection has now been reproduced by the Temperate Orchard Conservancy (TOC).  I believe that scion wood requests can be made from the TOC starting on December 1st.  I'm not sure of the prices, but any money paid would certainly contribute to the collection's maintenance.  It forms an irreplaceable storehouse of varieties, some of which I can find no other source for.

If you "google around", you'll find a few apple sellers who offer scion wood for sale.  The selections tend to be fairly limited though depending on your preferences.

Another source is the National germplasm collection.  This should only be a last resort.  Apparently, too many people who graft their own plants will request scion wood of cultivars which are readily available in the trade.  The folks there don't appreciate that, and it's understandable.  The National germplasm collection should ONLY be used for varieties that have no other source.

I keep thinking that I need to write a letter of inquiry to the curator of the collection in Geneva, NY, to see whether they can import some scions of apple varieties that would do well in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. which do well in Great Britain.  At least for the present, those should do well in the PNW, although the Brits are also seeing the effects of global warming there, just as we are here.

I don't know whether this helps you at all, Daniel.  With the demise of the HOS, we are all apparently looking for "someone" who can fill that role that we so enjoyed in past years.

Reinettes.

I am new to grafting and live in the PNW (Portland Area).

Why do we need the HOS to do a local Scion Exchange?
Is all that is needed is a location?

davem,

You have an intriguing list of varieties.  In the future, I may have to request something from you, given that you have several of the old traditional English and French cider apples grafted onto other trees (--I'm assuming that I'm reading your posting correctly).  If I understand your post, is 'Hey Jack' the only variety that you have so far grafted onto our native Malus fusca?  

I keep looking around my property at all the seedlings and saplings of Malus fusca [thoroughly native here] and wondering whether I should do some grafting with them.  In my observations, they seem to take at least a decade to reach flowering/fruiting maturity.  I keep thinking that I could use a monopodial one onto which I could graft a semi-dwarfing interstem, followed the next year by a Malus x domestica.  There are also other M. fusca saplings that I observe which were apparently "browsed" by either rabbits or deer in the seedling stage, and are now multi-stemmed... and I fantasize about grafting those various stems (--all from one rootstock--) back together and then using that base to use as a foundation for a dwarfing, or semi-dwarfing, interstock, topped with something I'd like.  Yes.  My mind wanders considerably.  

On your list, posted above, I can fairly confidently inform you that the correct name for 'Tydeman's Red' is, in England, 'Tydeman's early Worcester'.  I got it from HOS as a scion, but when it produced fruit it was a "dead-ringer" for T.E.W.  Apparently, it became known as 'Tydeman's Red' in British Columbia where it does well and is widely cultivated.  Needless to say, like many British apples, it does well in Cascadia.  When my 'Tydeman's Red' ripened its first fruits a couple of years ago, I couldn't believe just how yummy it was for -- basically -- a summer apple.  Most summer apples are profoundly inferior.

Well, that the news from this front.

Reinettes.

Yes, you are correct.  Although my paperwork is a year behind my grafting, so there are many Ambrosia seedlings grafted onto it now.  But those won't be big enough to share for a while (assuming they end up being worth sharing).

You have an intriguing list of varieties.  In the future, I may have to request something from you, given that you have several of the old traditional English and French cider apples grafted onto other trees (--I'm assuming that I'm reading your posting correctly).  If I understand your post, is 'Hey Jack' the only variety that you have so far grafted onto our native Malus fusca?  

Good info about TEW.  Tydeman's Red must have been how it was labeled at the HOS event.

On your list, posted above, I can fairly confidently inform you that the correct name for 'Tydeman's Red' is, in England, 'Tydeman's early Worcester'.  I got it from HOS as a scion, but when it produced fruit it was a "dead-ringer" for T.E.W.  Apparently, it became known as 'Tydeman's Red' in British Columbia where it does well and is widely cultivated.  Needless to say, like many British apples, it does well in Cascadia.

jafar said
@davem 

 

FYI, one of the apples from the old HP site is believed to be Roxbury Russet

  

Yes, you mentioned that to me once before.  Until I updated my graft labels I didn't realize that I have grafts from all 3 trees.  I'll have to pay more attention to the fruit this year to see which one is the Roxbury.

hi folks,

i like the possibility of a local scion exchange, DIY style. or at least letting folks here know what we have available to swap. 

here is the list of what we currently have on site -- note that apples, pears, plums, and medlars are mixed in the list (sorry, might fix later). we will be pruning all of these in coming weeks, so could keep a few sticks as requested.

---

I took the grape pruning class at the Home Orchard Education Center on Saturday.  After the class I picked up a handful of scions of the following varieties (with permission):

Allen
Brilliant
Bronx
Buffalo
Golden Muscat
Himrod
NY-48
Vanessa
Verdelet

I plan to graft them onto my vines, but I'll have a few extras of most of them.

jafar said
@davem 

Are your "Opal"n  seedlings?

  

Yes.  Ambrosia <n> are as well.  Probably all will be junk, but it is a fun hobby.

When I first saw and tasted Opal, it reminded me a lot of my Miss Jessamine seedling.  I thought "aha, I have found the apple that is the Miss Jessamine parent!" (since I forgot to write it down).  But upon researching the history of Opal, I found that it was first grown in 1999.  I planted my Miss Jessamine seedling around 1994, so apparently the parent was not Opal.

markshancock said:  

"I am new to grafting and live in the PNW (Portland Area).

Why do we need the HOS to do a local Scion Exchange?
Is all that is needed is a location?"

Mark -- I don't know where you lived before the Portland area, but --yes-- location often does have a lot to do with it.  Throughout the U.S. there are many different climate zones.  Thus there are varieties of apples (and other fruits) which perform GREAT in one area of the country due to its climate, and then there are other parts of the country where the same apples would NOT do well because of such things as higher humidity and hot summers, versus, say, the PNW where growing seasons may be shorter (especially in Cascadia, the west side of the Cascade Mtn Range), and there is a considerably lower number of accumulated heat units through the growing season which can make all the difference between whether an apple variety is able to fully ripen, or not.  In my area for example, it would be a fool's errand to grow 'Granny Smith' or 'Braeburn' (both popular apples of Australian origin) because the length of the growing season and the low number of heat units make it virtually impossible to ripen the fruits adequately before the autumn and winter shut down any reasonable maturation.  This is one of the reasons why, in my area, I am particularly interested in trialling apple cultivars that do well in Great Britain, which also has a similar climate to ours.

So, yes:  Location is often a very critical part of determining which varieties might do well in one's own area.  I hope this clarifies things a bit.  ...And in the Portland OR area you have more heat units than I have here.  ...

Reinettes (Tim).

jafar said
@markshancock 

The Agrarian Sharing Network puts on propagation fairs further South in the Willamette Valley, and they bring lots of material.

You can join their Facebook page and check it out.  Sounds like they'd be happy to help support folks who were serious about putting something on in the Portland area.

  

Thanks.  I see they have a planning meeting for it next week.  Do you know when and where it will likely be?

I found the 2022 Spring Propagation Fairs SCHEDULE posted at https://agrariansharing.net/

I'm disappointed that there is nothing up in the Portland area. Everything is Eugene or further south.

jafar said
That's why I suggested that they'd likely be willing to provide support for a Portland area event, I was sharing that based on an exchange of posts with them, on Facebook.

  

I attended the ASN planning meeting tonight and they sound like a great group.

Mostly they are from around Eugene.  At this point they feel it is too late to add another sharing event.

I might still go down and join one of their events and meet some of the in person but with 2.5h each direction that is at least 5h in the car.

I live in Philomath, near Corvallis on a small farm with my wife. So and event in Corvallis would be welcome. Also the ASN is on facebook where I don't have an account.

According to the published meeting notes(I am not a member) there were just at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis for Pears, and are going to be at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center for grapes on the 17th. I have not been to one of there events, but it looks like they do stuff outside of Eugene. But as Mark motioned they are based around Eugene and most events are in that area.