There will be no speakers at the scion exchange. It is usually super crowded, it's one day, and people are focussed on scions, root stock, etc. There are usually no speakers at the scion exchange. The speakers are usually at the All About Fruit Show.
John S
PDX OR

That was the old flyer.The new flyer says no speakers. At the board of directors meeting the president said no speakers this time.
John S
PDX OR

[quote="jafarj":11ixp8aa]I guess I'll just have to bug the grafters after I've trolled the scion tables.[/quote:11ixp8aa]
Bug us too much and we’ll put you to work It’s happened before… one year we were down to only two tired grafters, I had to scour the scion arena to come up with a replacement, I believe he’s now a regular!

Hey, where are the girl grafters? I’ve got a wrapper or two, but am not ready to watch either lose a thumb… Is this just a ‘guy thing?’

As far as speakers, we’ve had them in the past, I could occasionally tell when someone was on as the grafting lines would thin. Many were painful to miss… though I’d get a pretty good update from my grafting ‘clients.’ Everyone freshly inspired!

Seems there’s plenty to do without scheduled speakers … all you need to know is who to ask …and likely end up ‘speaking’ with someone having written the book on something!

One Green World will have a booth and they will be selling plants.
John S
PDX OR

[quote="Marsha":1wfyn8qq]One potential "girl grafter" is taking her nail-polished utility knife to one of the beginning grafting classes tomorrow morning. … My 50% success rate on my own (after food poisoning and paying no attention to scions or rootstock for several days) suggests I could use some guidance and practice.

mh[/quote:1wfyn8qq]
...for a ‘girl grafter,’ your razor blade was longer than mine! We were both at the grafting classes yesterday at CCC, I helped with the first two then presented the last on top-working. Food poising..? After fighting a cold last week (and pruning trees till dark), the event drained me … but what an(other) enthusiastic group!

It appeared everyone went away with a ‘self-grafted’ apple tree, or the ‘fixens’ for one. And though I’d discreetly offer, no one took me up on putting their tree together – and, I didn’t see any blood … always a possibility. And it’s always fun to see HOS members attending just to refresh themselves on the basics, or ‘advanced’ stuff.

It may get a bit confusing though… with one person using a wood chisel, several others using a razorblade & handle while most (still) using ‘grafting knives’ ... with a sprinkling of kitchen and pocket knives… The main problem I witnessed were those making too deep a ‘tongue’ cut on the whip & tongue graft. It was suggested ‘an inch deep’ in the presentation, though I find no need to cut deeper than half an inch.

Folks began concentrating more on their tongue cut than the main sloping, or ‘inch and a half’ face cuts on both scion and rootstock. The ‘tongue’ is only needed to stabilize, or keep the scion from ‘drifting’ across the face of the main cut after aligning one edge and wrapping. Many were forcing deep tongue-cuts together to the point they’d overlap on the ends, leaving them high & dry…

Otherwise, the basics were definitely covered and all questions answered! Wrapped tight enough, only two cells need meet from scion and rootstock for a successful connection; maybe not initially pretty, but in time, a tree