Tooley’s Trees held a workshop this March on grafting. Grafting is the technique of cloning trees by combining a branch of new growth (scion) from a tree you want to reproduce with compatible rootstock. Growing trees from seed can produce a whole variety of different characteristics than the parents had. Grafting allows you to reliably reproduce trees with the qualities that you want to preserve. They do hundreds of grafted trees at Tooley’s each year combining trees that are proven to be hardy in our climate with the appropriate rootstock. This workshop allowed us to learn how to do the the process from the masters. Each student got to bring home five newly grafted trees to boot!
Collecting scion wood from the orchard.
Rootstock being stored in straw.
Putting the scions and rootstock together to make new trees!
