Scionwood
We sell scionwood in two ways:
- By the stick: One 8" stick can graft 3 or
4 trees.
- By the foot: For orchardists grafting large numbers
of trees of a particular variety, we also offer scionwood by the
foot (minimum order of 10 feet). In our own nursery
work, we are usually able to graft 6–8 trees from one foot of
scionwood.
Storage: You can graft right away or store scionwood for
later use. It will keep quite well for several weeks in the fridge or in
a cold dark basement, root cellar or shed. Storing scionwood close to
freezing temps can be okay, but the very cold temperatures in a freezer
will kill it. Scions will also die if they dry out or are stored without
special protection from ripening veggies or fruits. We recommend triple
plastic bagging your scionwood. There is no need to dampen the scionwood
or to insert wet paper towels before bagging it, as this can lead to
mold.
Scions are twigs. They have no roots and will not grow
if you plant them.
They are cuttings from dormant branch tips, intended for spring
grafting.
Is grafting easy? Yes, once you get the hang of it.
Experienced grafters often have 100% “take” with their
grafting. Beginners often have less. While you can learn to graft from a
book or video, we highly recommend the old-fashioned way: find a real
person to teach you. MOFGA and other organizations have grafting classes
every spring. Find one near you!
- There are two general ways to graft fruit trees in
spring:
- You can bench graft by grafting scionwood onto
rootstock (see next page). Generally we do this indoors in late
March or early April. We keep the little grafted trees packed
into a
bucket of damp sawdust in a warm spot in the house
(77–86°) for a couple weeks to promote callus
development. Then we harden them off in a colder (but not
freezing)
place for a week or two before planting out in nursery beds
anytime
from late April to mid-May. If trees have begun to leaf out
before
planting time, we slowly introduce them to direct sunlight
before
setting them out. In a couple of years when the trees are
3–6'
tall, we plant them in the orchard.
- You can also topwork scionwood onto established
green growth and the bark slips easily from the wood when cut,
but
before petal fall. The window for topworking is roughly the
whole
month of May in central Maine, but often can be successful for a
week or so on either end.
Fedco’s Organic Growers Supply offers everything
you’ll need
for grafting and pruning—knives, pruners, saws, wax, tape and more.
Scionwood season at Fedco is a truly hopeful time. Each
tiny dormant bud
on every stick we ship out has the potential to become a new grafted
fruit-bearing tree. Last winter we collected more than 22,000 feet of
scionwood from nearly 200 varieties of apples, pears and plums! We ship
about half of those scions to customers across the country: first-time
grafters, orchardists, apple collectors and cidermakers alike. The rest
is distributed to our local growers to propagate most of the fruit trees
found in this catalog.
During the frigid days of January and February, scionwood collection is
in full swing. We bundle, label and seal the wood in bags to store in
our cold warehouse. In March we measure, snip and label the scions for
shipping. As our founder John Bunker says, we are passing the baton.
There is no single Fedco Orchard. Over many years John and others from
Fedco have built friendly relationships and collaborated with orchards
around Maine. In exchange for permission to collect scionwood, we have
offered grafting in the spring, pruning in the winter, or traded some
trees from the Fedco inventory. A win-win for all.
We have also sourced some of our rare and difficult-to-find varieties
from out-of-state orchards. For instance, Poverty Lane Orchards in NH,
home of Farnum Hill Ciders, was one of the first in the Northeast to
grow many of the now popular European cider apple varieties. For years
they shared generously with us while we built up our own scion banks. We
continue to collect rare and important varieties and graft them into our
own orchards to ensure access in the future and to localize and
streamline our winter scion collection.
