Desiree DeCoste
Beaver Staff
In late March, Stephen Kapusta will be back at Topsy Farms for a fruit tree grafting workshop.
On March 25 from 10 am – 12 pm, for the cost of $65, guests will have the opportunity to learn how to graft an apple tree and bring one tree home. Limit of 20 participants. An afternoon workshop will be added if there is more interest in the workshop.
“Since many fruit trees don’t grow true from seed, in order to grow new trees that are of the same variety you have to graft them,” Kapusta stated. “Think of apples, you think of all the different varieties you can get at a grocery store or an orchard, those have to be copied or cloned and in order to do that you take a clipping from one of those trees and then fix it to root stock and the root stock is specially breed and designed to be cold hearty and things of that nature. And also allows the tree to be different size. So there are different dwarfing functions of rootstock. The purpose of fruit tree grafting is to essentially clone what kind of tree of fruit variety you want.”
As said on the Topsy Farms website, participants will learn how to make a whip and tongue graft of their chosen rootstock and scion (the type of apple). Kapusta will discuss and demonstrate techniques, distribute the root stock and scion you ordered, then provide step by step guidance and supervision. This technique can be applied to trees as well as this rootstock. Those who wish to bring a scion from their beloved tree should be sure to choose a side branchlet that has grown within the past few years.
“I am going to be walking people through, step-by-step on the whole process of fruit tree grafting,” said Kapusta. “Using a very, very simple method that’s easy to do I am going to be showing them the rootstock and the cutting that their going to be choosing, that they can choose as part of the workshop, I am going to show them the right way to cut everything and splice it together and I will be checking their work to make sure that their actually doing it correctly, and taping it all together with the special grafting tape. I will be speaking to them about the after care part as well to make sure the tree has the greatest success of survival.”
Each participant must bring their own protective work gloves; a sharp utility knife; a bag to keep their tree roots moist or a one or two gallon pot and soil to plant their tree. The workshop will be in our unheated barn so dress appropriately. Guests are welcome to bring a lunch; there is no food available on the island at this time of year.
“The workshop takes at least two hours, because I always make sure that everybody is doing every single step correctly,” Kapusta expressed to The Beaver. “It’s not like I’m standing at the front just showing everybody how to do it and what have you, I actually go to each person to make sure they’re doing it right, and they’re actually learning it.”
Kapusta spent years working in horticulture, amassing significant practical knowledge of growing fruit trees, and creating hummingbird gardens. In the hours outside of his work at the MTO, he can be found volunteering his time with Hummingbirds Canada as their plant expert, or spending time in the garden.
“A lot of this type of skill is helpful for people who are interested in food security,” said Kapusta. “When you have a single type of apple tree it’s great, but it’s helpful to also be able to have an apple tree or a fruit tree that has multiple different varieties on it. And so if you have, lets say a small urban yard you can then add on, you are going to learn these skills to then add on different varieties in the future if you wanted to, whether you have a friend whose got an apple tree you like in their yard, you can take that piece and stick it onto your existing tree. So it gives people a different variety, and so its a helpful skill, its not a skill everybody has, but it’s definitely not as challenging as what people think it is as long as people are following the steps.”
The medium apple tree will grow to 16-20′, and the short one to ~10′. Both are cold hardy, and neither requires staking.
The Apple scions available are:
- Northern Spy
- Wealthy
- Wolf River
- Cortland Nova Red
- Gravenstein Green
- Ambrosia
- Royal Gala
- Golden Russet
“I learned these skills as a child working in South Western Ontario,” Kapusta said. “I learned from a lot of old retired guys who had nothing better to do then to teach young people how to do these things, so I’m not nearly as old as they are but I definitely like to teach people these skills because they are super handy.”
Information on each of the varieties can be found at www.orangepippin.com
To purchase additional trees and scions visit https://www.topsyfarms.com/products/additional-trees-for-grafting-workshop
Please note; there may only be enough time for one supervised graft during the workshop.