By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
As residents across the Castle Country prepare for the growing season, Utah State University Extension is preparing agriculture enthusiasts through an Apple Grafting Workshop on March 19 and a Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop on March 28.
Steven Price and Rowe Zwahlen from Extension joined the KOAL newsroom to preview the events and the benefit they seek to bring to the area.
Starting with the Apple Grafting Workshop, Price provided background on the event’s purpose:” Since the 50s, all of your commercially available Apples are actually two separate trees. So you have a rootstock that’s developed to withstand difficult soils. It also helps control the tree’s size. And then you have the scion, which is the top of the tree that’s bred for producing the different cultivars of apple that you’re trying to grow.”
He continued,” So we’re teaching people how to graft their own trees, especially for folks that maybe have a heritage variety; something rare or grandma’s favorite apple tree. Apples are long-lived, but they don’t last forever. So we’re teaching people how to make their own trees.”
The workshop will give attendees all the information they need to succeed, covering almost every aspect of apple grafting, including techniques and tools needed.
In addition to the knowledge, participants will take home two trees of their own making.
Registration for USU Extension’s Apple Grafting Workshop costs $20 and is open on Eventbrite. The workshop will take place on Thursday, March 19, and run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Moving to the Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop, Zwahlen took the mic and stated,” So we will talk you through some of the science, the reasoning why we’re doing fruit tree pruning, and give you some best practices. And then we’ll let you practice. It’s kind of a hands-on event.”
Continued Zwahlen,” We’ll get to try pruning some trees to make sure that you are comfortable doing it before you go home on your own … We’re working with three-dimensional objects, it’s easier to walk around and be able to see it and try it.”
Attendees are welcome to bring their own pruning equipment, but it is not required, as tools will be provided on-site.
The event also features two separate locations: it takes place on Saturday, March 28, in Helper from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., before travelling to Orangeville from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Registration for the event is $10 and is open on Eventbrite for both Orangeville and Helper.
“Fruit trees are one of those things that it’s like a hot tub or a puppy,“ closed Price,“ they take some extra work beyond just sticking them in the ground, and we’re here to help teach you how to do it.”
