HOPE – Learn a fun new-to-you skill at our Apple Tree Grafting Workshop on Wednesday, April 15th from 9 a.m. -11:30 a.m. at the University of Arkansas Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope and enjoy the fruits of your labor! Limited spots are available so register now: https://uada.formstack.com/forms/grafting_workshop. The cost to attend is $30 and participants will take home a grafted apple tree. Pike, Columbia, Little River, and Hempstead County Extension offices are collaborating to offer this unique opportunity in our area. The class will be taught by an expert Extension agent from Searcy County, Mr. Clyde Fenton. For assistance with registering, call the Little River Extension office at 870-898-7224.
Why is grafting useful? Grafting is a fun way to get more enjoyment from your home orchard. You can use grafting to create trees with several varieties or to introduce new varieties into your home orchard. Grafting can also be used to change varieties of trees in your existing orchard. Grafting as a means of propagating fruit trees dates back several thousand years or more. Grafting is used for two principal reasons: most fruit trees don’t come true to seed, meaning a tree planted from seed will not produce the same fruit, and cuttings don’t root easily. The technique of grafting is used to join a piece of vegetative wood (the scion) from a tree we wish to propagate to a rootstock to create a tree with desirable characteristics.