Amador County – The University of California Cooperative Extension is hosting a “Fruit Tree Grafting Clinic” from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 5 at the Amador County GSA Building, at 12200-B Airport Road in Martell.

The “hands-on” clinic on grafting techniques is for home gardeners and will be hosted by U.C. Cooperative and Amador County Master Gardners.

The Master Gardeners program announced the clinic this week, saying that “grafting is the art of inserting a piece of one plant into another in a certain way expecting that the parts will grow together and form a permanent union.”

Discussion will include grafting different varieties of fruit trees, including “pit to pit,” for peach, nectarine, apricot, and plum; or “seed to seed,” for apples. The technique allows gardeners “to create a variety of fruits that will mature at different times on the same tree. This also allows the necessary cross pollination of some trees, including cherry.”

Materials and procedures will be presented. Scions are collected when pruning during the dormant period and stored in a damp, cool location until it is time to graft. Related tools such as a “whip, tongue and cleft grafts will be demonstrated and practiced.” Bud grafts will be discussed, and a variety of fruit tree scions will be available.

For information, or to ask questions about the class, or for other gardening questions, call the Master Gardeners at the U.C. Cooperative Extension Office from 10 a.m. to noon, Tuesday or Thursday, at 223-6838; or send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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