Category Archives: Meeting Notes

Due to popular demand, it’s our Annual Fruit Tree Grafting Workshop!! This is a very fun, informative and hands-on event so come prepared to learn all about grafting fruit trees at this meeting!

• Thursday March 16th
• 6:30pm to 9pm
• At the Bainbridge Bainbridge Grange Hall-10340 Madison Avenue, NE.

• Learn how to graft your own fruit trees or add onto existing ones.
• Learn how to root your own grapes, kiwis, figs, and currants from cuttings.
• Buy a fruit tree at your local garden store and graft additional varieties to it.
• Buy rootstock and cuttings/scion wood from a wide assortment of heirloom and other fruit varieties that are disease resistant and do well in the Pacific Northwest.

This event is open to members and to the general public.  There is a slight charge for the cuttings and rootstocks that will go to future Fruit Club activities
Members:  Cuttings (50 Cents) and Rootstocks ($4 dollars).- Non-Members:  Cuttings ($1 dollar) and Rootstocks ($5 dollars).

Hope to see you there!

The January Fruit Club Meeting and Potluck was a great success! We want to try doing a potluck again it was fun sharing each others dishes and chatting more socially. The February meeting will be held the 3rd Thursday of the month (like all the club meetings). The Club has several new members and a new Vice President for the club! Welcome and Thank You Angela Tinker!!

Everyone is invited to the 2016 Fall Fruit Show presented by Peninsula Fruit Club, a chapter of Western Cascade Fruit Society. Come join us for a fun day of fruit tasting and learning about growing fruit. Get your mystery apples identified—bring 4-6 samples of each kind, don’t wash, leave the stems on, tell us about the tree. Sample dozens of different varieties of apples, pears, and other fruit. Take in a video or browse our information tables. Learn about pests, diseases, and mason bees. Find something interesting at our plant sale, and stock up on supplies for next year. Ask questions of our experts. Admission is free but donations are appreciated.

Details: Sat., Oct. 22 from 10 am to 4 pm at the West Side Improvement Club, 4109 West E Street, Bremerton 98312. Take the Loxie Eagans Blvd. exit off Hwy 3 and follow the signs.

Here’s a link to our flyer: http://wcfs.org/wp-content/uploads/Fall-Show-Poster2016-Rev6.pdf

and to our event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1783318178606452/

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Here is a link to a hand out from a webinar on the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) in the Pacific Northwest.

This month we will be at a club member’s house to press apples and sample apple varieties. If you are interested please go to our facebook page/events and inquire there.

It’s a Triple Play Farm and Garden Tour for this month’s Bainbridge Island Fruit Club meeting!

Join BIFC on Thursday, July 21 and have guided tours of The Bainbridge Island Blueberry Farm, Ron Peltier and Polly Longworth’s amazing orchard next door and the confusingly diverse plantings from our own Jim Ewing at the Mad Valley Micro-farm also next door!

Let’s gather around 6:00 pm at the Blue Berry Farm for a great evening out. Tours will start around 6:30. Bring the family and bring a picnic. Mostly, bring your questions for Stacy Lewars at the blueberry farm, she is providing the use of her picnic and socializing facilities and there will be a number of people available to answer your questions. Plus (depending on availability) the blueberry farm will be open late for a U-Pick opportunity. Get your hands on some of the best blueberries anywhere and have a blast!

• Location and parking: 11054 N Madison Ave NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 (near Valley Road)
• Time: 6/6:30pm – 8:30pm

Hope to see you there!!
Tami

Here is a fantastic link to an handout on the Spotted Winged Drosophila (SWD)

This handout is also on the Resources page under Fruit Pests.
All Seasons Approach to Monitoring and Managing SWD Webinar Handout

This month’s club meeting is our annual fruit tree grafting event lead by Darren Murphy.

We will start this meeting a half hour early because there is so much to fit in but come when you can!

• Date – Thursday, March 17, 6:30-9 p.m.
• Location – The Bainbridge Grange Hall – 10340 Madison Avenue NE., Bainbridge Island.

This is our annual grafting event…in addition to hands on instruction, the club will have available a large selection of heirloom and more modern apple, pear, plum, and cherry scion wood cuttings and small rootstocks (up to 2 feet long) for grafting. Members and non-members/guests can also bring bare rooted or potted fruit trees (e.g., Costco specials for example) for grafting their own multi-variety trees! There is a small fee for club provided rootstock ($3 to $5 dollars) depending on variety/size, with scion wood free for club members and $1 dollar per cutting for non-members. Each scion wood cutting is generally suitable for up to 3 individual grafts.

We will also be holding a plant sale (based on member donations) to help raise funds for the club. Members are encouraged to bring their extra seeds, vegetable starts, flowers, berry plants, and fruit trees for sale to other club members or non-members/guests. Mason bee tubes will also be available for those aiming to improve their pollination this spring.

Bainbridge Island Fruit Club hopes to see you at this meeting!

Handouts –
What Trees Can Be Grafted 1-15
Proper Storage of Scion Wood 1-15
General Grafting Information 1-15
Darren Murphy’s Bio –
Darren has been a member of the Western Cascade Fruit Society and Peninsula Fruit Club for nearly 15 years. He was also a longtime member of the BI 4-H club and Farmers Market. Two years ago, he helped spearhead the establishment of the Bainbridge Island Fruit Club…with the goal of bringing fruit growing tips to the greater BI and Northern Kitsap area. Darren has fruit growing in his blood. His Great Great Grandfather William Shincke discovered a chance mutation in his orchard in the 1890s…that later became known as the “Olympia Apple.”