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Dr. Michael Dirr speaking. (Photo by |
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| Example of a splice graft |
Last Monday, July 1, I had the unique opportunity to participate in Dr. Michael Dirr’s propagation workshop at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. This would have been an interesting experience for anyone, but to me it was more than that. For a couple of years now my future goals have been focused in the area of plant breeding. This plant propagation class was a wonderful opportunity to learn the basics. The workshop only fueled my desire to complete school and become more involved with plant propagation.
To start, we went over what a seed is. Understanding the basics of a plant and a seed is extremely helpful in getting further into the research. Since I am only going to be a sophomore at NC State, I have not taken any plant breeding classes yet; much of what I learned at this workshop was completely new to me. We learned about leaf cuttings. stem cuttings, and hardwood cuttings. Then we discussed the many different methods of grafting, and that was one of my favorite parts of the workshop.
Back in North Carolina, we have an event in Guilford County called the Tomato Tasting Festival, hosted by A&T University Farm. I have been helping out with this event through the North Carolina Cooperative Extension for four years and love it immensely. Seeing the test plots filled with 40 plus varieties of tomatoes is incredible. I was talking to one of the horticulturalists working on the tomatoes when she mentioned grafting. I had never heard the term and didn’t really understand the application. Ever since that moment I’ve been curious as to what it was. All the research in the world can tell you what it is, but until you actually have hands on experience you will never really know. In Dr. Dirr’s workshop, we discussed several different types of grafting. I then tried a splice graft on my own. It was a lot harder to splice and tie then I had expected, but it was priceless practice. I really learned more at this propagation workshop than I thought I would, and I loved every second of it. Everything I learned last Monday will be extremely helpful to me in both my classes and my research in the future.
– Kristin Neill, Horticulture Intern
