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AZRFG 2026 Annual Scion Exchange
and Propagation Demonstrations
hosted at the Valley Garden Center in Phoenix
Date: Saturday, January 10th, 10:00 am start
Location: Valley Garden Center (1809 N 15th Ave, Phoenix AZ 85007)
Parking: Parking is free in the onsite lot and adjacent neighborhood street parking is also available, within easy walking distance.
Cost: FREE to all! Bring cuttings & seeds from all of your favorite fruiting edibles to share. If your neighbors have some great trees and plants that you like, ask them for permission to take some cuttings to share with us, as well! This is how we spread more of our favorite trees across the Valley!
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The annual Arizona Rare Fruit Growers (AZRFG) Scion Exchange is the place to share and find cuttings/budwood from our favorite fruiting plants, vines and trees. Attendees will have the opportunity to collect scions to use at home to graft onto existing trees or to root out a cutting to create a new plant for your yard!
This year's scion exchange kicks-off our new year of AZRFG events earlier than ever -- another warm winter appears to be giving us a shorter dormancy period for so many of our deciduous trees. So, it's time to start working with the budwood and cuttings right now!
Here's how the morning will break out...
10:00 am - 11:00 am:
- Check-in at Entrance: Please sign-in at the Check-in Desk and fill out a stick-on nametag.
- Scion Drop-off: After check-in, you will enter the front room of the building. Please bring your LABELED plant material to the Scion Drop-Off Table by 10:45 am -- this will allow our volunteers time to finalize the scion room organization before opening it up for everyone to gather their new scions.
There will be extra blank labels to fill-out at the drop-off table, in case you have not prepared your own labels beforehand. Cuttings for each unique variety should be placed in it's own bag or container/cup/box, and labeled with FRUIT NAME and VARIETY NAME (or if variety is unknown, a description of the fruit colors/taste/unique characteristics that you would like to share).
If you don't mind, it is also helpful to label each of your bags/buckets of cuttings with YOUR NAME. Your fellow fruit growers may have questions about your trees as they grab a cutting to try to grow their own.
Fruit Sharing at the Tasting Table: If you bring fruit/veggies from your yard to share for the tasting table, please bring that to the kitchen area table. Please have your fruit pre-cut, if you plan to share it in pieces or sections. We may not have a full prep area available. Also, please label your plate/bowl with the citrus/fruit variety and your name. Thank you!
Propagation Demonstration Stations: Air-layering, Rooting, Cleft and Bud grafting techniques will be displayed and discussed at table stations inside and on the back garden patio area.
This is a great time to review the various methods for propagating or grafting with your newly acquired cuttings. We hope that you might also learn a few new tricks, or if this is all a new world to you -- we hope that you will have fun learning about the many options at your fingertips to start growing something new in your personal urban orchard! Instructors will be sharing their tips on various grafting and propagating techniques, and learn about the different preferences each has with grafting seal materials and tools for examples - (Parafilm, rubber tape, rubber bands, Doc Farwell's yellow goop...even baby diapers!) . You can rotate in and out of an area to watch and learn.
NEW! A call-out for Volunteer Demonstrators!!
Would you like to share your favorite propagation trick with your fellow fruit growers? Maybe you have found some new techniques that you've acquired through your own experimentation, or a little-known You Tube video, or just by a happy accident when your regular propagation project went sideways...this is a great place to share what you've learned.
Please reach out to us at [email protected], if you would like to present your technique. Or, if you are a little hesitant about doing a demonstration to a group, but would like to share your experience -- we would love to hear from you to see how we might help. Fruit growers - both newbies and veterans - are always looking for new things to try, and the chance to learn something new that fellow enthusiasts are doing HERE in our subtropical Sonoran Desert environment is what we are all about!
11:00 am - 1:00pm (INSIDE the large meeting room area):
Browse & collect your new scions! Take note below about supplies that we recommend you bring with you in order to keep track of your new cuttings and keep them fresh.
Mingle and chat about your favorites to try and wrestle over the last cuttings on the table! (just kidding)
Demonstrations will continue out on the back courtyard areas
The"Scion Room" will open for collecting your new cuttings by 11:00 am. (Please limit to gathering ONE piece of any particular variety to start with during the first hour (for example: 1 Hosui Pear scion or 1 Quadrangularis Passionfruit cutting). After approx 11:45 pm, we will announce that there will be no quantity restrictions on the remaining scions.
A few reminders as you prepare for the scion exchange:
What you should bring:
- Plastic baggies (1 gallon size bags are most practical for this)
After you return home: You'll wrap a moist paper towel around the base of your scion(s) or peat moss, if you prefer. You'll put the baggie in the refrigerator (not the freezer!) when you get home until you're ready to graft or root your scionwood.
- Your own Sharpie pen or ink pen: to label your scions and baggiesMasking tape: to wrap around scions for labelingNotebook & pen to take notes during any of the propagation demos that you might visit
- Scion/budwood cuttings to share. Not required. (instructional links below for prepping your cuttings)
*** Budwood for grafting (apple, pear, quince, plum, peach, nectarine, apricot, sapote, longan, pluots, aprium, jujube, persimmon, avocado, etc...)
*** Cuttings for rooting (succulents, dragonfruit, grape, fig, pomegranate, berries, guava, passionfruit, kiwi or elderberry...anyone?, mulberry and more... )
*** Seeds for sowing (Roselle hibiscus, moringa or castor seeds, for example, are commonly requested! Papaya or ginberry seeds are also easy to sow.)
- No Cuttings or Seeds to bring? THAT'S A-OK! Please join your fellow fruit growers -- find something new to grow, learn new ways to make new plants!
- Fruit to share/taste: If you've still got some citrus fruit or other to share, we will have a tasting table where you can set any treats you'd like to share. January in Arizona is always a great CITRUS TASTING month!
Scion collection and preparation:
Two of our favorite resources prepared by CRFG members regarding scion collection:
- Mark Barton's process and tips (AZ Chapter member): http://theyearofthefig.blogspot.com/2017/01/scion-wood-collection-guidelines.html
- A video from the CRFG Redwood Chapter:
Cuttings that you gather during this week can be safely stored in your refrigerator during the week (in fact, they can keep for a number of months in this manner). Seal cuttings in plastic ziploc bags, with a barely moistened strip of paper towel wrapped around them inside the bag.
For larger cuttings that might not fit in the refrigerator (like long mulberry cuttings), wrap in a large trash bag, with some wetted paper towel, and place in a cool area, like a garage or closet.
Succulent cuttings should be kept shaded and dry as they harden-off.
The more you can bring to share , the better our scion exchanges are! If you enjoy growing it, you will be surrounded by many others who would also love to try it!
Important EXCEPTIONS to our Scion Exchange:
** NO CITRUS CUTTINGS ** Asian Citrus Psyllid/Huanglongbing is a continuing problem in Florida, California, Arizona and Texas. Thus, no citrus material (this includes curry plants) is allowed at our scion exchanges.
** NO PATENTED VARIETIES ** DO NOT bring scionwood from patented varieties to exchange or to graft. US Plant Patents last 20 years from the date of filing. Lists of varieties still under patent: Google Docs spreadsheet maintained by CRFG Redwood Chapter member (Jason Sutor) and a helpful explanation regarding Plant Patents & Trademarks from the Dave Wilson Nursery website.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Valley Garden Center, 1818 N 15th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85007-1618, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
