Hyperorganisms
For the past dozen or so years, I have been performing various 'botanical re-mixing' experiments, investigating the capacity of native and naturalized plants to serve as 'scaffolding' for related species that offer higher food yields.
I am particularly interested in creating what I call hyperorganisms which are assemblages of two or more species that form a living system with characteristics of all the component parts. For example, I have grafted Bartlett Pear to wild hawthorn, which creates a hyperorganism with its own, built-in barbed wire fence which protects the delicious fruit from roving deer.
In fact, Malus fusca makes a compatible rootstock for many domesticated apples though it shows some variability from individual to individual in its willingness to play host to exotic twigs. The trees show resistance to many common apple diseases and their small size makes harvesting easy. I find the tendency to send up suckers useful, as it provides me a continuous supply of new places to graft. I have also 'top worked' several older trees, using a technique called 'crown grafting' (which is a little brutal), but more typically by wedge grafting twigs onto the ends of existing branches. These 'repurposed' trees now provide bushels of fruit on a site once unsuitable for a conventional orchard because of its seasonally waterlogged soil.
Yet wilder and more contrasting hyperorganisms are possible! In addition to my previous example of the Bartlett Pear grafted to the hawthorn Crataegus monogyna, I've succeeded in grafting pears to Mountain ash Sorbus aucuparia. Medlars (Mespilus) also seem compatible with both the Sorbus and the Crataegus and I have one Medlar that bears heavily on a hawthorn rootstock, (see slideshow at the bottom of this page.)
Grafting can also be used to repair damaged trees. Here are a couple of images showing the 'before' and 'after' instance of an apple tree that had been split, which I then repaired using a 'bridge graft' made up of the watersprouts coming up from around the trees base. I grafted these around the split to convey sap to the crown of the tree and in a few years these watersprouts thickened and encircled the wound, effectively giving the tree a new lease on life....
Slide Show:
projects:
events:
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Friday, October 25, 2019 - 18:00 - Sunday, October 27, 2019 - 20:00
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Thursday, August 1, 2019 - 09:00 - Tuesday, October 1, 2019 - 21:00
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Friday, April 26, 2019 - 18:30 - 21:30
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Friday, March 29, 2019 - 20:00 - Sunday, March 31, 2019 - 18:00
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Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 09:00 - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - 19:00
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Friday, June 22, 2018 - 09:00 - Sunday, September 30, 2018 - 17:00
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Saturday, June 9, 2018 - 09:00 - 16:00
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Saturday, May 19, 2018 - 12:00 - Sunday, November 11, 2018 - 19:00
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Sunday, April 22, 2018 - 10:00 - 20:00
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Friday, April 13, 2018 - 19:00 - Sunday, April 15, 2018 - 14:00
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Friday, January 26, 2018 - 06:30 - 08:00
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Saturday, July 1, 2017 (All day) - Sunday, August 27, 2017 (All day)
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Friday, May 26, 2017 - 09:00 - Saturday, May 27, 2017 - 12:00
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Sunday, May 14, 2017 - 10:00 - 14:00
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Sunday, April 30, 2017 - 17:00 - 19:30
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Sunday, April 9, 2017 - 15:00 - 17:00
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Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 11:00 - 13:00
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Tuesday, April 12, 2016 - 14:00 - 15:30
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Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - 09:00 - Monday, June 6, 2016 - 18:00
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Thursday, February 25, 2016 - 11:15 - 11:30
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Tuesday, February 16, 2016 - 11:15 - 21:45
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Wednesday, December 2, 2015 - 19:00 - Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 19:00
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Saturday, November 21, 2015 - 16:00 - 18:00
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Friday, September 18, 2015 (All day) - Sunday, December 6, 2015 (All day)
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Saturday, May 16, 2015 - 13:00 - 16:00
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Friday, April 17, 2015 - 16:00 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - 19:00
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015 (All day) - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 (All day)
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Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - 17:00 - 21:00
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Monday, September 22, 2014 - 09:00 - Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 23:00
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Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 09:00 - Sunday, August 3, 2014 - 22:00
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Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 10:00 - Friday, July 25, 2014 - 16:00
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Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 18:00 - 19:00
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Saturday, March 15, 2014 - 09:00 - Friday, March 28, 2014 - 09:00
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Thursday, March 6, 2014 - 16:00 - 18:00
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014 - 11:00 - 12:15
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Friday, October 25, 2013 - 08:30 - Saturday, October 26, 2013 - 16:00
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Saturday, September 28, 2013 - 17:30 - 20:30
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Monday, September 16, 2013 (All day) - Tuesday, September 24, 2013 (All day)
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Sunday, May 26, 2013 - 15:00 - 18:00
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Saturday, May 25, 2013 - 11:00
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Thursday, May 9, 2013 - 15:00
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Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 19:00 - 21:00
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Thursday, February 7, 2013 - 14:00 - 16:00
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012 - 19:30
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Sunday, September 30, 2012 - 18:30 - 21:00
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 17:00 - 21:00
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Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 13:00 - 16:00
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Friday, June 1, 2012 - 11:00 - 13:00
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Friday, February 17, 2012 - 18:00
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Thursday, January 26, 2012 - 12:00 - 14:00
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Friday, November 18, 2011 - 18:30 - Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 21:00
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Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 10:00
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Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 10:00 - 14:00
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Saturday, June 25, 2011 - 10:00
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Thursday, June 23, 2011 - 19:00
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - 19:00
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Thursday, May 5, 2011 - 19:00
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Thursday, October 28, 2010 - 19:00 - 22:00
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Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - 18:00 - 21:00
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Friday, April 16, 2010 - 20:00
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00