Fleming County’s annual Apple Tree Grafting and Pruning Event, hosted by the Buffalo Trace Cooperative Extension Offices, is scheduled for March 9. Fleming County officials said there is a waitlist for the popular event.
The purpose of the workshop is to educate home or commercial apple growers on the importance of grafting and pruning, so they can take those skills with them to their backyard or farm.
April Wilhoit is the Fleming County Extension Office Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent. She said while the workshop is already full, anyone interested in attending can add themselves to the waiting list.
“I know folks have changes in their schedules and stuff from January into March, so we might have some folks that drop off, and we’ll be able to contact those on our waitlist. Hopefully, that’s the case, but it may not be because it’s always well-attended. We’re always at max for the class, but we will probably hold this again next year,” said Wilhoit.
The workshop will include a variety of lessons, including different apple varieties, disease and insect management, spray schedules, and a hands-on learning experience with apple grafting.
Wilhoit said apples can do well in Kentucky if growers stay on top of maintenance.
“One of the easiest things for us to do, is to make sure that we sanitize, and when I say sanitize, I mean just go out and pick up apples off the ground, pick up dead branches, prune away dead branches, all that kind of stuff will help decrease disease and insects,” said Wilhoit.
The Fleming County Extension Offices host a variety of agricultural events throughout the year, including Agronomy Day, a home-based micro-processing workshop, private pesticide applicator training, and more. More information on the events can be found here.