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Central Coast Chapter Meetings & Other Events

Our Newsletter Keeps Everyone Up To Date. Send Us Your Photos & Events!  Let others know what's going on by sending your articles, photos, and event info to: crfgccnewsletter@gmail.com.  Please submit your items by the 15th of each month for inclusion in the next newsletter.

 NOTE: May's meeting will be held on the 3rd Saturday, rather than the 2nd Saturday. 

 May Meeting: Black Diamond Vermicompost, Saturday, May 18, 2024

This meeting is open to the Public

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Black Diamond Vermicompost

5325 Broken Spur Pl, Paso Robles, CA 93446

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Restrooms are available.

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Bring: snacks to share and your folding chair.  Wear shoes suitable for walking on dirt.
 

From their website:

"Black Diamond VermiCompost supplies one of the most important components for successful crops, whether it’s a container garden on your deck, a back yard garden or a highly productive farm. We are producers of some of the finest vermicompost in the country.

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"What is vermicompost? Simply put, it’s a soil amendment made by worms. Vermi is Latin for Worm. Add “compost” to it and you get worm compost! This stable, mature and biologically active product is the result of the proprietary processes we use to prepare the worms’ food, as well as the state-of-the-art environment the worms live in. They live in a worm palace!

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"The vermicompost is a soil product full of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, humates, and beneficial nematodes. All this invisible microbiology is essential for living soil and play important roles in plant growth, food and flower production and even our beneficial insect friends, like bees and butterflies.

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Schedule

 

Please check this schedule the day of the meeting: the times below are subject to change.

 

12:00 pm: Setup

 

1:00 pm: Refreshments and socializing

 

1:30 pm: Meeting begins

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2:00 pm: Tour and presentation

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3:00 pm: Clean up

Location & Directions

5325 Broken Spur Pl, Paso Robles, CA 93446

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1. Take Hwy 101 to Paso Robles, and take exit 229, the Spring St. off ramp.

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2. Turn east onto Niblick Rd, which eventually becomes Sherwood Rd:

 

3.  Sherwood Rd bends right, becoming Fontana Rd, then bends left becoming Linne Rd:

 

4. Stay on Linne Rd until you get to Penman Springs Rd:

 

5. Turn left onto Penman Springs Rd

6. Turn right onto Harvest Ridge Way

7. Turn left onto Broken Spur Pl

8. Turn right to stay on Broken Spur Pl.  (You will see a CRFG sign here, unless you are very, very early!)

 We Have Pheromone Loops For Sale!!!

Pheromone loops are available and are plentiful!  Codling moths are key pests of apples and pears.  Pheromone loops deceive the male moth, thereby helping to disrupt the mating cycle.  Place 2 to 3 loops in the top third of your apple and pear trees.  Petals should be about 90% off and small fruit is setting before you loop your trees!

 

Please contact Terri Monell at 805-546-8981 (landline) or  805-440-5818 (cell) if you are interested.  Terri is available to sell loops ONLY until April 24th and then again from May 1st on. 

 We Have Rootstock For Sale!!!

You Can Still Buy Rootstock, And It's Already Been Potted For You!

 

Price: $5/potted rootstock. 

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Send your purchase request to Manny: mannym25@gmail.com

Please include your full name, phone number, and type and quantity of rootstock.

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Apple: M.7 EMLA

Semi-dwarf rootstock, Produces trees about 50-60% of standard. Good resistance to collar rot and fireblight and adapts well to a wide range of soil types and climates. Has a tendency to sucker.

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Sweet Cherry: Prunus avium, “Mazzard”

The most-common standard-size sweet-cherry rootstock. Produces a very vigorous tree with good anchorage. Some tolerance to root fungus. Will grow on a wide range of soils.

 

Plum/Apricot: 

Prunus Marianna 2624

Compatible with plums, apricots, some almonds. Not compatible with peaches and nectarines. Produces a semi-dwarf tree well adapted to many different soil types. Can be shallow rooted the first couple years and susceptible to leaning until established so staking may be necessary. Somewhat prone to suckering. Tolerates wet soils. Resistant to root knot nematodes, lightly resistant to phytophthora, but prone to bacterial canker.

 

Prunus mariana GF 8-1

Produces a standard sized tree (10 – 15 ft). Is very robust and adapts to all types of soil. Mariana produces good crops of plums, but doesn’t anchor well when it is young and tends to produce root suckers. It resists root knot nematodes, root asphyxia, oak root fungus, crown gall, and prune brown line, but is susceptible to bacterial cankers.

  Future 2024 Meetings

Please note that these future meetings are subject to change.  Recheck this page closer to the date of each event.

More information about these events, including address details and times, will be provided here closer to each event.

June 8th, Saturday

Open to the public.

Seth Waite (Chapter member) Farm

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July 13th, Saturday

Open to the public.

CRFG Demonstration Orchard Party

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August 10th, Saturday

Open to the public.

Tour of Sha Palmer's property

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September 14th, Saturday

TBD

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October 12th Saturday

TBD

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November 9th, Saturday

Open to the public.

Nipomo Active Garden
www.nipomoactivegarden.org

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December 14th, Saturday

Members only.  This meeting alone is a good reason to join CRFG!

Annual Holiday Party, potluck, and plant exchange.

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WinterOrchard.jpg

CRFG Demonstration Orchard Workdays

Be sure to check here the morning of each workday for rescheduling or cancellations.


Sat July 6th, 2024  9am - 12pm


Sat Oct 26th, 2024  9am - 12pm

Meetings

Our meetings are usually held on the second Saturday of the month, with the exception of the February meeting which is held on the third Saturday.  (The February meeting is the annual scion exchange and grafting instruction.)  In general our group gathers initially for refreshments and socializing, followed by the meeting.  This is not always the case though, so check this web page or our newsletter for details on each meeting.

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Most of our meetings are open to the public.  We encourage the public to join us and learn with us!

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Please read our "meeting manners" below prior to attending.  No pets at any meeting, please.

  Our Best CRFG Manners While Visiting Homes, Nurseries, Growers, etc.

  1. We never bring pets to meetings/tours and we never even ask if we may!

  2. We do our best to use public facilities or our own restroom before the meeting.

  3. We do our best not to ask to go inside the hosts’ home.

  4. We never pick fruit, flowers, foliage, weeds, seed pods and we never even ask.

  5. We do our best to car pool and park with great respect to our host and the neighborhood.

  6. We never talk when our host is talking. We do our best to stay up close when given a tour.

  7. We never “take over” the tour and tell everyone how we do it at our home!!

  8. We have thoughtful questions but try not to ask questions that embarrass our host.

  9. We do our best to help our host feel good, feel appreciated. We clean up our mess.

  10. We stay on the path, with our host …and never go walking around on our own unless given permission by the host.

  11. At the end of the tour, we make a special effort to thank the host. We “gather up” and have some sort of “closure” to the tour.

  12. We even write thank you notes when we get home, especially if we asked a lot of questions, were impressed, were surprised, were treated well. We write thank you notes even when we are not the leader.

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