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.
October Meeting: Saturday, October 12th, 2024
Oak Creek Commons Orchard & Organic Garden
Event
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Oak Creek Commons' Heirloom Tree Orchard
635 Nicklaus St, Paso Robles, CA
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The public is welcome! Bring a friend.
Restrooms will be available.
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Information from our hosts Jean Edwards, and Risa and Arlen Bass:
"Orchard history and Oak Creek Commons. The community has 31 condos, 5 houses, 10 acres of woods, a community garden and orchard and a Common House where we will meet before we tour the orchard.
"Our trees, 11 of 22 are Heirloom, tracing their origin to at least 60 years and to a place on our planet. Our organic orchard began in 2008 on a small piece of our 14-acre community. We purchased all of our trees from Trees of Antiquity here in Paso Robles. We have 5 different Apples, French Prune, Nectarine, White Peach, Pluot, Santa Rosa Plum, Fig, Apricot, Yellow Peach, Cherry, a Mulberry, and a row of thornless Blackberries."
Bring: Food to share (optional). Also, a hat, and shoes for walking on dirt. Chairs and tables will be provided in the Common Room.
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Schedule
12:00 pm: Setup for those setting up signs, tables, etc.
​1:00 - 1:30 pm: Attendees arrive, snack, and socialize.
​1:30 pm: Meeting
2:00pm: Tour of facility *
*Please note that the tour time is approximate. If the business meeting at 1:30 finishes early, the tour will commence immediately thereafter.
3:00 pm: Clean up
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Location & Directions
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Location: 635 Nicklaus St, Paso Robles, CA
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We will have signs out to help guide you.
We are encouraging people to park on Nicklaus St. and enter the gate between the garden and playground. We will have signs to the Common House where we will meet for the meeting.
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Directions:
From the South:
1. Take Hwy 101 to Paso Robles.
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2. Take exit 229 to Spring St.
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3. Take the right two lanes to turn right onto Niblick Rd.
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4. Turn right Nicklaus St. and drive 0.3 miles until you see the CRFG parking sign.
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5. Park along Nicklaus St. and walk to the event.
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From the North:
1. Take Hwy 101 to Paso Robles.
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2. Take exit 231A to 17th St.
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3. Turn left onto Riverside Ave.
4. Turn left onto 13th St.
5. Turn right onto S. River Rd.
6. Turn left onto Niblick Rd.
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7. Turn right Nicklaus St. and drive 0.3 miles until you see the CRFG parking sign.
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8. Park along Nicklaus St. and walk to the event.
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Future Chapter Meetings & Other Events
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.
Orchard Work Day: October 26th, 2024 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
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November Meeting: November 9th, 2024 - Saturday
Open to the public.
Nipomo Native Garden
999 Osage St., Nipomo, CA
www.nipomonativegarden.org
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December Meeting: December 14th, 2024 - Saturday
Members only. This meeting alone is a good reason to join CRFG!
Annual Holiday Party, potluck, and plant exchange.
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Orchard Work Day: January 4th, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard for our Annual Pruning Meeting!
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January Meeting: Annual Pruning Meeting, January 11th, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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February Meeting: Annual Scion Exchange & Grafting Demos, February 22, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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Orchard Work Day: March 1st, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard!
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March Meeting: Annual Propagation Meeting, March 8, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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Orchard Work Day: July 5th, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard for our Annual Fruit Tasting Meeting!
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Orchard Work Day: October 25th, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard!
CRFG Demonstration Orchard Workdays
Be sure to check here the morning of each workday for rescheduling or cancellations.
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Orchard cleanups usually involve removing weeds, spreading wood chips, pruning trees, raking leaves, mending fences, cleaning the kiosk, reorganizing tools in the tool shed. It's also a good opportunity to chat with your fellow CRFGers, learning and sharing helpful hints for growing your fruiting plants.
Sat Oct 26th, 2024 9am - 12pm (end-of-year cleanup)
Sat Jan 4th, 2025 9am - 12pm (cleanup for Annual Pruning Mtg)
Sat Mar 1st, 2025 9am - 12pm (cleanup for Annual Propagation Mtg)
Sat July 5th, 2025 9am - 12pm (cleanup for Annual Fruit Tasting Mtg)
Sat Oct 25th, 2025 9am - 12pm (end-of-year cleanup)
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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.
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.
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We never bring pets to meetings/tours and we never even ask if we may!
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We do our best to use public facilities or our own restroom before the meeting.
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We do our best not to ask to go inside the hosts’ home.
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We never pick fruit, flowers, foliage, weeds, seed pods and we never even ask.
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We do our best to car pool and park with great respect to our host and the neighborhood.
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We never talk when our host is talking. We do our best to stay up close when given a tour.
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We never “take over” the tour and tell everyone how we do it at our home!!
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We have thoughtful questions but try not to ask questions that embarrass our host.
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We do our best to help our host feel good, feel appreciated. We clean up our mess.
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We stay on the path, with our host …and never go walking around on our own unless given permission by the host.
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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.
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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.