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.
February Meeting: Annual Scion Exchange & Grafting Demos, February 22nd, 2025
Open to the Public
​
This is our Chapter's biggest single event, free to members of our chapter and the public. It is held on the forth Saturday of February and takes place on the Cal Poly campus at the Crops Unit.
​
A portion of the money raised from this event goes toward scholarships for Cal Poly Fruit Science students.
​
Restrooms will be available.
​
Schedule
10:00 - Members that would like to volunteer with set-up should arrive.
11:00
-
Grafting demonstrations, store, and rootstock sales begin.
-
People with scion wood to share with the exchange should arrive and drop off their scions for placement in the scion exchange room.
12:00 - Chapter members and people who contributed scions get early entry into the scion exchange room.
​
12:30 - All guests are welcome to enter the exchange.
​
3:00 - Cleanup.
About The Scion Exchange
At the scion exchange you will find rows of tables laden with bags of scion wood from a wide variety of trees. Attendees are invited to select and take home scions to graft to their own fruit trees, and to bring scions to share.
If you bring scions to share, make sure your scions are free of pests and diseases. Do NOT bring any citrus, due to concern for spreading diseases, nor patented varieties of any fruit. The South Orange County CRFG Chapter provides a list of patented varieties.
You will find demonstrations by experienced grafters who will demonstrate various grafting techniques. These volunteers are members of CRFG and will do their best to answer your grafting questions!
At our store, we also sell rootstock, grafting tape, budding tape, grafting "goop," grafting knives, bird netting, and pheromone loops and for control of the apple worm.
​
For photos and details about what a scion exchange is like, you want to bring with you, and how to package any scions you have to share, please see our Scion Exchange webpage.
Location & Directions
​​​​
We will have signs out to help guide you.
​​
Note: due to construction, parking will no longer be available at the Crops Unit. Parking in the H1 parking lot on Mt. Bishop Drive is the only option.
​
Directions:
​
1. In San Luis Obispo, take Santa Rosa St. (aka Hwy 1) to Highland Drive.
​
2. Turn east onto Highland Drive.
​
3. Turn left at Mt. Bishop Rd.
4. In approximately 900 feet, you will see the H1 parking lot on your left. Park in the parking lot and walk back down Mt. Bishop Rd.to the Crops Unit at the corner with Highland Dr.
Other Future Chapter Meetings & 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: March 1st, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard!
​
March Meeting: Annual Propagation Meeting, March 8, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
Location: Master Gardeners' Garden of the Seven Sisters
2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401
More details, including times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
April Meeting: TBD, April 12, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
May Meeting: Tiber Canyon Ranch, May 10, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
280 West Ormonde Road, San Luis Obispo, CA
More details will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
June Meeting: TBD, June 14, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
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!
​
July Meeting: Annual Fruit Tasting at the CRFG Demonstration Orchard, July 12, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Bring fruit to share, and enjoy the fruit brought by others.
More details will be listed here closer to the date of this event.​
​
August Meeting: TBD, August 9, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
September Meeting: TBD, September 13, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
October Meeting: TBD, October 11, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
Orchard Work Day: November 1st, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard!
​
November Meeting: LeFort Organic Farms, November 8, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
Le Fort's Organic Farms is a certified organic farm in Creston, California which produces free range eggs, carrots, summer squash, eggplant, basil & more .
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
December Meeting: Annual Holiday Potluck and Plant Exchange, December 13, 2025 - Saturday
Members Only. Join CRFG to attend!
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
​
CRFG Demonstration Orchard Workdays
Be sure to check here the morning of each workday for rescheduling or cancellations.
​
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 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 Nov 1st, 2025 9am - 12pm (end-of-year cleanup)
​
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.
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 fourth 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.
​
Most of our meetings are open to the public. We encourage the public to join us and learn with us!
​
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.
-
We never bring pets to meetings/tours and we never even ask if we may!
-
We do our best to use public facilities or our own restroom before the meeting.
-
We do our best not to ask to go inside the hosts’ home.
-
We never pick fruit, flowers, foliage, weeds, seed pods and we never even ask.
-
We do our best to car pool and park with great respect to our host and the neighborhood.
-
We never talk when our host is talking. We do our best to stay up close when given a tour.
-
We never “take over” the tour and tell everyone how we do it at our home!!
-
We have thoughtful questions but try not to ask questions that embarrass our host.
-
We do our best to help our host feel good, feel appreciated. We clean up our mess.
-
We stay on the path, with our host …and never go walking around on our own unless given permission by the host.
-
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.
-
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.