Geneva, NY - The only thing separating Allisan Augustine and the rest of her team from a college degree was 13 more years of schooling, one Bud Graft Data Sheet, and the height of the grafted apple slips they were trying to measure.
"You start at the dirt and measure up to the growing point," she said, gently fingering the green leaves. "Hey, mine's growing good!"
Augustine is one of over 200 fourth graders at North Street and West Street Elementary Schools in Geneva, NY,who participated in a "Make an Apple Tree" project coordinated by the staff at the USDA-ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) at Cornell UniversityÕs Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY.
PGRU maintains the national apple collection. As part of their community outreach efforts during the last three years, they have been familiarizing local elementary school students with the conservation of genetic resources by helping them produce apple trees. Guided by PGRU staff members James R. McFerson, Phil L. Forsline, and Susan M. Sheffer, each student produces two apple trees, using two techniques: asexual (clonal) grafting, and sowing seed (sexual propagation).
"The project is conducted in several phases over the course of a year-and-a-half," said Phil Forsline, who is the Apple Curator/Horticulturist at PGRU. "In the fall, the students and teachers visit the labs, greenhouses, seed cleaning and storage facilities, and farms at the Station. They meet the PGRU staff and become familiar with our activities by harvesting apples from the over 2,500 different varieties in the PGRU orchards."
Phase 2 takes place in the winter, when the PGRU staff conducts four hour-long sessions with the students at school. They discuss the biology of the apple, run taste tests on three apple cultivars, and then divide the classes into six teams of four students per team. Each student is given a potted apple rootstock which looks like nothing more than a bare stick. Then the three horticulturists help the students graft two buds from one of four different varitieis--either a fruiting type or an ornamental apple--onto the rootstock.
Fourth-grader Anthony Torres explained how it was done. "First we slit the trunk in two places and then slid a piece of stick into the graft and then held it on with a rubber band. We also had to label our trees and fill out a data sheet."
At the same time, the students sowed two seeds to produce a seedling tree which they called their "mystery" tree. Even at nine and ten years of age, they understood what many adults don't: apple trees that grow from seeds are not true to type because they are open-pollinated and only one parent--the "mom"-- is known. Grafting apple trees is a method of cloning and the graft remains true-to-type, whether it is an Empire, Mutsu, Jonagold, or Royalty variety.
All trees were left on sunny windowsills in the classrooms in black "conetainers" for the following seven weeks during which time students watered them three times a week and recorded data on the growth of the grafts and the seedlings. After the fourth session, students said "goodbye until next year," and the conetainers were carried back to PGRU for a year's worth of growth in the greenhouses.
On or near Arbor Day of next year, Phase 3 will take place in an evening presentation at the school, when the PGRU staff will bring the grafted and seedling trees back to the now fifth graders and their parents. Students will take the trees home to plant in their yards or arrange for a friend or relative to plant them. Sometime in high school, the trees should begin to fruit.
"We hope they will be able to recognize their clone and report on the characteristics of their `mystery' apple tree," said Forsline, who has two children of his own in college. The PGRU staff also hopes the experiences of this long-term, hands-on project may stimulate the students' interest in science and understanding of agriculture.
"Working with the horticulturists from the Experiment Station makes a really nice partnership between the kids and people at work in the community," said Becky Addona, who is the elementary enrichment program coordinator. "All the kids in the grade get to participate in this exciting hands-on science project--not just a select few."
The teachers were also excited about the science project, saying it worked in wonderfully with other classroom activities. Fourth-grade teacher Judy Simmers, whose class has participated in the project for two years explained: "Growing apple trees involves metric measurement, math skills, language art skills, record-keeping, follow-through, and small motor skills. Not only were Phil, Susan and Jim fun for the children to work with, but they were good role models for boys and girls who may one day want to pursue careers in science or agriculture."
Allisan Augustine, John O'Brien, William Hunt and Calisha Singleton do not know what they want to be when they grow up, yet, but by comparing data sheets, they did know that Allisan's 8.5 centimeter grafted Empire apple was the biggest tree in the classroom mini-nursery. "Mine's going to catch up," said John, with one eye closed, as he stretched the tiny Empire apple branch up to its full height along the plastic ruler. "As soon as it's spring, it's going to grow right up to the sky."
Contact: Linda McCandless
315-787-2417
e-mail: llm3@cornell.edu
Communications Services, Geneva, NY
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