*ahem* *steps on soapbox*

As someone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity who has training in organic chemistry and biochemistry, may I just say that there are enough dangerous chemicals in our lives without resorting to hysterical hyperbole?

Today, I got a Seed Savers Exchange email which called the herbicide 2,4-D "one of the elements in Agent Orange". I have seen people hyperventilate about the possibility of encountering acetone as a denaturing agent in non-potable alcohol. Someone thought their dentist was trying to poison them by putting antifreeze in the therapeutic paste they were given; I had to point out that propylene glycol is a rather different critter from antifreeze (ethylene glycol). And that's just the episodes that come to mind.

The public knows just enough about chemicals to be scared about the wrong things, without having an awareness of what might be actually toxic in their environment. That's bad enough, but when someone "reports" on a thing like 2,4-D in a sensationalistic way, either out of ignorance or agenda, it makes reasoned discussion impossible. This is also why I can't talk to anyone about genetically engineered plants outside of academia. Without reasoned discussion, we can't do anything to make sure the public is not put at risk.

People may be ignorant, but that's not a reason to take advantage of them. STOP STAMPEDING THE MOB.

On a brighter, sweeter note...

I pruned the cherry tree at the Pittsburg house yesterday. It had clearly been neglected for about 20 years; the base of it is half-rotten, with one thigh-sized trunk coming off that produces (what must be) Bing cherries, and the other side a tangle of thick branches that I finally figured out are Mahaleb rootstock (it doesn't produce fruit of any kind). The Bing had lots of dead branches and no real structure, though it seems healthy enough.

Cherries are, at least technically, supposed to have a central leader structure like apples and pears, though I've never understood exactly why (peaches and apricots use a vase structure, and plums can go either way). I've certainly seen vase-shaped cherry trees in orchards. So I compromised, left about three central leaders, chopped out everything in the middle, and encouraged a bit of scaffold growth. I took off some big limbs, and ended up with what looked like 2-3 trees worth of discarded wood. Renovation pruning always feels pretty savage. Fine tuning will happen in the next two years.

I left some of the Mahaleb for grafting (I picked up scions last month), but I whacked off a large trunk in the hope of shocking it into making some waterspouts I can use for better grafting stock. I'll try my luck this year on the smaller "trunks" I left behind, and see how well the buds take; if they take well, I'll have enough grafting wood in two or three years to move them to better locations if needs be, without having to ask for more scion wood from elsewhere.

It's already got Bing, and I picked up Black Tartarian (best early cherry EVAR), Lapin, and an unnamed pie cherry. With luck, in a few years, I'll have a decent 4-variety tree out there. :)