Business Central February 2021

| 39 Torere Macadamias supplies its products to organic outlets around the country. Torere Macadamias For Ian Adams, pursuing his lifelong passion for grafting has led to a highly successful business manufacturing a range of high quality grafting tools speci ically designed for use in horticulture. Having learned the ancient skill of grafting in his teenage years and spent many years working in the horticultural industry, Ian made the decision to specialise in grafting 15 years ago. Awarded a major contract in Hawke’s Bay to whip & tongue graft 20,000 one year-old apple trees, Ian was convinced there had to be an easier way than conventional grafting knives allowed. After searching the internet without success Ian designed and manufactured his own grafting tools and once he had tested them in his own business for a couple of years had the con idence to take them to the market, giving birth to Scionon Ltd in 2009. Manufacturing a unique range of very high-quality grafting tools, within 12 months Scionon’s innovative GraftingSystems were selling right across New Zealand and into Australia. Operating from his Hastings workshop Ian has blended his specialised grafting business with the design and manufacture of his suite of tools which are sold through local distribution companies as well as directly though his website https://www.scionon.com . Tools on the cutting edge In 2016 Ian established a sister company, Scionon Europe, which is based in Verl Germany. Scionon is now represented by 20 di erent distributors around the globe. “I’ve developed three main product lines,” says Ian. We have specialty grafting knives. All blades are ixed so they’re strong and suited to restructuring trees or starting new plants o . The second product is a hand-held grafting shear—a magic knife. Once trained, people can prepare ive or six di erent grafting cuts with this tool. I can teach novices how to do what it takes a year or two for a skilled knife grafter to learn and they can do it safely. The third is a guillotine system for bench grafting where plants are grafted at the table so root stock and scion are united, stored or planted in the nursery later in the year. With this method we can short circuit the tree production time required by a year.” Scionon tools and the innovative Scionon GraftingSystems have been successfully used to prepare pip-fruit, summer fruits, cane/vine, exotics, citrus, nuts, including macadamia and many ornamentals. “We’re continually testing our tools on other plant materials and exploring more cutting options as horticultural industry needs become known. We think outside the box, we’ve broken the rules about grafting and I have come up with ideas that are proven to work.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT