Particularly with grafting persimmons, although I’ve done similarly with other species, too, I’ve sometimes had trouble with the opposite side of the rootstock stem dying back faster than the scion can heal over, even though the scion grows vigorously until the die back on the opposite side overwhelms it. I’ve had this problem where the stem is only around 1" diameter where I’ve place my graft, but the bigger the rootstock where the graft is placed the more of a problem it’s been. So it seems like the solution is to place more than one scion around the same stem. So my question is, if I place 2 (or more) scions around a single stem what do you recommend I do later? Can I prune one of the scions out later and avoid the die-back problems? Should I keep one scion smaller in the meantime to help the one I want to keep long-term dominate? Sorry if my question isn’t very clear or my wording is more complicated than it needs to be.
I’ve never grafted persimmons but I’ve seen a bit of the problem on apples. If the scion is not close to the same size as the rootstock I usually put in two, eventually nipping the other back at the rootstock. Seems to work pretty well. (If the scion is close to the same size I might do a cleft, and if it’s very close I’ll do a whip.) I’ve never tried to do more than two scions to a rootstock. I’ve got a couple-three really gnarly grafts where the rootstock stub us alive but just doesn’t want to heal over, even some years after grafting.
Whenever needed I do the same thing, not with persimmons though since I don’t grow them (yet).
If the position of the additional scions allow I try to keep them as fruiting wood for 2 to max 3 years. By then the wound should be healed up enough. If the grafting area then starts to get crowded I remove the additional scions. The remaining wound tend to heal up no problem.
If the position of the additional scions don’t allow to leave them for at least 2 years I permanently keep them short (but alive) by shortening to a low bud. Don’t remove all buds cause that might kill the growing scion and hinder the callousing of the wound.
With larger wounds I made the same experience as Mark. Even putting in a scion every 5 inches could not close the wound completely. The grafts are growing fine but the callousing seems to have stopped after some time. In that case I will leave all scions permanently like in a multi variety tree.
Sometimes I will saw off the corner of the grafted stub, leaving more of a vertical surface to heal vs the horizontal surface of the grafted stub. I find vertical cuts heal faster than horizontal.