I’m consider myself a beginner. Here’s what works for me.
Practice - First year I had less than 50% success. Second year 90%.
Wrap tight - A few months of a tight wrap won’t hurt the tree. A tight rap helps the contact when the cut is not perfectly flat.
Patient - some scion starts growing in one or two weeks. Some can take four or five weeks. Don’t disturb the graft out of curiosity.
Take comfort, newbs! Even weird grafts can really take off.
Here’s my first ever successful graft, from the beginning of the summer:
Here’s what it looks like now (graft union is at my hand):
I’d say it’s grown at least 6 feet. Mulberries are magic.
Lol. First time I ever saw Anyone graft with duct tape. If it works who is to judge. Did the tape come off without pulling bark?
The tape did not cause any harm to the bark, but I would not use it again. I tried several other grafts like that, and they all failed. When I unwrapped, I found that the wood was rotting from too much water being trapped in there. You would think that duct tape would form a decent seal and keep the rain out, but that wasn’t my experience.
Unfortunately duct tape has no stretch to it and one thing g I’ve learned about grafting is that tapes that can stretch to conform to the graft are the best tapes to use. That’s why so many people use parafilm and electrical tapes.
For those of you following along at home…my upside-down graft grew well for a while, though very slowly; it appeared to be healthy. One sad day, I accidentally bumped it and it moved, easily. It seems as though it never made a strong mechanical attachment. After that, it faded away…I barely knew it.
Lesson learned: Prof. Arnold wasn’t kidding about the dwarfing effect…this unit grew very slowly. It is not the way you’d want to graft to a semi-dwarfing rootstock. Back in the day, it was more useful in that regard. I’ll probably do it again…maybe even on purpose.
Since it’s winter and nothing to do in the garden except read about it, I’m spending a lot of time reading about grafting, pruning and spraying.
I have a question about grafting: one of the YouTube videos I was watching mentioned using Elmer’s wood glue as sealant/grafting wax. Has anybody used this? Can anybody think of why this would be a bad idea?
Thanks!
The only one I could think of is that is it is kind of runny, so there is a chance that it could get between the scion and the stock. Some folks here, I think, speculate that grafting wax used in hot conditions could do the same thing and reduce the rate/chance of takes. (Forgot who.)
I’ve heard of people mentioning it too and I’m sure it would work. Like Levers101 I agree it’s very running and could potentially cause some problems. I think overall that wax products are better options. Latex caulk has also been getting a lot of love lately as a graft sealant. Seems like a potentially messy solution to me though.
Thank you both
Just to chime in again, I’ll mention the “KISS” rule, and I think the simplest ways of grafting (not in order necessarily) are chip and whip. Do the whip Alan’s way with Temflex and nippers. I couldn’t find th elink to Alan’s post, but I do have the link to one I did describing it:
Here’s another thread:
I have used elmers glue diluted with water but not to seal the graft connection. after I have the graft taped in place and sealed with caulk I paint the elmers mixture on the scion to help it retain moisture until the graft Union starts to feed it. It is not very durable and will wash off with rain but if it is raining I doubt the scion is drying out much. I think it may help that first few days after the graft was made especially if you happen to get some warm dry conditions
Great thread from the last 2 years of grafting for beginners. Today was my first day of grafting. I did one bark graft, a couple clefts and a couple whip and tongues. It certainly didn’t go perfect but I think I did ok. It was primarily all Pears which I heard are best for beginning grafters and the most hardy.
@zazlev, if you didn’t slice your fingers up, and the scions stayed on the tree, sounds like a good day!
Fact!! It took me to the very end of the day, but I did manage a nice little cut across the top of my finger 
All good though 
Cutting fingers is a Thing around here
I didn’t realize that grafts could take without being blessed with blood…
An idea I saw recently for doing field grafts (vs bench grafts) which I plan to use this year is to place a thin piece of scrap wood with a hole drilled in it over the cut branch of the host in order to safely make the cut for a wedge graft. I think I saw this in @applenut’s video (but not certain) Anyway, for less blood letting during our spring ritual try something like this.
Good idea but not sure how good it’d be for me. Most of my grafting have been done on horizonal branches (not vertical) on established trees.
You can still do it. The piece of wood can be slipped over a branch in any orientation. The idea is to keep it between your blade and your thumb. 