Congratulations Bart! I switched from cleft to bark about five years ago and never looked back.
@mamuang, for larger scions you cut them at an angle - think about making a cut shaped like a “J” as you hold up the scion. I got this idea from Konrad’s bark grafting tutorial over on GW. I have done hundreds of these. One other advantage of the J cuts is you can do bark grafts on those 1/2-1" stocks which normally would be too small for a bark graft.
I usually make it more “J” shaped, curving/scooped on the right part of the cut. I also put a bit of taper in it, Konrad puts no taper at all. But its just personal preference, I think Konrad’s method works well as-is.
I think that’s the shape I use for cleft grafts (curving tapered), just because I’m not all that good with a knife. For the scions below, I used mostly pruners…
From another thread, you mentioned:
I hadn’t considered that, but it seems like a good idea, so I tried it with one of my St. Julian rootstocks (two different peaches). I think it went OK, though I feel better about the cleft and bark grafts.
Logic I used in selecting the rootstocks:
1.) Thick and without much branching got 2 bark grafts of small scions
2.) Branched and medium thickness got a cleft graft of matching scion in each branch.
3.) The one in the bottom of the pic was branched, with a bunch of smallish junky branches, but not all that thick. I had some similar sized scions, so I used it for the double splice.
If you are comfortable with scions growing at narrow angles don’t be afraid to side graft. I started doing them last year and they are some of the best growing grafts I’ve done. And in the end they really aren’t that narrow of an angle. I’ve pulled mine down to horizontal and they now that are hard to distinguish from any other type of graft.
Quite a few apples are partial tip bearers, and a few are fully so. It can be expected they would have a bloom bud at the tip. Take a picture and remove the flower stems when done blooming!
Some people remove that tip bud when they find a bloom bud at grafting, just to prevent any bloom the first season. That would be before you have bound the scion to the stock.
I don’t, figuring the hormone surge to bring nutrients to the blooms aids callusing and growth. Since most of my grafting is at home, I have the privilege of checking close by. I should look at the other places this year (one 40 miles away) just to make sure all goes well, but will probably wait a month, in which case i can find any fruitlets developing if a tip bloomed.
Heck yeah Johnthecook. I have to tell you before you learn the difficult way, and as much as I love cable ties… they will crack and break over winter leaving your tags on the ground and blown away with the wind (not a good for zone 6)
I love uline wire on a spool. It lasts outside in my cold and hot climate 8-years. Any other wire that you may get for 25-30 bucks a spool, the vinyl will disappear in less than a year. uline wire is expensive but I have something such as 375 plantings and I still have wire from my original spool purchased 8-9 years ago, today. I also have used it for years and years for field grafts at friends properties and with plants I sell.
I don’t know any other wire personally as good, but if somebody does, please let me know.