It sounds like you have plenty of space to grow tree’s on m111. I am starting to dislike large tree’s because of too much spraying. If you are set up there wouldn’t be a problem. Good luck, hope you have a good , productive year.
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Cleft and bark grafts of Ernie’s Choice peach. Six of the eight scions are pushing.
Only five in these pics.
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I think I have had a few failed grafts. Not quite sure yet but some of them have dried up. I so hope that I have backups of the ones that have failed.
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My first confirmed graft of the year. Queen Cox on G-41.
Opal plum on Krymsk-1 rs. I unwrapped it last night, and had to wait until morning to see it in daylight. I spent nearly 2 hours sharpening and aligning the blades on my Zenport tool. I had to bend them a bit, then get one side of each blade chisel-flat. I polished it up with 6000 grit King stone, and gave it a light stropping with an old belt. The cuts came out so cleanly, I am glad I did it. I half watch, half listen to documentary films when I sharpen. It keeps me looking up occasionally, so I don’t go cross-eyed.
This is a graft I made with what was cut off of the G-41 rs. It has rooted, but I had not opened the graft yet. The Ashmeade’s Kernel i set up the same way hasn’t rooted yet.
More grafts I have not checked. I will wait until the end of the month for most of them, based on the Opal results.
My first rooted fig of the year.
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Ok, question time. This Korean Giant pear on BET is decidedly my least impressive graft, so I wasn’t surprised to see the scion starting to shrivel after 10 days. I soaked it in a damp paper towel to plump it back up, then unwrapped it so I could regraft. To my surprise, I could not pull the pieces apart! I don’t see any obvious signs of callus. Any thoughts on if this is a take or not? I carefully wrapped it back up for now.
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Looks like calloused to me.
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Did you wrap the whole scion in parafilm or only the area around the graft? I normally graft the whole scion to prevent desiccation while the graft heals. I can see callousing in your 2nd picture-- that light colored tissue right in the middle.
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I don’t like the look of the scionwood. It look wrinkled. Although it has some callousing, I would not feel good about this graft.
When I first started grafting apples and pears, I did not wrap the whole scion. I only made sure the graft union was fully covered with parafilm and the union was tightly tied by gaden tape.
My grafts took no problem. Covering the top of scionwood with wax or wrapping the whole scion with parafilm definitely is good assurance against desiccation.
I think your KG wood was not in good condition to start with. You could have trimmed the bottom of the scion and put it in water overnight to rehydrate it.
If the scion was from me, I apologize. I will send you better one next winter.
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I had not wrapped this one in Parafilm. For some reason, probably related to my frustrations with the unexpected toughness of the rootstock wood, I stopped Parafilming my pears about halfway through. It has Parafilm now. Hopefully, I didn’t mess it up by taking it apart and putting it back together.
I definitely didn’t protect it (see above). I got the scion from someone else. If there’s any fault, it would have been in how I stored them. They were definitely in fresh, lovely condition when I got them, but I had them for over a month, so who knows? I had soaked them before putting them away in the fridge, and dried them off. They had enough moisture in the that they were wet to the touch when I took them out a few weeks later. I had one other out of 5 that was shriveled like that, and came apart easily when I went to regraft.
I agree with the comments of others above…
Wrapping the whole scion in parafilm keeps them from drying .good insurance.
And peaking should be avoided.
Likely more harm will come from unwrapping/ wrapping,
As it is in its healing stage, don’t want to disturb it,
( like bumping that sore toe , that was healing )
Wrap well at grafting, and patience
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Yeah, I wasn’t planning to peek! 
I thought I was going to be making some fresh cuts. In all seriousness, the advice is greatly appreciated.
I always peak. That has probably killed a lot of scions that otherwise would have taken. Same thing with rooting cuttings and sowing seeds. I pull them out to see if they are rooting. I know I shouldn’t but I don’t know why I can’t help myself.
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Jay,
The best way I have found in scion storing is a bit extravagant but effective. Once I receive scionwood, I make sure it is in a good condition.
I stretch parafilm thinly. Wrap the whole scion in parafilm, I store them in a gallon plastic ziplock bag. No any damp paper towel or any moisture is needed in the bag. Close the bag tightly. Put them in a big brown bag ( don’t want any light on the wood). Put the bag in a fridge that has no veggies or fruit in it.
My scion looks perfect for months. No mold, either. Lot of parafilm, yes, but it is worth it.
Hey, the slogan of this site is “Why do it, when you can overdo it !!!”
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I would notch the tree an inch above the chip patch - cut through the bark about an inch across into a little valley and nick the piece away. As the tree heals, hormones can’t get to the secondary buds to keep 'em from growing. It’s your best bet to get them started, to the best of my knowledge.
(I’m telling you something I haven’t yet done myself, but have seen demonstrated by Skillcult & others.)
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I would wrap it back up and let it heal some more. I have had many plants come back from near death. I agree about not peaking. It was 4 weeks before I opened the graft look at it, and only after scion and rs had opened. I still have not opened the Queen Cox graft because I forgot to put parafilm between the bark and tape 
I learned with germinating and cloning that a healthy dose of neglect is good for success.
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@Susu You need to root your cuttings in the clear plastic cups so you can see roots without pulling out.
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I did that once - took a peek - & killed the graft. Never again. I wait & wait.
Some years ago I wanted to make another Winekist. All it offered that winter were the skinniest twigs imaginable. I made a cleft graft (hard to figure out where the cambium was for matching) and waited - until beginning of July!
I didn’t peek; it took; grew beautifully! (Truth is, I didn’t feel virtuous so much as relieved.)
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I am not known for patience but I am known for forgetfulness. That works well with grafting (for once). Sometimes I did not notice my graft growing until months later.
We have all learned from our mistakes. Killed a few grafts by T budding because I unwrapped them too soon. The grafts took initially but dried out because curiosity killed both the cat and the grafts.
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Yes, I’m definitely getting better at not messing with things! I’ve managed to only mess with the two grafts since they were clearly having trouble.
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