The first picture the tree is about 12 ft tall with branches on top and a few in the middle. The 2nd treee is about 6ft tall. Never had success grafting as to producing fruit. This is my 4th year grafting apple trees. I don’t know how to train the branches or anything like that just have had them growing naturally. Any help is greatly appreciated
Yes, I have already grafted gooseberries onto clove currants many years ago. But then I 've done bud-grafting in the summer. Got some very nice standards of it. Now I’m going to graft with scions, hopefully with similar results. If your bush is already older, I think it’s better to grow new, straight rootstocks (as described above), to get nice standard gooseberries next year. If your main goal is growing softwood to make cuttings of (or thicker scions for next year), go ahead. This will certainly work.
Jack
They look like good grafts to me. I have a neighbor who leaves his grafted trees unpruned for many years to “see their shape unfold.”. As for myself, I can’t keep my hands off of them. I prune new scaffold growth by the second year to even things out and encourage lateral growth.
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Unfortunately, deer and other things sometimes prune limbs I’d prefer to leave alone. So, I’m not over thinking the pruning as much as trying to remedy problems I never caused and the trees genetics never caused.
I guess once you’ve had an orchard for some time, the zealous feeling of needing to do something goes bye-bye. It has for me in the sense of pruning my older trees regularly.
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(So the years got ‘merged’ did they?)
Someone edited the title of this thread (which was originally just 2022) to add 2023, but there is also a separate 2023 thread:
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Not the case with me. I’m always anxious to dive in and I over prune. I may be the only one that does that, though.
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No you are not alone. I grow a lot of small form fruit trees either in fan shape, UFO,/espalier that require pruning in the summer. In the warm weather I always have a set of pruners while walking about and I’m constantly pruning and shaping my fruit trees. I fear it’s become a compulsion now that may require some kind of 12 step program.
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I think I’ve heard them sobbing when I walk down to the orchard with my pruners. 
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First 2 grafts done on Feb. 8…apples.
Today stuck some more currant cuttings.
Some blooms on Czech 17 and on Aurora honeyberries.
Beauty and Beast …it’ll be 7 days perhaps. Couple others no bloom buds so far…plants too young perhaps. Or just late to bud.
Crab apples put out leaves since Friday.
Better be cutting scions…buds are puffing up!
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Haven’t even done my winter pruning and my root stock won’t ship until mid-April.
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I get the two threads confused. thank you
I have a dozen or more roots left from previous seasons…and a package of apple roots should arrive Thursday.
Spring is early it looks like here. Currently equivalent to about March 10-15 in an average year.
I’ll email you when I get my pruning done and separate out what I need for the orchard. Figure I’ll start once this cold spell passes, maybe start this Sunday. We’ll see if the deer have left me any wood.
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Oh, I didn’t intend that to be a hint for scions. I have 3 or 4 sticks of a dozen additional varieties in the fridge just reserved for the arriving roots.
(But…open as usual to temptation as pertains to grafting.) 
I was recently grafting some cherries and found that the pith of my scionwood had turned from white to dark brown, is it possible to still successfully graft this, and could this be due to cold damage as I did store it in temps averaging around 29-30f?
Anyone ever experienced this?
Here is a pic, (cambium is still green)
Me either. I was going to start when I get home next week, but with an additional foot(ish) of snow coming on top of what was already there I think I’ll be waiting for some thawing.
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DITTO.
Just started . . . trying to dodge the rain and the stinkin’ ear-shattering jets that fly over my house, constantly, making it impossible to stay outside without noise-cancelling headphones!
I live right near a little Navy touch-down base.
“Clippers - check. Gloves - check. Gorilla cart - check. Earphones - CHECK!”
They are practicing like CRAZY right now. Almost every day . . . allllll day long. We can always tell when they are cranking up to be ready to head to a hotspot in the world. ???
Never mind ‘the news’ . . . just ask us what the jets have been up to lately.
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It’s possible that some desiccation occured when stored. You can try soaking it overnight before grafting in cold water, then cut off a new slice and see how it compares after the moisture helps refresh. let it air dry before you graft after soaking, before you seal it with parafilm to avoid mold.
I got some plum scions that lost moisture during shipping and the soaking seemed to help them firm up!
Good luck
Dennis
Kent, wa
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The last of the buddy tape just fell off my summer 2022 graft of Linh (h/t @JohannsGarden) on a Mexicola seedling, looks to have healed pretty well:
That tree will likely be going to a Seattle-area community garden this spring, as it is one of three trees I’ve promised to a local organization that organizes community gardens. Can’t wait to see if it makes it through next winter outdoors!
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