Just got some Rootstocks for grafting. Will be testing them in my climate 
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How do you mimic dormancy for them as I’m sure you don’t get anything resembling a frost to help with it. Manual defoliation?
I mostly train the branches to a 45 degree angle. Plus I select recommended varieties by @applenut.
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I understand that but to make them flower you will need to defóliate them manually right? Probably can get two crops per year with this technique.
Made my first attempts at bench grafting today! Pictured is alderman plum on Americana rootstock. I grafted a couple other hybrid plum varieties and some apple, too. Is my whip and tongue looking about right? Keeping my fingers crossed that I’ve got my timing right, and that I’ll manage to get at least a take or two this year!
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I’m going for chip buds on the bench this year, hoping parafilm and greenhouse temps mitigate some concerns. I’m even doing stone fruit at the moment, couldn’t help myself!
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No, I don’t need to do that. The leaves naturally fall off themselves.
These are my results in 4 years ↓
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Temperature got up to mid 60s today and sunny, I went to town grafting about 2 dozen grafts (cherries, persimmons, pears, plums/hybridgs, jujube). Some maybe a little early but I saved some scions in case any of the grafts fail.
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Should I take the tape off?
There is no need for dormancy in some, maybe many apples. We are finding out that apples need far fewer chill hours than we thought before.
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I would not say that that looks about right, but it looks right enough to have a good chance of working assuming the wrap and other factors are good.
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Hello Grafters! This is my first year grafting (just a home gardener). I’ve done some whip and tongue grafts to small apple rootstocks, and I’ve also tried a couple cleft grafts and whip and tongue grafts directly onto the branches of an old, extremely unattractive, and messy crabapple. So far, no signs of death of any scions (
) but also buds haven’t broken yet.
Said crabapple has about an 8" diameter trunk, and the main branches are 4-6". They are also quite high up. My question: is there any chance I can try to side-graft scions directly to the trunk, to try to create some lower, fruity branches?
I’m too timid just top the whole thing. Is there another way to encourage new laterals lower down, so I can later graft to them? Thanks for any guidance, and I won’t shoot the messenger if the answer is, “Are ya nuts, lady?” 
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There are ways to encourage buds to grow lower down, like notching, but its not a good idea for reasons already discussed in this thread.
Lower branches will be suppressed by hormone and lack of light.
It will be more difficult to get grafts to establish, and then they will likely languish. There may be reasons why one might want to do that, but timidity doesn’t sound like a good one.
What are you afraid might happen if you cut the whole trunk? I consider bark grafting in that sort of situation to be the easiest of grafts.
No guts, no glory, eh? I suppose I’m afraid of losing the whole tree (and the grafts I just did). On the other hand, it’s not as if I like the darned tree. I think I’ll see what it does this year, and if it doesn’t somehow redeem itself with lots of graft success or being a wildlife haven of some sort, I’ll toughen up and do the deed next winter. Thanks for the info.
BTW, here’s an example of the type of graft I think you’re talking about. I added Brooks prune to this big Green Gage. All of the limbs start too high. This on the Southeast side around the height I should have grafted to avoid deer browse.
I’ve posted about it before, maybe 3 years ago? You can see its grown very slowly. If I’d bark grafted it I’d expect more than 10 feet of growth.
But it will probably flower in a couple of weeks.
BTW, I will probably end up decapitating the tree above here and it will take off. I have 2 mirabelles grafted way too high above it and I have already grafted those varieties elsewhere, or have scion wood. So I’ll probably cut a few inches above here and bark graft with another European plum.
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Navel grafted on Meyer lemon tree weird shape
Sweetheart Cherry bud grafted on Brooks
Bark graft and w/t of nectarine on an almond tree
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I’m trying Cherry chip buds with a more pronounced outer lip on the bottom. The Bench Grafters handbook sites studies showing faster callus development on the outer flap of side veneer grafts. Any spring chip budders have strategies?
@dkr06022012 Those look great. Are you using Parafilm or plastic wrap or something else? I used 1-2" strips of Saran Wrap my first year - mostly liked the results (80% takes) and flexibility, but I did find it a bit challenging/tedious to work with, especially in the wind, and I almost girdled some trees that I forgot. Last year I used rubber strips and grafting wax, but I actually had pretty poor results (50% maybe), though there were confounding factors such as rootstock delivered the wrong week and left in the sun.
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