After cutting, placing and wrapping the chip, when do I cut off the remaining leaves on the main trees branch?
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For both chip and T budding wait 2-3 weeks. Then check the bud and see if it seems to be healed in. Once you’re confident that the bud has taken, cut off everything above the bud.
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What kind of tree ?
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red bartlet and comice pear.
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If it were me , for pear , in zone 6 .i would wait until spring,march, to cut top off. Above recently placed buds.
I would think it’s too late for the new growth to harden off and make it through winter.
For pear buds placed this spring, I would cut above bud no later than mid June, the earlier the better.
This is just my opinion, maybe more forgiving than I think.?
Someone else may have a different opinion.?
I am planning to start chip budding a lot of pear rootstock soon, will cut above chip bud in early march.
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That’s a good idea. It is getting late to force growth now. Pears are pretty tough but cutting all foliage off a tree this late or worse 2-3 wks from now, would be pushing things.
I bud in May June in my climate. Force those after 2-3 weeks.
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Thanks for the feedback. Just so I understand more about how it all works, what does cutting off the end foliage do? @fruitnut you said “force”, do you mean that by clipping end foliage, the new bud will get more energy and be forced outwards?
What is the purpose of keeping the foliage on for 2-3 weeks, or in this case til Spring? What does that help with?
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It’s not just the foliage, when you force a bud you usually remove (or sometimes partially remove/girdle) the entire trunk/branches above the bud in question, so that it becomes the topmost living bud on the entire tree (or at least that branch), and therefore is encouraged to grow.
You wait until the bud has healed/callused because otherwise the tree may instead expend energy creating new bud sites and may abort/self-prune the branch or trunk that your bud is grafted onto. In other words, until it has healed, your bud cannot receive the “GROW NOW!” signal that the tree will broadcast when it is topped above your bud.
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You don’t remove anything until you’re sure the bud has healed in. Then cut off everything above the inserted bud. If you don’t cut off everything above the bud, then something from the rootstock will grow.
You keep the foliage and wood above the bud in case the bud fails. Also foliage above the bud can be needed in some species to avoid flooding out the grafted bud. If you take that foliage off the roots keep pumping water and in interferes with healing of the bud. Figs, mulberry, and grapes have issues with flooded grafts. Most stone fruit not as much.
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That’s more or less what I was going to say, but based on what I’ve heard more than experience.
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The upper buds produce a hormone, auxin, that suppresses buds lower down from growing. When you prune them off, they no longer exert that influence and lower buds grow. That’s why you get several new branches when you do a heading cut.
Scoring or notching can have a similar effect of interrupting the downward flow of auxin.
Or so I’ve been taught 
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What are the main signs that the bud graft has fully healed?
Thanks for all the great info everyone! Really appreciate the input.
The bud should of course remain green. It can take a little time, like a week, after the graft is unwrapped to be sure if it’s healed in or dead. With T budding if the attached petiole falls off that’s a good sign. If it stays attached the bud is probably dead.
I think you want to see callous and the bud remain plump and original coloration.
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some of my chip buds look brown and dead a few weeks after chip budding in late July for my area. I am always surprised the next spring when they seem to green up and actually do successfully leaf out.
I leave my chip budded trees tied up with the rubber grafting bands for a few weeks then remove. I wait until the following spring (early) and cut off the top of the rootstock above the chip bud.
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