Sorry to have to correct you, but it’s “kattywompus”. My Dad said so. Goes along with “antimagogolin”.
;-)M
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antimagogolin =???
It’s when everything is all askew and akimbo.
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My first season of apple grafting (on wild trees, for practice) only saw about 50% takes. After a few more seasons of practice this year I did 13 grafts on the little trees in my yard, mostly clefts. All of them took though some later died from fireblight.
Here are some factors I think have helped me with success:
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wrap scion with parafilm before cutting/shaping
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seal the tip of the scion wood, either ahead of time or after grafting. I’ve using parafilm but I think a dab of some kind of sealer might be better and easier
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cut scion back to two or three buds. The more wood you have out there the more moisture has to transport through the healing graft to keep it alive.
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use electrical splice tape, either straight or on top of an initial wrap of parafilm. This stuff is amazing for grafting; you can get loads of compression on the graft very easily, and it comes off without peeling the bark later in the season
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harvest scion when fully dormant (but not TOO early since it will then spend a long time in the fridge), store well
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wait until stock is waking up and showing green before grafting
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focus on cambium lining up, don’t get distracted by the shape of the wood or trying to get two sides to match if they aren’t going to
I have the honor of being the subject of instruction in the pictures from Applenut referenced above 
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I agree with everything you said. While you are harvesting scion wood is a great time to seal the ends of the scions to help keep them from drying out. If anyone missed the tips and tricks thread I mentioned a tip I got from a grafting pro and that is if you are harvesting a small amount of wood a quick sealer is a tube of chap stick. Just smear a bit on each end of the fresh cut wood.
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This is by far the best video i have seen on top working cherry trees. He has many videos online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ReeuSPGh4
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The dormancy and freshness of the scions can help. Older scions lose vigor and peeter out.
Hi Roberto,
I believe that I’m the new member Mamuang referred to. I’m just a little ways west of you, I think, the other side of the river. Unfortunately, I’m a total novice and so have no suggestions to impart, but I did want to say hi and thank you for starting this thread - it looks like I may have some grafting in my not-too-distant future, and the discussion here has been very helpful. So thanks to you and to everyone else!
Jamie
I’ve got a cleft graft issue I haven’t seen addressed. This spring I did a double cleft graft on a plum. Each of the two scions was lined up with the cambium on one side of the substantially larger rootstock. One of the scions has taken and is doing great, so far putting out about six inches of new growth. The other scion has clearly not taken. What do I do about the failed scion? Remove it now? Leave it alone? Cut it off? Something else?
I’d pull out the failed scion. It probably won’t matter much but that’s what I’d do.
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if one never took at all I twist them out and tar the area or cover with parafilm just because I am a bit paranoid about clefts drying, although by the following year your surviving cleft should be pretty well adapted on its own. I suppose I could actually be making things worse, trapping something fungal or bacterial in a nice, humid spot instead of in the open, but that’s what I do.
If significant growth of the one occurred I could envision carefully (so you don’t lop off the surviving scion) making like a 45-degree angle cut to remove some of that dead “corner” on the other side of the rootstock and just tarring over that like sealing pruning cuts. I guess I really don’t do all that many clefts, and they do pretty ok, because I’m not sure I took more than 3 or 4 out like that. Been lucky, maybe?