Birds landing on your grafts would be my first suspect. I usually do 2-4 grafts in the same spot and pick the best later to account for any mishaps.
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It could be birds, but this tree has so many thicker and much more horizontal branches for the birds to chose.
Regardless I’ll do some thinking for next year’s grafts.
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After losing so many grafts to what I consider light winds, I pruned all my graft growth back. May as well as I’d rather developed buds for lateral growth instead of single long branches.
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That’s a perennial struggle with grafting, IME. It’s better to keep the graft pinched back than torn off! Staking can work, too. I like to put some Velcro plant tie over the graft union after the tape is pulled. It provides some support. Sometimes I’ll put splints too, and usually attach those with the same Velcro material.
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I’ve been using small bamboo sticks. I’m kind of over it for this first season of trying. I’ve learned a lot.
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Another tact is to channel most growth to other parts of the tree for the first season. Using this approach, you’re really just trying to get the graft to push and put on enough growth to harden off well. The next year, when the graft is well healed, you do the major surgery to force the scion to form new main scaffolds.
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Mid-summer update.
Most of my grafts failed in one of these ways:
Graft didn’t take (small number)
Graft took and grew well, then dried up and failed.
Grady took and grew well only to be broken by the wind.
Of the few left, see the photo below. This is an Arctic Star Nectarine grafted onto a pluot. The growth isn’t that impressive but if you look in the photo, each stem/petiole location has 3 mature buds, so it’s I’ve and well.
The leaf color is not from drying out at the leaves all remain supple. Perhaps this is just the variety of nectarine?
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So I was walking around to see the few grafts that survived my first attempt this spring.
I’m lamenting using the ‘grafting’ tape I bought from Amazon. The tape is intact after 5-1/2 months. I cut the rest away and the tape actually girdled a few of the branches.
There are probably several reasons most of my grafts failed, but this damn tape was certainly a part of it. No way in hell this tape exchanged air to the wood. Definitely not breathable.
Photos not in focus but you can see the girdling nonetheless.
Now that I know I have the more opaque waxy grafting tape, next year I’ll be ready.
This Shiro on Tropic Gold apricot looks good.
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You aren’t the only one who got sucked in by the cheap tapes sold on Amazon. Most of the so called “grafting” tape sold on Amazon is complete garbage. Be sure to look for genuine parafilm or buddy tape. It makes a world of difference in the percentage of successful takes when you have good grafting tape. Good tape is far more expensive, but time is money as well, and most of the cheap tape is mostly a waste of good scion wood and all your grafting efforts.
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The part that makes me really kick myself in the butt is apparently I had also bought the right kind but didn’t see it when I went to graft.
This one is 1-inch dia. and obviously waxed as it’s pretty opaque. It also looks like all the videos I’ve watched.
I was so puzzled when I kept reading that the tape dissolves after a month or so, sticks to itself (had a hell of a time trying to get the scion ends sealed with the baf stuff), and that it can breathe.
Now I get it…or got it?
Anyway I’m ready to go next year.
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I personally find 1 inch parafilm/buddy tape way to wide. I prefer 1/2" for smaller size branches. The perforated buddy tape mostly seems only available in 1" widths. I leanrned to peel off a couple of perforated 1" strips and slice it down the middle for my budding work. I find 1/2" far better to work with for most finesse work.
I prefer the thicker parafilm for splicing/cleft grafts, and the buddy tape for chip & T budding. They each have there strong points, and weak points (literally). I find buddy tape a real pain to use in a strong wind as it’s so flimsy, but my hands aren’t as sure and steady as they used to be when I was younger. Parafilm’s extra strength is useful for putting pressure on smaller cleft grafts without having to add other tapes or rubbers for extra pressure.
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I grafted one stone fruit this spring. I purchased and planted 2 Jplums early this spring… Shiro and AU Rosa.
Managrd to get a scion of AU Producer by trade… and grafted it onto the AU Rosa.
It was a small diameter scion… so I did a simple whip graft.
It took rather quickly and started making progress… buds swelling, shoots leaves.
I took the rubber tape off once the growth reached 1 ft long. It has grown well this season 5 ft or more.
Hope to graft some AU cherry plum to it next spring.
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