Anyone use this modified cleft graft versus the whip and tongue method? Seems like it may be more suited to a beginner like me. Thoughts? Getting reading to attempt my first graft in March.
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Welcome, whip and tongue as well as cleft the way to go.
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That looks like a cleft graft.I’m not sure what the modified part is? Brady
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I’ve noticed that cleft grafts seem to do as well as W&T grafts generally, and aren’t as messy once they callus up. But that might be because my W&T grafts are pretty sloppy!
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Yes, I use this graft all the time. As Brady said I’m not exactly sure why it’s listed as modified. To me that is a stand cleft graft. This is the easiest graft to do if you ask me.
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Thanks much! Going to do this type versus whip and tongue for my first graft. Excited 
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It looks to me the reason they call it modified is due to the scion being a smaller diameter than the stock it is being grafted to. One scion instead of two that is typically used for a little larger stock size. I have used this method many time with good success. Bill
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Thanks Bill, and thank you so much again for the scions. 
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That is the main graft I use. I’m with Auburn thinking the modified part is only one side is making cambium contact. It is easier and better to have one side making great contact rather than two sides making poor contact. I always try to cut the same diameter in the root stock as well as the scion so both sides line up but often one is larger or the wood isn’t perfectly round or has an angle so it is hard to get both sides to line up. Sometimes it works to put the scion in at an angle and both sides make some contact.
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Cleft graft is very good method for grafting i use it a lot and results are very good 
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Cleft graft is most used when rootstock is much thicker than scion wood.
One of my grafts pear on quince.
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I do this simple cleft graft ALL DAY LONG.
The simple cleft, and the chip-bud technique are my two most-used and reliably successful methods.
Cleft graft Potomac pear on Magness/OHF.333-- photo taken just before I taped up this bad boy with electrician’s tape.
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An announcement for all you fruit-heads: Albemarle Ciderworks is holding a grafting workshop in Virginia on March 4, 2017.
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My grafts are not exclusively clefts but the vast majority are. No need to make grafting any more difficult than you have to.
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When im short on grafting scion wood i will use a one sided cleft when i have really big rootstock and really small scion wood. Prefer a 2 sided cleft graft. Frequently i do not have the luxury of having perfect pencil sized wood or perfect pencil sized rootsstocks. Everything works if your determined enough. If i need to regraft something because of something i tried we know that is just how it goes sometimes.