That is a lot of slicing and taping! I was getting weird looks from my family after a couple of hours… but maybe that was because they heard me talking to the sticks. 
6 Likes
OK, guys . . . so I lied. Twice.
I counted 62 grafts . . . not 40.
AND . . . Jay, I do look more than once a day. If I’m home I ‘take the tour’ in my pjs, in the morning, with a cup of coffee. My dogs come along for that.
Then, I probably go walk around once in the middle of the day, pull a few weeds . . . rewrap scions whose rubber bands are disintegrating and replace with Temflex . . . check for ‘graft life’ and embryonic fruit! Then when my husband comes home - we check it all out together. So . . . at least 3 times a day.
But . . . I draw the line at digging up seeds to see if they’ve germinated, @galinas ! 
10 Likes
I guess you are just not curious enough!
4 Likes
Don’t feel bad in any way- you are getting the hang of grafting. I am in love with the v-graft tool talked about elsewhere on the site,with @Barkslip 's modification. I never got whip&tongue to work well, cleft somewhat better. Saddles with this tool seem to work well. Of course I had some very thin scion to work with- talk about ugly! We’ll see hope those go. I suppose if it makes a tree…
3 Likes
Thanks for the kind words. Perhaps I shall try one of the graft cutting apparatus as I would like ty interstem stocks and be able to make Franken-trees and such. I seem to recall there was a post on this forum in which the poster was promoting the ease and effectiveness of the cleft technique. Certainly my handful of cleft grafts were less ugly (and less frustrating) than the whip and tongues that I tried with the grafting knife.
1 Like
@Rosdonald, @NJpete, @Bradybb . . . I was gluing the tops of my finished grafts with wood glue. Then Regina told me she was wrapping her entire scion before attaching it. So I copied what she was doing. Great idea! Less stress and movement, while trying to keep the cambiums in touch with each other. Plus - it really does seem to induce sprouting . . . So, then I quit gluing and maneuvered the parafilm to wrap over the top of each scion . . . and found I didn’t have to glue.
Next year I plan to wrap all of my scions that I send out ‘in trade’. The ones I got from Rosdonald were all pre-wrapped in Parafilm M - and I didn’t have to do anything except remove some from the bottom, so that I could make my cleft graft cut. (thanks, Regina!)
Also, I quit the rubber bands as soon as I tried the Temflex 2155 that everyone was talking about. It is GREAT! The rubber bands were all disintegrating in the sun, and needed to be replaced . . . and the Temflex worked wonderfully. You can get a really really tight wrap. And it’s quick! Saved a lot of time not having to fiddle with the rubber bands.
If you haven’t tried the Temflex . . . Try It.
4 Likes
Maybe I’m whacko . . . but I love wrapping scions. I even liked watching Skillcult wrap his with those crackly strips of plastic bag! Guess it doesn’t take much to entertain me these days!
No . . . really . . . I liked the finesse it takes to wrap them ‘on an angle’ and do it all neatly, etc.
Ahhhhhhhh. Can’t wait till next year! 
2 Likes
For those that take multi daily inspection tours, I would suggest taking a magnifying glass as well. You can spy the swelling buds through the parafilm before the naked eye can see something happening. Only try this if you tend to be obsessive.
5 Likes
Thanks to you too Karen,
Job well done! On 3/5/21: I grafted on Puente #2: 5 peach varieties including your scions, with Meracrest nectarine, Red Haven, Indian Free, and Oregon Frost free and covered inside Greenhouse. After 2 weeks of dark callousing, I uncovered them and they seem to be well on their way! Pic of your Indian Free and Mericrest!
5 Likes
Can you describe more about callousing? What are you looking for? Is it the filling in of material by the trees?
1 Like
Nicely??? 
This is me:
A zoom macro lens works even better! 
3 Likes
Sure,
Callousing comes before transfer of nutrients between rootstock and scion can occur as it is the process whereby the damaged cells of cambium in both rootstock and scion go thru a transformation to build the new cambium layer connecting scion and rootstock phloem and xylem. Once callousing is completed the graft is fully healed and the flow of nutrients between rootstock and scion can then occur. You may have heard of Dax on this forum who advocates hot pipe callousing. This is because callousing does not require light to occur,but it does happen faster when you hold the graft at the correct warm temperatures. When ambient temps do not approach optimal for callousing, I often cover my grafts with a dark bag to obstruct light until I have several weeks of dark, warm callousing. In this way once you expose the scion buds to light, and photosynthesis begins, the bud is swelling while the rootstock can pass thru new nutrients before the bud uses all of its stored energy. In like manner the bud’s photsynthesis can pass nutrients back to the rookstock; thus growth of the graft can begin! Hope that’s helpful.
A good text that does a better job of explaining why callousing is so important can be found in Hartman and Kestersons Plant Propagation Guide.
I found the below data and chart for callousing online and I use it to plan my grafting.
Callusing temperatures of Fruit and Nut trees
Posted on May 21, 2013 by qwertyqweryt61
Many people ask me what are optimum callusing temperatures to ensure a good percentage of viable grafts.
Nectarines/Peaches – 18-26 deg C. ( 64.4 to 78.8F)
Apricots/Cherries – 20 deg C. ( 68F)
Plums – 16 deg C. ( 60.8 F)
Apples/Pears – 13-18 deg C. ( 55.4 to 64.4F)
Walnuts – 27 deg C. (80.6 F)
Grapes – 21-24 deg C. ( 69.8 to 75.2 F).
Do not forget tissue damage for most temperate fruit will occur at temperatures over 30 deg C. (86 F)
Temperatures either side of the optimum will also work, but the percentage take will be reduced. See graph below for walnuts.
Callus graph
Callus formation is required at the graft, therefore temperatures are only needed at the graft. The rootstock and scion can be held at lower temperatures to avoid breaking the dormancy.
7 Likes
For apples, it’s not rocket science. I’ve grafted at 35 degrees off the tailgate of my truck until my hands wouldn’t move and if I cut myself it didn’t hurt. And got 3/4 or more to live. Typical is about 85%.
But, by letting a majority stay in the dark a few days at 66 to 72 degrees…will know in a month if the success % is substantially higher or not.
No doubt a longer calous period is needed in cold outdoor weather…and it’s more important to have the scionwood sealed to prevent scionwwood dessication, especially the cut top. I seal with wax.
2 Likes
One thing to keep in mind about these temperatures is they are the idea temperatures at the union. If it is sunny out and the sun is hitting your graft you should add 10F to the ambient air temperature to estimate the union temperature. For this reason aluminum foil covering is recommended if it is a sunny day and you are on the upper side of the window.
5 Likes
Thanks all for the info. I never really understood the importance of callousing before. I did some bark grafts of very small scions recently and I did cover them with foil. Didn’t really know why at the time except I saw someone else do it.
2 Likes
The wood I receive from mamuang,usually comes that way.She is A-Okay.
2 Likes
It would be lying to say that everything I said to the sticks was nice. 
4 Likes
Did you try grafting with a properly sharpend single bevil grafting knife? With the right cutting technique?
I gave a grafting course. One of the people was really frustrated cutting “curved” grafts 20+ times in a row. I saw he had the wrong knife, next cut with the right knife. Perfect!!! nothing to improve upon. It can make that much of a difference!!!
I have not used those tools. I was under the impression they only worked well with same size pencil thicknes scion. IE ideal if you’f got tons of sized rootstock and scion, like in a comercial operation. But less useful if your dealing with odd sizes like most hobbyist/collectrs do.
you said you used it on thin scions though? how did that go? and did you graft on same thicknes stock? or did it manage a difference in thicknes?
I had a not-great knife last year, better ones this year but still didn’t like the whip&tongue grafts as much. I did do a few, and a modified W&T (smaller scion on the edge of a larger stock) but left most of my knife work to oddities. I have not enough wrist strength or close vision to use the knife as safely as the tool. I used the v-grafter tool on same or similar size scion. Works fine either as V or saddle type graft, depended on what I had. If the contact looked like it might be iffy or it was a scion I really wanted, I cut across a rootstock bud so there was of exposed & confused cambium to cross. It is easier for me to wrap if cut as a saddle graft. Some used the v-cut as a start of a cleft/split rootstock.Then the long, narrow, knife-cut scion inserted.The v-cut allowed the rootstock to split and hold, and I could generally force the cut closed further over the scion. Some grafts are actually two skinny scion in the rootstock, we’ll see how that goes. Z-grafts were knife-cut as well, if I had to use them.
The tiniest, whippiest, thinnest scion that I still wanted to try - got a long exposed slice of cambium on both parts and was strapped together. Looks like it worked for at least one scion. Should end up similar to the photo here if they take, but I did use larger rootstock- Basic Tips For New Grafters #2: Different Grafts (Discussion Needed) - #80 by VSOP
One thing I did do with the tool- modifying to allow for larger stock also allows enough room for a ‘backer’ piece of scrap below what is being cut. Less tear-out and made my graft cleaner. I also added a rubber band to tighten the tool, no play side-to-side when cutting.
2 Likes