I think that would just be wasting money. I’m sure your grafts will be fine. I did a bunch this season when the stock wasnt growing at all and most still took. How cold is it in your area? I actually like it to be cool for a couple weeks after grafting. When it is too hot the scions can start pushing growth before there is a good connection.
Just for the peach tree, because we’re hovering in the mid- to high-60s. A couple people on this forum have told me peaches won’t callus until they get to the low eighties, or at least they won’t callus quickly. We’ll see, I guess-- money already wasted! 
but thanks for the concern. At least if many of the grafts on my peach fail I have some scions left in the fridge and I can do a few over again, later when it’s warmer.
not sure if it is good or bad, but have to hand it to @Lizzy : i am just like you! “Impatient”, “obsessed”, and even “stubborn” might be adjectives defining us, but when it applies to gardening, it shouldn’t be all bad. In fact, being extremely motherly to one’s plants to the point of ‘spoiling’ them will NOT make brats of them, compared to spoiling one’s own kids. And i can’t think of a more pertinent justification 
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yes, a delay in sprouting could be due to previous refrigeration. But come to think of it, the history of refrigeration is merely a circumstance which we could “blame”, or use as a “reason” as to why our grafts are taking a long time to leaf out.
if your scion leafed out quickly(regardless of previous refrigeration), you should see it as a positive sign in itself, because you are at least sure it is alive(even if just temporarily). Only thing to contemplate is if sprouting occurred too soon because of the scion’s reserve energy, or if the union between scion and rootstock “clicked” immediately upon their acquaintance. Best scenario would of course be BOTH scenarios.
how many days have your quick-leafing scions been alive? A week now?
Yup, @jujubemulberry, it’s true that nothing that leafed out early has died yet! That’s a good sign 
You will hear me lamenting loudly on here should that occur.
if none of the scions’ cambium layers are in actual contact with the rootstock’s cambium, the scions could be living off the moisture stored in its wood(wood is actually a sizeable water reservoir), and from the fog trapped under the paraffin film, and if the gaps between scion and rootstock aren’t too far, then the scion may also be in reach of the sap bleeding from the rootstock’s cambium.
all these will stimulate callous formation, filling in the gaps in between, until finally, they establish connection.
because wood expands with moisture, and shrinks when dehydrated, a good indicator that an inactive scion continues to get some help from below is if it’s exposed parts do not appear wrinkly, or if the parafilm wrapping continues to be taut, or if there’s no visible change in caliper size between scion and rootstock-- even after several weeks of the scion being “out on a limb”.
I’m getting into this one late, but I’ve crunched the numbers from last spring and figured I would share them.
From the below numbers, I draw the following conclusions:
1.) The earlier you graft it, the longer it sits there waiting.
2.) The fastest average time was 2-2.5 weeks.
3.) I suspect that the grafts from 5/23 were slow to leaf because they were re-grafts of difficult locations (shaded or low in the tree). Even those that eventually took didn’t produce much growth.
I should disclaim that the small sample size isn’t statistically significant and may not be of any use- I just like data.
These grafts are mostly apple and pear. There were some peach and plum grafts on 5/3.
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Great info Bob! I have been wondering if anyone has developed a kind of spreadsheet for tracking graft success. I’d want to include a number of variables in mine, including what kind of graft it was, whether I used wax or tree-sealer, etc. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten how to do multivariate regressions!
Yes, I have a spreadsheet for this.
I save:
Variety
Fruit type (apple, pear, etc for easy sort/filter)
Scion Source
Rootstock (could be real rootstock like B9/M27/G65 or an existing tree like “Priscilla”)
Graft Type (Cleft, double-cleft, chip bud, etc)
Date of graft
Notes- catch all field. Sometimes I indicate if I think it was a particularly good or bad graft. I also describe in words where on the tree the graft is, if it is a mature tree being top-worked (for example “4’ up, SSW facing, next to xxx graft”).
Final Status- live vs dead
First take/leaf date
I recently added a “Planted” date for rootstocks which I may graft, then callus indoors.
I used to capture the following, but it was too much trouble and grafting takes me long enough already without all the extra data capture:
Caliper of rootstock
Caliper of scion
Length of scion
Number of buds on scion
Bob
You and I both had the anal retentive traits. I got records of all my trees in spread sheets. Very helpful when you needed though.
Tony
my system is probably more cumbersome: manual approach to time-lapse photography, by taking pictures quite often, after having programmed the camera to caption the date on each pic.
will then do a slide show(on pc or tv) after a few months which help me trace their growth rates since the dates are recorded on each slide.
come fall and winter, and stuck indoors, i tend to run these slide shows over and over again while yearning to get winter done with asap, lol!
pathetic, huh?
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That is kind of neat. How do you get the same spot all the time and keep each graft straight? It seems like a tough thing to manage- I’m guessing you only do it with some of your grafts? I’ve made about 50 bench-grafts so far and plan to make 60-80 grafts outside. I think it would be a full-time job (or more) to track them all with the camera 
i am extremely trigger-happy.
with cameras, that is. If the regular joe takes thousands of selfies and posts them on facebook, i take thousands of pix of my plants and post them in my permaculture weblog. (taking selfies and posting them online is against my religion, and a crime against humanity, lol!)
needless to say, it is impossible for me to take a picture of each and every graft/bud/flower/fruit, and impossible to take each picture at the exact spot or angle. I usually just gauge their growth by scale and proportion to other stems, although i also often take pictures with a tape measure right by the specimens. Almost like a crime scene investigation, haha.
actually only learn to appreciate the pix during fall/winter/early spring, since that is the period when the craving to see something grow is most intense. …During late spring and summer, i would of course rather be watching my plants way more than just through a camera lens, and watch them first-hand just like some folks here who do it 10 times a day.
have this extreme urge to oversee—what i might overlook
Hi folks: I reviewed this old thread with interest. I am still new to grafting (and my poor technique reflects it!), but do have a few follow ups for the group:
- What is your/an expected success rate for W&T, cleft, and bud grafts?
- Do you always cover the cut end of the scion wood with wax or some other substance?..
- Do you cover the parafilm type with some type of sealant or is the tape with a rubber band good enough?
- To be clear on timing - I stored my scion wood in the fridge and did my grafting in 1st and 2nd week of April in Chicago (zone 5a). It then froze…sounds like I would be better to wait until end of April or early May…is that the consensus?
Thanks, derwag
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Ain’t sayin’. So there. No seriously, I get mostly takes, so let’s say 80-90 percent as long as we’re not talking apricots. I’m always trying something a little weird so that cuts into my success rate. But as a rule on apple and pear whip (I don’t do whip and tongue now) and cleft I expect them to work and they usually do. I don’t do much budding.
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Yes. I use Johnny wax. A good twist of parafilm works too. Roofing tar is good. I would use fresh cow pies if they were handy. Seriously.
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Parafilm and rubber band is great if you take any care at all, but I keep the Johnny wax around for little gaps and open spots- but don’t let it into the graft itself. In that way roofing tar would be better.
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Graft apples, pears, and plums any time after the leaves have opened up to “the size of a squirrels ear”, or your little finger nail, up to a month or six weeks. By that time your dormant scions are probably trying to break dormancy and that will cut into your success rate because they’ll leaf out and start giving up the moisture in the scion before they’ve knit with the rootstock, and that means they’ll dry out and die.
Good luck and have fun!
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OK I have to ask, fresh cow pies, how does that work? Being a cattle farmer I have these in stock at the moment.
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Gotcha, didn’t I?! 
How does that work? Honestly, I’ve never tried it. But I’ve read descriptions of it here, and I imagine it would be pretty straightforward. Probably all kinds of bacterial activity going on- nothing like good clean (fresh) compost to help things grow.
The main point is to keep the scion from drying out. And cow pies, as we all have experienced, can crust over nicely while staying damp on the inside for quite a while. Hey- if it works, go for it. I have an idea you’re in a good position to do the field research and update us …
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I think I will leave the pies on the ground crusted and intact, disturbing them attracts the flies.
I have a neighbour from Romania that dips the ends of her grape cuttings in cow pies, she says it helps them root.
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Do not worry. I did my pear and peach graft last year early March . Temp was below freezing point at night. Most grafts turned out fine. I did have a plastic bag to keep the moisture., though.
Hi All,
I too have been enjoying this thread (and site) and appreciate all of the wonderful knowledge everyone shares. Hopefully you all can enlighten me a little bit regarding my grafts.
SO…onto the questions!
My citrus scions were grafted 3/13 and are still looking fresh but have failed to show any sign of leafing out. I have pulled and weighted branches higher than the scion to overcome apical dominance as of a week ago. The trees are just in the ground as of a couple months ago and are starting to set fruit. Could it be that fruit setting and being newly planted is causing a delay in leafing? I feel that removing a majority of the fruit might be prudent. Thoughts?
Regarding apricots… I have grafted 3 varieties with only one breaking bud (grafted 4/6). The one grafted on 3/17 looks very fresh but no bud breaking. The other grafted on 4/6 has not broken bud either but looks healthy. Is apical dominance something to be concerned about in stone fruit? The only one breaking bud is close to the top of the tree.
Regarding pluots… So the pluots took like crazy having grafted 3 more onto a 4 in 1. One scion though broke bud (one of 2) and has SLOWLY pushed some leaves out a quarter inch. The other 2 scions are both screaming along with no hesitation. Going off of what I’ve read here I’m guessing the energy from the scion is pushing the leaves out and not yet the energy of the tree. The scion looks fresh still. Grafted 4/3
Thanks,
J