Nice job sealing all the exposed parts!
Thanks siroes, good advice from here on the forum. I also coated it in a mixture of water and glue
Well, at least partial success, got takes on 2 of my 4 grafts. Got a follow up question for you experienced peach grafters. Should the foil be removed as soon as you see new growth on the graft?
Do any of you use a simple splice graft? To me, even a splice is tedious work in the spring, with so much other things pressing. If you use either rubber or vinyl electric tape it seems to work as well as any graft method.
Grafting is a strange addiction for me- every season I do more of it in my nursery so I can offer multiple variety trees, even though it is not something my customers are clamoring for. I just want them to get to try as many varieties as possible- I’m not even charging more for my dual variety trees.
I also can’t sell a variety I don’t like, so I had to graft over my Flavorburst peaches, and add more interesting types to my Gala apples and so forth. .
Alan,
I know you talk about splice graft often. I have try to look It up but gotten no result. Do you have any link of splice graft for me to check out, please?.
I’m pretty new to grafting and use the cleft graft on about everything. I’ve tried but cannot seem to get the hang of the w&t graft. Peaches seem like great grafting candidates if you can get them to take, the vase shape is ideal for growing several varieties on the same tree.
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/methods.alpha/WTMeth.html
This is a good example of academic horseshit in horticulture but it shows you the splice graft.
It steers you to the more difficult whip and tongue because it is supposedly stronger- well yeah, until the graft takes. Even immediately following the graft the weakness factor is completely overcome by the use of electric tape. If you use the more expensive rubber as opposed to vinyl electric tape, you don’t ever have to cut it once the graft is fully connected with callous (mid summer to the following spring).
The splice graft is great when you are grafting onto one year wood, especially if you have the means to use same- diameter scions as wood you are grafting to. It’s not quite as good for 2-year but almost. It works OK for disparate pieces if you line up the cambium on one side.
Once the graft is growing it becomes stronger than the original wood if it takes well.
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Steve, Im in awe. I could not get my peach T-buds to take. Your graftes look great!
I like the whip and tongue better than the splice graft,because it sort of holds the two pieces in place,while I’m fiddling around,when wrapping the union.
Alan,are your cuts still made with pruners?I think that was shown in a video of yours once and I thought that was pretty cool.I use a multi cutter tool that holds replaceable 4 inch blades and that has helped me a lot. Brady
I always do splice grafts. I found I would always get great contact and good results so never bothered with the extra time it takes to do the tongue. I agree with @alan that you need to wrap tightly.
There is a double bladed, Italian made, hand pruners that is perfect for making cuts for splice grafts which I use. AM Leonard seems to have the exclusive. I use to use a common bypass pruner for the task, which works OK, but you can’t get as much control or as steep of a cut that way.
Scott, did you always do splice grafts? When I started grafting I didn’t even know it was a known way to graft but it made sense to me as the most efficient way to join two pieces together. Same thing with the use of electric tape, but then it turned out others had already been using the same methods for who knows how long.
Alan,
Well, it turned out what you call splice, I call whip grafting.
Whip grafting alone is a bit hard as I’ve only grafted on existing trees, usually side branches. To align a scion horizontally and hold on to it with one hand while trying to wrap the graft union with another hand is challenging for a new grafter like me. It’s easier if it’s done vertically, say,grafting on a rootstock, in my opinion. I’ve also found it hard to do a tongue part for whip and tongue. I need more practice.
I ended up doing mostly cleft and bark grafting. So far, apple and pear have been mostly successful. Peach is 50/50 or may be 30/70 
Mamuang, if you’re getting peaches to take you don’t need my advice (I’ve failed at apricots and never tried peaches) but I do want to encourage you to try the simple splice or whip on existing trees, using “Temflex 2155” tape (affordable and available). I found that if I made my cuts and then started the tape on the cut branch I could then readily align the scion with the cut and get a little wrap started on the graft without pushing the scion away from the stock. In fact, once I had tried it a couple of times my biggest problem was the sun in my eyes, or a branch in my face or armpit. This is my first year using this approach and I really like it. Everything took.
Like you I also use cleft and bark grafting, and they have their advantages and their places. But if your stock and scion are near enough in size then a whip or whip and tongue are tidy and quick. Using Temflex, and cutting the pieces with your nippers instead of the knife, really made the difference for me.
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You guys make splice/whip grafting sound pretty easy. Earlier today I did a lot of grafting (25 grafts, mostly jujube and mulberries, plus a few stonefruit)- maybe I’ll do some more in the next day or so with splices so that I have a comparison point. So far I’ve been using cleft grafts for almost everything, pre-wrapping with Parafilm and tying it with green garden tape (1/2", non-sticky).
I tried to find the double bladed pruners at A.M. Leonard,but maybe didn’t do a thorough enough search,but found some others at another site.Are these similar? Thanks,Brady
http://www.italianseedandtool.com/product/A2ML/Professional-Double-Cut-Pruners-ML.html
BB, that is the design although I can’t tell if blades are same size. I couldn’t find it on line when I just looked at the AML site but you could call them as they have carried it for many years in the past and their model isn’t quite as expensive and perhaps not quite as well made.
It is in AM Leonard’s 2015 catalogue as item # ART17 for $46.99. 800-543-8955. I don’t know if it has been discontinued. If the one you found becomes available I may try it for comparison.
I pre-wrap with parafilm also, Bob. It’s way better than trying to do it after the graft is attached- No more wriggling!
I used my Felco #2’s to do the cuts. I could see why a longer, more tapered slant would be better, but everything has taken nicely, and it was so quick and easy.
That said, clefts are my go-to if the stock is much larger than the scion. This year I also tried a side graft, similar to a bark graft but further down the stub. I had something else on the stub I wanted to see develop. I was almost surprised to see that one take, but it looks like it has.
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I think a scion is harder to shape correctly for a cleft graft than for splice or W&T. I had a hard time this yr getting a long enough taper on cleft scions. That may be easy where stock has some give and can be cinched up around a scion. But if stock has no give the scion needs a very long taper, IME.
This looks complicate for me. I’m afraid that I may splice my fingers, not the scions! I’m going to stick with cleft graft. 
Yes. I tried a few whip and tongue and found getting the tongues right was not going so well and I got good contact when leaving it off so never looked back. The W&T does have the advantage of more overall surface of potential cambium alignment, but with the splice you can get the alignment absolutely perfect (on one side at least) and not have to fight the tongue. When wrapping a splice graft you need to keep feeling the alignment as it can shift during the wrapping process. With enough experience you can just move things with your fingers to get it into good permanent alignment while wrapping.
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