I have never grafted anything before, but I am going to try to graft onto an apple tree I got for very cheap last season. I have seen people cut scion wood from one tree and then give it a little bath in diluted bleach before storing it, but I have never seen anybody clean the area where they are going to graft it onto the new tree before they wrap it. Do any of you clean the branch of the tree you will be grafting onto?
Also, do you always need to store the scion? Could I cut some scion off of a tree (apple, in my case) right when the buds are starting to break and graft it onto my tree right away without storing it?
Thanks
Once the buds start to swell or break on the tree your getting grafting wood from people have better luck t-bud grafting. T-bud grafting is where you look for a non leafed out bud on a non dormant tree to use as a graft. T-bud grafting is where you take 1 bud during the non dormant season and graft it to a non dormant tree. You might see this tutorial T-budding tutorial. Grafts such as cleft, bark, whip and tongue, and saddle graft are done using a dormant scion that is preferably pushing no growth at all and has no bud swelling and joining it to a tree aka rootstock that may have some swelling or a small amount of growth. You might see this link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7blxoFfJC4I and this post Top working Pears weather permitting . The more dormant the scion the better your chances of success. The new scion wood gets a bath in 10% bleach and 90% h20 to prevent disease transferral. The rootstock has roots and things such as that not suited for a bleach bath. Most orchàrdists spray different things such as fungicide or pesticide on the rootstock to prevent disease.