I most likely should not dive into a subject of which bud should pop first with my limited knowledge. The one thing I can offer is careful observation of what I do. The two long scions posted were almost level which might lend itself to the even gravitational pull on the resources that cause the timing of bud opening. Some of the other long scions I grafted were pointed upward and one pointed slightly downward. The ones pointed upward tend to pop buds on the end first, The one pointed downward appeared to leaf out evenly. One of my interest in the long scions was to replace short runted lower limbs on dwarf apple trees and see if they would fruit the following year. I will remove the tape soon and add a simple split for a little while. Bill