Beautiful grafts - I like W&T, but I haven’t gotten perfected exactly where to cut to make them line up like yours do. Is there a trick, like are you cutting halfway across on the rootstock, but then cutting 1/3 across on the scion?
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Thanks a lot! Lots of practice and a sharp knife. If one side is to short keep slicing. Also, one trick I use with larger scion, bigger than a sharpie is cut with hand shears first to get an angle and finish with your grafting knife. If you have a larger grafting knife that is sturdy you won’t have to. You can use this trick with smaller wood but to me it is easier with just a grafting knife. Also watch some videos to see the slicing technique the pros use and remember to protect your hand from cuts. When cutting you want the beveled side of your blade up and flat side down. When I started I had some really bad graft unions but now with a lot of practice they are much better. Good luck!
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Just getting used to the format. Good vibes all around. I could not find Doc Farwell’s grafting seal (yellow) anywhere locally and google searches only offered quart, gallon and five gallon buckets! As per previous rant, the green Heal & Seal was available locally but I have a quart which is fine for large pruning cuts but too tenacious for grafts that need to be released in a month or so. Both formulae are interchangeable but best for what their labeling suggests.
Finally found Northwest Cider Supply, a company that took my order for one pint on April 10 and and I got my pint in about five days via USPS for about $25.00 total.
The one-pint plastic jar was identical in shape to my old Doc Farwell yellow goop jar, but “Doc Farwell” was not on it, only generic “grafting seal.” Looks yellow like the “kind.” I’m optimistic. We’ll see. NCS was prompt in confirming my order and notification of shipping. I am not affiliated in any way with any company.
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Wanted to revive this thread since its getting to be that time of year.
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Wanted to revive this thread since its getting to be that time of year. I see mostly whips but very few whip and tongue grafts.
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I do whip and tongue when the the wood matches up. I’ve actually never done a whip. I did about thirty pear and apple grafts this year and only one didn’t take. My alternative is cleft. I use a utility knife. Things don’t always look pretty but in a few years nobody will know. I wrap both graft and scion with parafilm and then the graft with 3m electrical tape. They sell a 3/8 that comes in a pack of different colors that I like. (At Lowes)
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Come look me up…I’ll let you look at the 100+ whip & tongue grafts I did this year. (!)
Also one whip that failed.
Three or so saddle.
30 maybe bark grafts.
Half dozen or maybe a dozen side grafts.
And more cleft grafts than usual.
Total over 150.
ps. And definitely takes over 90% this year on apples …93% my former best and I think I’ve beat it. Pears…not quite such a good number but over 50%.
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I have basically done whip and tongue on most of my grafts this year. It may not be as pretty as some of you guys and modified at times due to very short internodes, very hard wood jujubes, and very inexperienced grafter. So far 
it looks like my take rate, especially on jujubes, is getting much better. I’ve done a couple of “D-” grafts with W&T that are actually growing!!
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I got a bunch of larger sized “B-grade” rootstocks this year that I had to graft with smaller-sized scion wood. Instead of doing the standard W/T and lining up the cambiums on the side, I did a bunch of “side-grafts” with a tongue so the cambiums matched on both sides–and it also made the wrapping of parafilm easier (as the other “standard” method allows the scions to slip more easily).
Is that what you mean by side graft? Sort of like matching up the cut scion to a shaving off of bark on the side of a rootstock (and maybe adding a tongue)? Or are you talking about something else?
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You’re correct. And I do add a tongue in almost all such cases.
The scar takes longer to heal completely,
but the graft is successful.
(It still heals nicer than cleft grafts.)
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“D”??? Grafts
A D minus grade… lol
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One thing I’m really unclear on is the placement of the tongue cut. Can it be down the middle of each, or does it have to be to one side?
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I start the tongue cut 1/3 of the way down the cut surface of the scion and stock, not in the middle of the cut surface.
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Thank you, sir. I think I understand.
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This guy has some good grafting vids on YT.
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@ammoun … i did not know that.
I do appreciate his videos on youtube… watch them every spring.
TNHunter
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You get just as much with a simple splice and electric tape holds grafts in place as well as the whip and tongue. The only down side is when the size of scion to tree shoot doesn’t match, the scion can slide away from contact on the side you choose to match when you do the tape wrapping.
However, nothing is quicker and requires less acquired skill than a splice graft and even absolute beginners usually have good success with it.
But then, if I had your skills, I probably wouldn’t consider stooping to such an “amateur” method, but I think the splice is a much better starting point for beginners and for me, it is now all I need. I do a couple hundred grafts a year, maybe a few hundred, and spring is my busy time. Splices are very quick.
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