I did a few t budding and are fully wrapped
when do I take of wrap or do I leave it on
I did a few cleft and bark grafting also and are fully wrapped
same question on time and what is aftercare for both

Typically 3-4 weeks, but I have had some buds that I unwrapped at 3-4 weeks that looked good, only to have the bark over the graft peel back and the bud die. With fall grafting, I suggest leaving it wrapped until you plan of forcing it.

so mixed feeling then on doing the un wrapping at 3-4 weeks ?
and is it better to force in the spring because not to much good growth comes out of forcing in the fall ?

The reason for not forcing in the fall is that new growth would not be cold hardened and would get damaged from cold.

There is no rush to unwrap in the fall, but in spring, if you leave the plastic type wrap on too long, the bud may break and then be damaged by the wrap. However, there are other materials that can be used so that you do not need to unwrap--either rubber bands or parafilm tape can be left in place. Rubber bands can be positioned so that the bud can grow, and the parafilm is soft enough that the buds can just push through.

Thx skeet I pmed you a question.
Yeah I have used parafilm so I'll jus leave it on.
What temps would be to low based on cold weather which would
make the grafting die?

Cold weather does not make the graft die (as long as it does not damage the stock), but new tender growth is much more sensitive to cold. T-budding is no longer an option when the bark is not slipping which happens when the tree is dormant.

Assuming you're willing to wait for spring to force the buds, can grafting be done now when temps are in the 30's? Will the scion survive until then? I'm going to visit my father over the holidays and I'd like to cleft graft onto his trees. I don't get out there too often.

I think as long as stock doesn't freeze your graft will be fine and don't allow water in.

I would say do a few, and then you can tell us if it was successful or not.

ok i un wrapped a few now from novembers grafting and they are green and healed but they havent broken . The ones i unwrapped early died , like skeet stated pealed back and died. I also un covered some bark grafts and yes they did die. i left 2 with the parafilm on and they stayed alive and are shooting new growth right now.
So leave the parafilm on and dont take it off

Right--parafilm is great that way--the bud can grow right thru it (if you don't put too many layers over it.)

There are 4 ways to force T-buds--cut the limb, bend the limb down, break the limb, or knotch the limb. Of course, you don't need to force bark grafts.

Last year in July, after we got a little rain and had a heavy flush, I tried some rework of a bloomsweet even though it was running 99 deg F or more almost every day. Time was July 28 to Aug 6.

I used wedge/cleft mandarin and budded golden gf. Results confirmed my earlier thoughts. In extreme heat buds often die if left covered 21 days.
In cooler weather it may take that long to heal. About half the ones uncovered at 14 days were not healed enough to survive.

Take was about 65% for inverted T's and 1OO% on wedges. I attribute this to the very active growth since we had very little earlier in the year.

As a further trial I forced a few buds after one month. A few broke out on their own. We then had one of earliest hard freezes I can remember in
The first week of Dec. down to 24 or 25. I was shocked to see the July bloomsweet flushes frozen back and the golden gf's two mo. younger with only slightly burned end leaves or no damage.

No cover or heat was given since we had no warning.

I also have had better luck with bark grafts than T-buds in the heat of summer--and it helps to shade the graft with foil. I have not done any this yr.

i have been having growth flushes like crazy so i have been grafting all the water sprouts i can get my hands on.
I hva e had the total opposite success on grafting/budding. My t buds seem to do very well in the heat of summer and i have had very poor success on bark and cleft grafting. Very weird, it might be my technique then .
I do find it very difficult to do bark and cleft because the bud wood i have been getting is not even close to round, it is extremely angular in all way shape and form.


EDIT. i also wanted to add that out of the 10 new varieties i added only 6 have broken (t budded) the rest are healed and very healthy but dont want to break . They were all budded on my 2 year old mexican lime on june 20th 2010