Patty:
The first pic was done in Whip Tongue Graft because that was to me the easiest way to do and more successful than T-budding.
The bottom 2 were done on regular T-budding.
I have a very limited know-how before but now I am experimenting all kinds of grafting including your banana graft. Somehow I like that one until Joe showed us his bark grafting. That's all I do now because I think grafting will give you a new and bigger tree in short period of time. I put 3 buds per graft VS 1 bud on T budding.
The Mayorca graft is also one to reckon with because of its large contact area with the cambium layer and I would pressume that more success are in the offing with my grafts. Next time I will put rubber band around the contact area to be sure they have a slight pressure on the contact area of the cambium. I got this idea from Joe by the way.

You should try Joe's bark grafting. I believe that they would take better than the other grafts because of its maximum contact with the cambium layer and the rubber band seals the two together to complete the process.
Just as Joe said when he tested this procedure on his persimmons, they were 100% take whereas before it was mere 33%.
That's why that's all I do now. And besides I like grafting better than T budding because I think you will have a bigger tree in the process. I put 3 buds in one stick.
Joe:
If you read this, do you think that it is better to put an aluminum foil to the graft maybe for about one week because to protect the cut from the rain and sun?
And what is the difference between a parafim and a grafting tape.
Mr. Texas said that a parafilm will deteriote itself but the grafting tape will not. And what tape is that we bought last year during the scion exchange in San Jose when EZ let us tasted his superb Oros. I removed all the flowers of his oros by the way . I want them to grow vegetatively this year.

Benny, at this rate of rain we're having, and relatively cool, there is no need for aluminum foil. Use only aluminum foil when maximum air temperature exceeds 80 deg F, but there is none in the forecast. The best temperature range without using any reflector or aluminum foil is at 60-80 deg F, with 70 deg F, being the best for the grafts to heal the quickest. What you can do is wrap including the buds with parrafilm grafting tape.

Yes, I have both, the vinyl and the parafilm. The vinyl grafting tape will not deteriorate, mine hasn't and more than 2 years now in some of my grafts. The vinyl tape is transparent plastic and you can purchase them from Raintree Nursery: http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/ProductDetails.cfm?ProductID=T150

Although they claim it can stick to itself, that's quite hard to do and have never done it as claimed. Must use scotch tape on the end to make them stick together. I have used this in my T-budding last year and had the most failures with this tape and have to go back and untie them, so hard to untie, so why double the work on this one? It is successful for other grafting like cleft, chip budding, banana, and veneer. The fact that it takes longer to tie its end makes my grafting slower, allowing for more infections.

Since this tape is UV resistant and will not break down, I now use it as my labeling tag instead of the green tie. One thing nice when you use this as labeling tag is that it is soft to write on, that even if the ink fades away, you can trace the tip of the pen markings that remains on the surface of the soft plastic and able to read the name again by reflecting light on its surface. That is the major use of it now.

Meanwhile, I always use parafilm, then rubber band, then parafilm in all of my grafting except for the tiny grafts that don't need reinforcements.

And for ordering the parafilm grafting tape (1/2", scroll down to see):
http://www.midwestvineyardsupply.com/ProductList.asp?categoryid=25&subcatid=84&cat=Grafting+Tape&Type=True

If you order by the dozen, a lot cheaper when shipping and handling is counted.

And the rubber bands, you can buy them from Office Max or Staples, sold by the pound, really cheaper than grafting bands.

Thanks Joe.

OK now I know I have the parafilm grafting tape and rubber band and I followed your procedure to a T.
What I am driving at is the graft from my "plum" to another plum, here's the story: I covered my graft with aluminum foil but I forgot to remove it and after 5 days when I opened it that
s when I found out the 3 leaves growing inside the foil. Is that a coincident ? I removed the foil by the way when you said it is not necessary.

Also Joe please let me know when you recieve the budwood and their condition.
I am not too comfortable with mailing because of my past experience.l

Benny, got it this morning in perfect condition! Will graft it as soon as the rains are over. Perhaps this weekend when there's a break. Fantastic budwoods! Greatly appreciated. Will exchange with you.

Good. Now I can rest. And thanks for the pointer how to mail budwoods. You don't owe me a thing.

Will put in the mail on Monday...I will make sure to put a good supply of the SUPER SWEET ORO BLANCO

This year I'm putting in the ground the sister......SUPER SWEET MELOGOLD

btw, I' still eating from the Oro Blanco tree...the MIL loves the fruit as do all family members...

Benny- hope your grafts put on a ton of growth this season, so that you will have tons of flowers nextg spring.

EZ

EZ:
Oh, yes EZ I certainly hope so.
Everytime I pulled out those flowers, for every petal I clip, there is one tear drop dropping from my eyes, Bo-huh-huh...
But I know it has to be done. And 3 times now on 3 different occasions I had to clip more flowers. And I cut already the side branches because I want the tree to grow taller because of the sunshine competition from my neighbor's trees. My lot is located 10 feet below my neighbor's and they have disgusting non-fruiting tall trees sycamore maybe who I blamed that killed my matured calamondin tree years ago. These trees are robbing my trees for sunshine. I alrady cut (their trees) that were swinging over my yard last yearbut this year it came out with a vengeance.
After My cal died I dugged it and guess what I found underneath the roots: A an almost round ball of fined haired- roots just residing under the roots of my cal roots- all fine hair-like roots of that sycamore tree. As big as a basketball.
PS: I don't have any more tears to shed so please send your oros over here........ (just kidding)
Benny

PS:
Your oros are putting out lots of new branches on each leaf- 2 branches on each . And that is excluding the flower buds. They are now 6 inches long. So you see there are lots of activities going on right now.
The downside was I did not know that melogold is a rare tree and it is likened to a gold. I did graft your oros here and the other on Midknight orange. I cut the branches and left just 2 staright ones on my melogold. Then I graft a Sarawak pomelo on one of the branches and let your Oros prosper. Then this summer I also cut your oros side branches to make it grow taller. So here it is now, your oros are growing like crazy.

removed

Benny, your Melogold buds are blooming like crazy on my 43-in-1 citrus tree!

I grafted several buds, perhaps 5 of them which all took about 2 years ago, and now they're huge, and blooming for the first time, and they are the biggest citrus flowers I ever saw, bigger than the flowers of the ponderosa lemons. I think that branch will surely break if I will not thin out the fruits later. Will take pics when I get a borrowed camera.

Will be excited to taste them next year (or after 18 months).

Joe

That's nice to hear Joe. Expect to hear from you when they ripe.

I have a question. You mentioned that you are letting your flowers bloom on the melogold and you said you will let their fruit ripe on the tree. Now I am clipping the flowers on mine before even they bloom? Is that advisable?
I am now having second thought whether I should have removed the flowers or just let them go.

Benny, it depends on what you want. If you want a bigger tree before you want fruits, then clip off the flowers.

In my case, my 43-in-1 tree is truly monster size as per my tiny backyard. It is 14 ft tall by 8 ft wide, and I think it will support a lot of fruits. So for me, I don't want the Melogold branches to go really that big, otherwise they will shade out the other cultivars, so they are for fruit production now. If I wanted the branches to go even bigger, I will have to clip off the flowers.

Joe