I did a few cleft grafts last night. My biggest concern is keeping the scion alive and not drying out. I wrapped the clef graft part tightly with budding tape. Put pruning sealer on the top cut on the scion and put a ziplock bag of the whole thing, sealed it and wrapped the bag several times. I did NOT wrap the scion stick with budding tape, I don't have parafin tape. Right now the trees are in my garage. Do you all think this will be sufficient to prevent the scion from drying out? I could try wrapping the scion, but I can't seem to wrap it without covering the buds, at least with standard poly budding tape.

Also would keeping the trees safe in the garage for a few weeks be ok? I don't want to slow down healing, but these trees have no leaves. I really need to get these grafts to take because I have no more wood. I'm wondering if keeping them protected will help matters some?

Lastly, do people fertilize new grafted trees like this to promote quicker growth and healing or is that a bad idea?


Thanks!

Don't want to be a pain, but time is of the essence here. Any advice?

As long as you have a bag over them to keep them moist you should be OK. The condition of the scion wood also makes a big difference.

I would not leave them in the garage, put them in a semi shaded spot outside.

For future reference I would invest in some Parafin.

Yes, and you wrap the buds as well. They will break through the tape when they flush out.

Thanks, I'll order some right away. They should be ok with the bag until it get here. So do you fertilize a newly grafted tree?

Fertilize as normal, nothing special.

Can you use wood that has just sprouted buds for cleft grafting? I want to make a couple of backups of two of my trees, but both trees have growth.

No you want hard wood. Anything with new shoots will die back.

I would say no, the buds will more than likely die & rot & could introduce mold... It's up to you. Then again, I only cleft graft by wrapping the entire stick.

Thanks, I will heed that advice.