I got two sets of rootstock/scions at the Scion Exchange several months ago. Impoverished, I did not pay to have them grafted, but watched and picked up pointers. I got food poisoned that day, so didn't perform the grafting surgery until several days later. (And I did it with a sharp knife but without any specialized tools.)

Of the two not-yet-trees, the Dolgo Crab looked the liveliest, the Ashmead's Kernel looked kind of dried out. The rootstock for both is putting out growth. A week or so ago, the Ashmead showed some green at the top bud. That bud is now starting to leaf out, and the next one down is showing a bit of green. The Dolgo isn't doing anything visible.

My questions are: 1) When do I give up hope?
2) I figured that I should let the rootstock grow whatever leaves and branches it can in order to feed the plant and encourage the roots, since the tiny bit of green on the graft isn't taking in much light yet. Is this wise? If so, at what point do I begin pruning off the non-scion growth that in the future I really will not want?

Thanks,

mh

marsha - it sounds like there might be a speck of hope for your ashmeade's kernel, but the the dolgo sounds like the graft didn't take. often grafts will seem like they are taking by showing some green, when it is just the last smidge of stored energy that was in that tiny twig making the buds break and show green. if you grafted in march, and the grafts took, and the trees are in soil, they should be growing more than just a bit. i got fooled by plum grafts this year; they peeped out of their buds, and then turned brown and fell off.
don't loose hope - grafting takes practice and patience, and i bet none of us who do it learned terribly quickly. keep your rootstocks well watered, don't cut off any of the shoots coming out of them, and you can try bud grafting them this summer!
karen

Marsha:
Karen is probably right, hang in there.
I suggest that if by mid-July and Dolgo crab is dead (try the scratch test, scratch the bark and if it is green underneath the scion is alive, if brown or cream colored = death) water and fertilize the rootstock well. Then bring it to the HOS budding workshop at the HOS arboreteum, Clackamas Community College on Aug. 7 between 9-12, we will show you how to bud it or bud it for you.
Best of Growing. Ted

Followup to all the previous:
The Ashmead's is about 3' tall now (about a foot of new growth), and I'm wondering if I should put it in the ground in February (its first birthday, give or take).

What used to be the Dolgo is now trying to be a Whitney crab, and I can see no signs of the bud taking. Should there be visible signs of life?

Thanks,

mh