In all of the pictures I see of the rootstock people are using for grafting, it looks as if the JMs are straight up and down sticks with no branches going out (before they graft that is). Does that mean you should trim your rootstock to look like vertical sticks before grafting? If this doesn't make any sense, Kaitan has some great pictures of rootstock he grafted in another thread.
Most of my rootstocks have very little branching. Part of this is due to the age of the tree; I graft almost all of my maples on second year rootstock. Part of this is because they are grown relatively close together which encourages strong vertical growth with minimal branching. Also, I graft them all low so I rarely need to prune them (even if they do branch out above 4 inches or so). If you plan on grafting high, then you may need to do some trimming. I do sometimes need to go in and pluck off the small buds near the base of the tree to keep them from branching. Does this help any?
Absolutely. Thanks! I wasn't sure, but this helps. I've never grafted before, but I'm trying to prepare myself for the end of winter. I've done a lot of reading, including Kaitan's wonderful instructions and pictures, as well as the grafting slideshow linked on this site. Do you have any tips to pass along? I'm going to keep some of my grafts inside my house, but the rest I'm going to bag and put in a hothouse structure I'm going to build outside. My temperatures during February and March are in the mid 60s. I saw the hot house technique on a Netherlands web site for a company who does HUGE numbers of grafts.
Hmm I think Kaitan's thread gives you about all you need to know. There are several little techniques that can't easily be described, but just need to be experienced. These are the things that can turn a good percentage into a great percentage.
