If all the grafts are doing well, and assuming they are well placed through the tree, by all means leave them. But if you cut the tree down to a stump and made four grafts around the stump I would remove all but the most vigorous and let it become the new central leader, or the basis for a vase.

Hope that answered your question.

Thank you for your reply.

They are on the stump. I assumed that you would eventually leave one but I didnt know for how long you shouod leave more then one for insurance.

If you did leave the two best say until fall to make sure one of them makes it would one take growth away from the other? Could one grow to much and make it weak at the union?

I am not sure how much growth to expect, but I would imagine with all of that stump and one or two stems they would grow like crazy.

Would you train this like a wip that was just planted? Could you end up with or would you even want two sets of scaffods in one year?

I know I put alot of questions but any and all imput is appritiated.

I don't think you need to worry about one growing too much and becoming weak at the union- if it takes off it is because it is strong at the union.

I don't know how much growth to expect either, but with all that root ... you might easily be measuring feet instead of inches.

Train just like a whip. That's what it is. But when you say "two sets of scaffolds" I find myself wondering whether you mean two or more scaffold branches on your whip, or whether you are still considering leaving on two of the grafts before you commit. But assuming you just keep the one graft and nip off the other three (off with their heads!) then I think -others may correct me, please- that you can safely let the tree be your guide. If it's ready to develop scaffold branches and those branches are where you want them, I would encourage them. And the earlier you remove competition the sooner the ones you keep will bulk up and establish themselves.

Good luck,

Mark

You want only one scion per stump eventually. I would leave the other 3 but prune them severely so that only the chosen one grows long. This will keep the entire stump alive. When the one scion covers half the stump, cut the other 3 off. I do this all the time. I have had 3/4 of the stump die on a large stump when only one scion was used. The picture shows a severely pruned scion on the left and the chosen scion on the right. The scions are Cara Cara navel orange. The tree used to be seedless kishu mandarin which has way too small fruit IMHO. Same principle applies to other fruit trees.

{{gwi:109502}}

Here is a link that might be useful: mrtexas

Mr. Texas knows way more about this than I do, so we can both learn from him!

:-)M

I agree with the "feet versus inches" measure. I just cut down a diseased apple tree last Winter, and grafted over two new suckers coming up from the rootstock. I didn't bother with the stump. The new grafts put on 2 feet of growth already in just two months. They are two different varieties so I have no intent on cutting either one.

I expect to have about six feet by the end of the season. They are already branching out as well. It's amazing what an established root system can pump into new grafts. It's simply inspiring to watch it grow. I've added a bit of nitrogen to see how much more growth I can get out of these grafts.

Thanks for all the responses. That pretty much sums up what I have been looking for.

Like Axel...I also like the suckers or water sprout grafting, in one season the graft can heal over......hard to see where the graft union is, this makes a strong graft and at the end of season you don't have to worry that the wind is breaking it off. With stumps....it can take several years to heal over, sometimes it looks horrible for years and never really heals over
....have seen many ugly things over the years, so I never gone this route.

Konrad