Never been very successful with any stone fruit other than plum, but in general grafts will remain dormant if there is very much growth above them because they are suppressed by the hormones secreted by the apical tip.

I've had some luck cutting a notch in the bark just above the branch that is grafted to, which interrupts the flow of the hormone from higher growth. I use my pocket knife to make a slice perpendicular to the axis of the trunk from which the branch grows. Make the notch by cutting a second slice ~ 3/16" wide and as deep as the bark.

Just takes a second and appears to do no harm. It's been very helpful for me on my apple, where I've had "failed" grafts emerge a full year after notching.

Good luck,

M

Mark is right, the bud needs to be dominant. If the stock is really big, like 2" or more, you can often get away with not having it dominate the whole tree, but it needs to dominate anything else on the same large scaffold it is on.

Scott

Scott, thanks for that point. I'd look forward to hearing any more thoughts you have on that, specifically, "if a bud is on a good-sized (say 2") scaffold, what influence would pencils located between the bud and the main trunk have?"

Also, I noticed that when I removed excessive top growth from my Liberty apple that all the young grafts below responded well. So that makes me wonder "how cumulative is the effect of apical dominance? Do upper branches "drain" into lower branches?"

Thanks for all your comments and help.

M