You can cut and graft the branch when the tree leafed out sometime in early April.

Tony

Ok, thank you Tony!

we need more info...what kind of tree???

oops, it is an apple tree and will graft on other apple varieties.

You're going to get different opinions about this, but you really don't have to wait for the tree to leaf out. You can graft as soon as the sap starts to flow, and that occurs, when you see bud swell.

Thanks, that answers my question also. I'm in Z5 too.

I was told that I should top work and prune my tree before sap flows and then wait to graft after sap starts flowing. If for instance a month goes by between pruning and grafting I should recut the limbs slightly before grafting. I guess it's preferred to graft onto freshly cut limbs.

Speedster, you do want to graft into wood which has plenty of sap moving, and yes, make the cuts at the last moment. The thing to remember is that one prunes to shape and thin and clean up the tree, but grafts to it to add in to it. You will often need to remove wood during pruning to which you would never want to graft, and you will want to graft to wood which you would not remove if you did not want to graft.

In other words, two different operations, two different principles, but they do occasionally overlap. It's a bit of a challenge for me to remove a perfectly good stick and take the risk of grafting something to it which might not work, but I'm getting over it. Slowly.

Good luck,

Mark

Thanks. Making the cuts at the last minute during prime grafting season seems a little contrary to what I've read. Most of the books I've read says I should top work when the tree is dormant before bud swelling. .

When the sap flows makes the grafts grow, and that is when the buds swell or leafs out.

What I was taught, and what I think is the concensus with others here, is to graft when the new leaves are the size of a squirrels ear, or thereabouts.

You actually do have a window of time before and after the optimum when grafts can take and do well; it's not unheard of for grafters to start top working pomes before trees have broken dormancy and to keep going for several weeks. I usually end up grafting here from the last week or so in April through the third week in May.

Two considerations with early grafting: the dormant scion may break dormancy before the tree, and that can lead to rejection, and the dormant scion might dry up, or be damaged by birds or squirrels, before the graft heals.

With late grafting it's not unlikely that stored scions are breaking dormancy, and the later grafts have a little less time to take off (although they can still do well.

Others may correct me, but this works for me and I hope it works for you!

Good luck,

Mark

For sure...it doesn't make sense to graft when dormant,..that surely leads to drying up the scion.

Using parafilm can help this transition period from drying up, in my dry climate for sure, [but not totally necessary] also helps from ants sucking the daylight out the buds until death!

Ones I get smart, I'll design and make a pressure gauge, measuring the pressure in the sap flow of stock,..only for you to know, when grafting time is at its prime.

I know in my case the confusion is not related to when to graft. It relates to the fact that I've read many books that say pruning and top working needs to occur when the tree is dormant. Obviously this means the ideal time to prune does not coincide with the best time to graft. Although it seems like many of you do it together. My comments really apply to a scenerio where I might top work now (late february) and then rind graft in late March when the buds start popping. That is a month of time difference. If I do this should I recut the pruned limbs that I plan to rind graft on at the time of pruning?

Yes. At least, I would.

OH...I thought top working is grafting,...in my books anyway.

Well I guess it is in a way. I think it's the process of together topping/pruning/grafting. When I hear top working I assume it to mean practically topping the mature tree and pruning it so severely to regraft other varieties. But I'm certainly no expert. I'm still trying to learn all of this myself.

I recently did exactly what you mention. I had a bushy 12 yr old crab apple. I started exactly when the maple syrup began to run, which is well before bud swell. I did over 100 grafts over the next 4 weeks. (25 per week/ 4 weeks). 95% success. By the book i did them too early, and the weather did not cooperate, but it worked out very well. I never expected that success rate and ended up pruning off a number of them in the following years, but it was a good test. good luck.

I guess when you think about it the one graft technique that would require you to wait would be a rind graft. IT's the only one that takes bark slipping into account. Creft and whip grafting doesn't really matter if the bark is slipping, only that the cambian is lined up.