I purchased some st Julian A from a fellow fruit grower.

Trees were a out 3-4' tall. They were but back to about 18"as they were shipped

i bud grafted a number of buds to each r/s. The rootstock bled so bad that it swamped each bud and killed them. Tried again and again

All of them. They turned black and goopy. Had 8 r/s.

I've cut them back to 8" and whip grafted but I think that they might be dead because not a single bud that was on the r/s (natural buds not grafted ones) have opened, and there has been zero new growth from the r/s

my apple r/s throw up additional growth everywhere and I need to remove it every few days

what do you think?

As an aside, I've grafted to smaller r/s from the same farm that weren't cut back so much with no issues at all and the grafts are doing well