Thanks Rob..this looks good!
What I might be inclined to do, instead of putting the flap over the center, move it over to one side and make contact with cambium.

This post was edited by konrad___far_north on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 12:47

Rob-

What did you do it on? (apple?)... Looks pretty.

KOnrad,

I think going off center would be a mistake. It would make it harder to tuck in the strap as you would be bending it across a sloped angle instead of a line perpendicular to the run. Also when forcing the graft down into position if it were not centered on the point of the understock it would have a tendency to slide off to the side/down, instead of jamming in and firming up.

but I have only done 4 of them so I don't speak with authority on the matter.

I did find that by having the live strap and active flow growth on both sides of the understock, callus tissue quickly formed from both the strap sides and the top edges of the understock covering the exposed wood by seasons end.

I have not done it yet,but believe the strap would lead into the understock better if the sloped cut in understock were curved (at least at the lower side) rather than the usual flat plane.

Frank, I did them in apple. Low on a number of feral seedlings and root suckers from a fallen tree. I think most any graft would have grown well and healed in quickly given all the vigor of a young established tree was getting dumped into it. But I wanted to try it because...well yes it looks pretty.

But I do think there is something to be gained by keeping circumferential flow going into the scion and active growth on both sides of understock. Other than a caliper matched whip and tongue (likely my favorite) most other grafts have reduced the active cambium contact of the scion by 40%-80%...at least in terms of the amount of severed end grain. Obviously all the standards work well, but it's nice to have something that lets you keep so much initial connection when your calipers don't match.

here is the original link that got me thinking about trying the graft. Like I said before, some parts of the image and description (at page bottom) are not quite right.

http://chestofbooks.com/gardening-horticulture/Journal-1/Saddle-Grafting.html#.UUYhDTfxejM

I have recently come across same or simalir graft in The Grafter's Handbook, J Garner.
He shows the cut sequences for the scion very well but shows it on an understock cut square to it's run...as opposed to sloped. It looks harder to make that way to me as the strap must take 2 hard bends and you can't "jam" the scion into place. He also sights the "tediousness" of the method but recognizes its strength and rapid healing.

Rob-

Have you read/looked at "The art of grafting and budding" by Charles Baltet? Its on Google books if you search for it. I believe it was originally written in French? I know Scott (i think) has mentioned it in the past. It has massive amounts of various types of grafts....Good read...i'm just browsing it now.

link

Frank, that's new to me thanks for the link, I will check it out.

our local library just got a copy of The Grafter's Handbook so I have been digesting that. So many variations and uses of technique.

Last night I was reading up on "frame working" a top working technique where all the secondary wood is removed from the scaffolds on mature trees and replaced with (many) long scions carrying 7-10 buds each. Supposedly only the tips go vegitative and the rest of the buds spur up. Trees return to "normal" cropping in 2-3 years....

The pictures were impressive....I didn't even realize one could get scion that size to take and and sustain. I can't imagine the labor at a commercial level would be practical but the author made it sound as if it was developed as a commercial technique....???