Abe, go ahead and graft onto the branches, if the trunk is too short to work with. With luck one or more of those grafts will take and then you can decide what route to take. You may be able to simply train one of the new grafts into the dominant position, or you may chose to build a multi-graft tree when the time comes.

It seems late to me here in Zone 4-5 to be grafting, but I don't know anything about your conditions in Zone 7B. I imagine it would be best to wait until late spring and do a cleft graft, whip and tongue, bark, or similar graft, but it depends too on what you're growing. There are other options- most will work in the right circumstances.

What is it you're working with? That could make a big difference to your approach.

Good luck,

Mark

Mark
thank you I am grafting Fig trees some of my trees are not self pollinating and need the famous fig wasp for pollination unfortunately fig wasp does not live in my cold climate, I have one self pollinating fig tree and I am taking the scion of this one. I will take your advice and wait until spring to avoid more disappointments.
Abe

I've never grafted fig and know nothing about it- others may well give you better advice than I. I hope they'll volunteer their thoughts.

Abe, is there something special about your circumstances or the fig variety that you want to propagate that prevents you from rooting cuttings?

Figs are rarely grafted because they are one of the easiest fruits to propagate by cuttings.

I've literally pruned off scion sized pieces of dormant wood and just stabbed them into the dirt and have had some of them take. I'd recommend treating them a little better than that.