Here are some of the links I've saved that I found very helpful. http://citrus.forumup.org/about1762-citrus.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNXDPVfJBW4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTgiFVpAUE http://blip.tv/midfex/tutorial-t-bud-and-chip-bud-fruit-tree-grafting-techniques-350977 Konrad also has a beautiful set of photos of his very refined bark grafting. I hope he re-posts them. If your old tree has watersprouts that grew last year go out and cut a couple off. Cut them into sections about a foot long, wrap in a damp, not soggy, paper towel, and place them in a sealed ziplock bag in the refrigerator. They should make excellent scion material. If you don't have watersprouts (which are new growth shooting right up from the middle of older, established branches) look for the longest pieces of new growth -last year's growth- that you can find. If there's been any pruning on the tree there should be some, but on old and neglected trees they can be very hard to come by. If so, prune a few branches back into established wood to encourage some new growth. Prune back to a bud or a young fork -and nip the young fork too, again back to a bud. You'll need a place to graft the scions to, but first concern yourself with gathering and storing the scions. Once you have some scions to work with people here will be glad to speak to the questions of rootstock. This is a very doable, fun project that needn't cost you a lot of money and will put you in the company of some very interesting people, and may well become a lifelong interest. Good luck. :-)M

JD what probably got you confused is that even a zone 5 tree rose still has to be overwintered in the garage. A zone 7 tree rose tends to get very sick even while overwintered in the garage, because it cannot tolerate being stuck in the garage for as long as our winters last (several months of winter) That's why wheeling tree roses in and out of the garage is very important as soon as you get a warm break out of the weather. On the other hand a zone 5 tree rose can withstand the dark garage a little longer than a zone 7 tree rose can. Again, don't get discouraged. The more you practice the better you'll get at it. Also don't blame yourself either about canker. One thing that people do not realize is that constant rains on one's tree rose, no matter how well you care for it will cause canker. There are certain things which can't be helped. We've been real, real unlucky weather-wise in Kansas City. So even if you keep pruning and keep the leaves clean, canker is inevitable if you keep getting non-stop rains. To me it's impossible to think that next year is gonna be as bad as this year was. It's GOT TO BE BETTER NEXT YEAR! that's what I keep telling myself, lol! JD, here is an image of a properly pruned tree rose. There is still one more essential diagram that I need to find, but can't for the life of me! So frustating! The fantastic diagram shows how to make the cuts along the branches of the tree rose. Maybe someone here knows where the original link is! I tried googling but to no avail. I can't find the diagram except for this, but it's a bit blurry and hard to see. The only thing wrong with the diagram is that you can't plant tree roses in the ground in our zone, JD. That's just a tree rose in a place like California, lol! It is crucial to have air-flow with tree roses or disease will set in. For organics growers, tree roses are the most difficult for us because the bud unions are constantly exposed to rains and freezing temperatures and both weaken the rose with this exposure. Also a tree rose requires constant shaping throughout the growing season. However, you have to be very careful to never ever prune when there is moisture. You can only prune when it's bone dry. That's what's so frustrating about our constant rains. It leaves very little dry time to do our pruning.

Oh, how sad! I am sorry to say, though, that I have no luck rooting twigs of Crape Myrtles, which is all I've tried. That's what brought me to this board. However, I know that grafting must be done on pieces that match in size, because it can't have exposed tree insides. If that makes any sense. However, someone might have suggestions about grafting it onto another same-sized type tree..? Good luck! Christine

Putting the trunk on an angle wouldn't change the crotch angle. The weight of the canopy is less than the stress wind would cause. Get a cfl and put it on the stem where you want growth. Force it to bud out. Make the tree do what you want it to. Start now and get the buds to break before spring so by next fall you will have a mostly balanced tree. Also don't let any more growth happen on the current canopy. Rub off all new branches as they grow. Only let the tree grow from the bare stem.