I wouldn't cleft graft....as you mentioned, cut it down, perhaps only the major branches back withing 3 foot or so to the trunk, and let the tree give you new shoots [water sprouts], use these the following year to bark graft, after one or two season the grafts are nicely healed over and strong. Cleft graft can look ugly for many years and has a very weak area where it can break easy. It is important for plums to use the new figures branches for grafting. Konrad Here is a link that might be useful: Barkgrafting...

Hi Kelogs. Not to worry about your language abilities. You do quite well. Your understanding of cleft grafting is accurate- it is often done on trunks or branches that are almost just stumps. I had imagined a tree more like my apple: quite a few well-established branches that I intend to keep, and a few that I would like to shift over. In my particular case I will have better luck changing over the branches that are higher up in the tree because they will be less affected by hormones which the tips of branches secrete and which drain down the tree to inhibit competition. Since you will remove those higher branches they need not concern you. I did not appreciate how much of the tree you intended to remove. One approach that has worked for me is to work over two or three branches on a fairly young tree and work my way up the tree over a period of a few years to continue converting branches, but not the main trunk, to a variety of fruit. I keep most of the tree unchanged in any given year but change some part of it every year. If I have a variety down below that's appealing I cut scions from it and graft them onto the higher scaffolds. I obviously can't keep that up forever, but it is quite workable now. I simply keep the lower scaffolds if I like their fruit. Hope I didn't make this too confusing.

Yes Bradybb, I meant to use the term "refrigeration process" throughout the first paragraph! LOL. After reading the many messages on this website, I understand the process of storing scions and they should never never be frozen, just moist and not dry. Anyway, are the odds pretty good at successful summer grafting stone fruit trees like peaches and plums. I know that technique and experience gives a person greater success, but I was just wondering...

I have used several things for grafting and have seen several more. My early lessons in grafting mango came from watching Crafton Clift doing a demonstration at Broward RFVC. He has a unique approach. He buys a new bicycle tire inner tube from Walmart or where ever and then he cuts the tubing into strips of different lengths to use in accordance with the size of the grafting material. The inner tube material stretches nicely but won't break as some rubber type materials will as you attempt too put that last tie off knot. The clear tape that you are referring to is called grafting tape and it comes in different sizes (widths). One of the best grafters I know takes that....double it and then twists it into a rope.....very strong and can be pulled very tight. I have recently purchased some very heavy duty and large elastic bands that seem to be quite good in the processing of the grafts. Now lets see if they take and I'll report further. My thought is that it isn't so much about the material used to secure the graft on...it is mostly about cutting the scion and root stock accurately (my downfall...I tend to do too much whittling), having good healthy stock and scion and then getting a good tie to keep the materials together.