I do a simple bark graft - pretty much the way Joe Real demonstrates in his pictorial tutorial - for almost everything - pomefruits, mulberries, persimmons, oaks, pecan/hickory/walnut. About the only thing I do cleft or whip & tongue on anymore is exceedingly thin-barked plants, like plums and hawthorns. Dr. Bill Reid, pecan specialist at KSU has a northern pecan blog (linked below), and in one recent installment(scroll down to the April 11 entry), he demonstrates the 'anatomy' of a 5-yr old bark graft by sectioning one he had occasion to cut down. Pretty neat to see how things knit together in those grafts and grow over as time passes. Here is a link that might be useful: Northern Pecan Blog

I agree with Dave, it failed because a citrus graft must be wrapped always, entire length! not only the graft. Citrus are not apples, they never are completely dormant, since they are active, they need and lose water continuously. So, you must wrap the scion with a waterproof material (parafilm the best, or polyethylene strip, covered with a plastic bag, etc..) until the graft take and the scion can receive sap from the rootstock (10 to 15 days minimum, usually three weeks). In any case, you have not to be in a hurry to unwrap the scion. Here is a link that might be useful: citrus bark graft This post was edited by axier on Fri, Oct 10, 14 at 12:43

Eukofios, Thank you for your thoughts on sealing and binding the fig cleft-graft. In reply to your interest about my own experiences with fig grafting, I can summarise my personal observations in the field, thus far, as follows- Chip budding using current season's growth as buds matched onto rootstock material of similar growth maturity, has proven to be VERY easy and successful in my trials recently (we are now in the middle of autumn here in Australia). "Patch budding" (which is different to T budding or chip budding) has also proved successful for me, however it has many disadvantages over chip budding....The patch budding proceedure can only be done successfully when the bark of the recipient and the donor both slip easily....Also if the bark of the patch is much thinner than the bark around where it will be placed, it will always fail to take in the fig. I have therefore come to the conclusion that chip budding is BY A LONG SHOT more versatile than patch budding, and should be the preferred method of budding figs. I would also suggest that it is to be preferred ovet T-budding, if only for the obvious reason that T budding also reuqires the recipient bark to easily slip, which adds restrictions on the timing of the grafting. I have not as yet tried cleft grafting onto figs. Anyway, keep us posted on your results!!

Yep. 2" Parafilm M for me. Been using it for 20 years. A 250 ft roll lasts me several years. I cut it into 6" lengths, then split those lengthwise into 3 more-or-less 2/3" wide strips. Had a chance to use some Parafilm 'grafting tape' during a presentation on grafting that I was giving to a Master Gardeners class...did not like it. Thicker, doesn't stretch or adhere to itself like good ol' Parafilm M. Wrap graft union and entire scion with parafilm - but for most purposes it does not have enough material strength to hold a graft together by itself - you need a 'strength' wrap - whether rubber bands(what I use), actual grafting/budding rubbers, Buddy tape, rubberized electrical splicing tape, strips cut from plastic bread bags, cotton string, surveyor's plastic tape..the list goes on. A friend, who for decades operated a major fruit tree nursery, just used plain ol' masking tape on apple/pear whip&tongue grafts - but those callus in so quickly that you don't need a whole lot of 'support' from your wrapping materials.