Larry Gene, I completely disagree with your advice. Your anecdotal observations, which I assume to be of a few trees in a single soil and climate, will not stand up to even minimal research in the value of mulching trees. There has been substantive research on this subject and the advantages provided by mulching trees would not be considered by most of us as "overkill". I don't have any links handy to illustrate my point but I'm pretty sure one of the research savy members of this forum will follow with plenty. I have, however, established thousand of trees in hundreds of sites in the humid northeast,that unlike Portland, usually gets ample rainfall during the growing season. I'm also familiar with Portland type climates, having a sister on the coast just south of Oregon (I tend her orchard when I'm there). Where the redwoods have been cleared the soil does completely dry in summer- at least in the loamy first few feet. Big trees in the background completely suck out the reserves. I also was a commercial grower in N. CA years ago. I've had ample opportunity to observe the benefits of mulching plants, with direct comparisons on same sites. In SF, mulching is the only civic-minded method for establishing trees with their frequent droughts. But even if their water supply was constant and assured, a properly mulched tree will generally establish quicker than a tree that is even clear cultivated- let alone competing with weeds or grass.

Let's see what you have to work with when the root throws off suckers this spring. If they are small you'll need to wait until they build some girth and strength; otherwise it's just so easy to cut right through them. The first thing I learned to do was cleft grafting, and it's still a go-to for me. It works for a broad range of scion-rootstock size discrepancies. I mean you can have a scion matched with a rootstock the same size or many times larger. But if the sizes of the two are close do a whip or whip and tongue if you like. And I really like the way those meld. Sometimes I fall back on a chip. You can place a chip from a pencil-sized budstick on a stick the size of your thumb without much trouble, and you can do it whether the bark is slipping or not, and regardless of whether the wood is supple and splitting readily. Bark grafting is very, very doable, but I've had a few instances where the branch didn't seem to want to grow over the splice well, and the connection seems a little tenuous. But I have a link to a very good tutorial that will get you going on it. Konrad does a super tidy and precise graft that he has pictures of, too. I don't have the link at hand but he'll provide it, I'm sure, if you ask. Those are all spring grafts. In late summer/early fall you can do chipping and budding. These are designed to heal over in the current year and then emerge the following season. So I don't have an exact answer to your question. I do, however, have a caveat, and that is that I don't know as much about what I'm talking about as it sounds like. There are a number of others who frequent this site who do more, and better, grafting in a few hours time than I've done in my entire life. I'm closer to being a newbie than they are, though, so maybe my experience at learning all these things is worth sharing. Some of the things I try to explain are the ones that I've stumbled over while learning. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Joe Real bark grafting link

Magnolias are often planted with the soil line at or just above the graft line. People then add soil over a period of a couple of years until the graft union is completely buried. They do it this way to make sure they don't immediately suffocate the rootstock(allowing the rootstock to adjust to the higher and higher soil line until the top graft is well rooted itself) before enough of a root system has grown from the top graft to support the top growth. This is done by some people with some fruit trees as well. Many people prefer their Magnolias on their own roots for various reasons. Many have found that in fact many Magnolias grow much better on their own roots than grafted. Some do it because they are zone pushing and if the Magnolia dies back to the ground and is on its own roots, when it grows back it will be the same Magnolia they bought and not the rootstock. If done correctly, it can be done with many(most) grafted trees. Though, if you plant the tree with the graft union well buried in most cases you will kill the rootstock before the top graft can grow any or enough roots to support the top growth and you will end up killing the tree.

What kind of tape?? Para-film (think shrink-wrap, but waxy), grafting rubbers(thin&wide rubber band), masking tape?? I have seen some growers remove grafting rubbers(CAN girdle if not enough light and plants grow, gain caliper really quick)to replace with small piece of masking tape...average household stuff...just rots away or falls off after a bit. Does not really last long, but still gives the union extra protection. Used more so on slow conifers, but also on maples.