Clark, unless you understand why you had trouble with another kind of graft, I think it is very premature to assume that what worked and didn't work for you is somehow universal- this is the source of so much misinformation on the internet. It is also annoying whenever someone considers there own experience more significant than that of another contributor on a forum, something that I've often been guilty of and slow to learn. With fruit trees in particular, responses will vary, but with healthy wood on vigorous trees, species that graft easily can be grafted in many ways. The method I described I've used on hundreds of trees that have been baring heavy crops from the grafts for a long time. I've found it the easiest approach for me. The splice graft is the quickest, easiest to learn, and a vigorous, one year shoot is likely to heal quickly and grow quickly. I've taught many beginners this graft and they've generally encountered immediate success. The reason I developed the approach I do is that I'm often called on to change varieties of very old apple trees on estates, and this allows a fairly rapid transition without having to look at a butchered tree, and the scalding of trunks from excessive wood removal is prevented. I'm sure rind grafting works very well also, and removing most other growing parts of the tree assures the roots will send everything to a drastically reduced branch system. What you describe is the most common approach used in commercial orchards when changing over varieties, so it obviously has a lot going for it.

Lou: There is an important question here for the future of your tree, but the photos do not give a clear answer. Are both of these leaders the result of your graft, or is one of them the graft and the other rootstock growth? If one of them is slightly higher than the other, the lower one may be emerging from the rootstock, and should be cut off immediately if you want your tree to be the variety of your grafted scion. Why is that wooden stake in the middle of photo #2? Has it got something to do with supporting the chicken wire around the tree, or are you trying to straighten up one of the leaders? Whether or not both of these leaders are emerging from your grafted scion, I would cut one of them off at the base, then drive a steel stake at one side and tie it up to grow vertically. Then I would prune the remaining leader back a few inches to encourage side branching next season. If your graft has grown over 3 feet in the 2nd season, I think the growth rate is good, but I agree with Ace that your should kill back the competing grasses in a 4-foot diameter circle around the tree, then mulch with an organic material like pine chips to a depth of several inches. If you get a good layer of mulch around the tree it shouldn't be necessary to add any additional fertilizer. And if you take any more photos, back up and give us an overall view of the tree, and a better close-up of the grafted area that is unobstructed by leaves. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Actually, I have done this exact thing, starting with a much smaller 1 year old Kousa Dogwood seedling. Although its tendency was to grow in a multi-trunked habit, I trained it to grow with a single trunk. It was a painstaking process, pruning carefully over 5 or 6 years, and removing no more than 10% of the total wood on the small tree each year. So for example, I didn't remove an entire lower branch at one time, but headed it back by about 1/3 each year over 3 years. Once a tree gets considerably larger and its roots get established, you can remove more wood. I even transplanted it to a different spot around year 4. It is a very pretty and healthy specimen. The tree had its first blooms during year 7!

All of the figs I have planted are from branches that were stripped of leaves and kept in those 16 ounce plastic water bottles. They were put in a window over winter and grew pretty good root systems by spring , and all leaves that grew back were left alone- then were planted in pots. Seems really easy to do. Good luck!