They're easy to do. You mess up, the rootstocks still grows anyways. Got grafting tape or ceranwrap, a good sharp knife, some electrical tape, and a bucket of soil.
A few advanced tips. IF you can't get scions fresh from the tree, make sure your ends are sealed when stored in the fridge. I cut on end off and soak them in a shallow bowl of water in the fridge for about 8 hours. Onced graft, I leaveh time in a bucket of soil in a cool 50 degreeishdark spoit for 2 or 3 weeks. Let the union heal up. IF not going to be water often, you got 2 options. Shade it a little bit. A cover over the cage, like a burlap sunroof. Not removing competing trees year one isn't a bad idea. Or, grow them in root maker pots, then plant them late summer or not the fall.
Tongue and whip grafting is the most commonly used here. Get some branches and practice. Could be apple, maple, or birch probably be good too.
Make sure you got a variety of scion sizes. IF the rootstocks is large, you can double graft. That is often done in commercial tree operations. Guarantees one will take.
IF the graft fails, you can topwork in a year or two. Some guys on here just plant the rootstocks, then topwork. Also, dolgo, Ranetka, antonovka, b118, m111, and likely others make decent wildlife trees without grafting. Other might be ok too, just not much known info on them. I have yet to graft a dolgo, got 3 at camp. I intentionally did not graft 2 or 3 antonovkas at camp too. Good September into early October tree.
cummins nursery has great explanations of varieties, stark nursery has good demonstrations of pruning and other maintenance. Tons of great threads on here. MAybe we should make a thread on the top with good links to older threads here and maybe good other website info.
Buying trees is still worth it in my opinion. I still do that too. Sometimes just can't get a variety or in a rootstocks you like. Using less common G890 and P18 this year. You buy $25 dollar trees and stuff the typical 12 max in a $45 box, your're at 27 or 28 a tree. Dozen is plenty to handle in one season, but not too much. Your 2 years ahead of getting fruit buying grafted trees. Also, you can buy trees you want scion from. Nip a bit off the tree that year, or grab some the next year or years later.
