If your bench grafts do not take but the rootstock is healthy and growing, you certainly can re-graft them in the same season.
► The earliest option is chip budding and is done as early as late spring to early summer.
1. Remove a “chip” of scion tissue which includes a healthy axillary bud.
2. Remove a chip of comparable size from a healthy section of rootstock.
3. Place the previously crafted chip of scion in the place where the rootstock chip was removed.
4. Seal the graft to prevent water loss; this step is critical for success of the graft.
► The next option using a T bud comes in the latter part of the summer. In this period, the bark of these young, growing rootstock trees will begin to slip easily away from the vascular cambium. When this is possible, a T bud can be used to graft a scion onto a rootstock.
1. Cut a “T” in the bark of the rootstock, and gently pull the bark away from the wood to form a pocket (the vascular cambium is exposed on the outside of the wood).
2. Then, cut a shield of tissue from the scion, including a healthy axillary bud.
3. Slip that shield into the T pocket.
4. Seal the graft to prevent water loss; this step is critical for success of the graft.
Answer provided by Dr. Wesley Autio, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.