My advice is to leave them alone(!). Beginners (from my experience) only get in trouble when messing with their delicate grafts... The only thing I’d suggest right now is making sure the eventual shoots will be protected from birds, dogs, children, lawn mowers, weed-eaters, hoses, Frisbees…
I suspect the grafts are on rootstock, and not an established tree. If on rootstock; keep an eye on competing buds from below the graft union. Allow a couple ‘sets’ of leaves to develop if two or three of those buds open, but if they begin to send up shoots, pinch their tips, leaving those couple sets of leaves to help feed the tree. It may continue to do that during the season; if so, let it put out another set of leaves, then pinch it again.
Up top – where it counts, if you have two buds on your single scion, the top bud will generally out grow the lower. Once it does (or whichever bud becomes dominate), you may tip-pinch the second buds growth. That’s removing the next set of forming leaves. Don’t be in a hurry to do this; I’d suspect you can allow them to both develop 5 or 6 ‘sets’ of leaves before deciding which one will become ‘the trunk.’
Keep us posted, and photos are welcome 
Sorry Viron,
I feel I must give another perspective on this one. All of my grafts have been top-working existing plants, but I've done many. However this is also true about plants that I have had made from the scion exchange. Many times I have seen the rootstock outgrow and conquer the scion, and the timing on this is crucial. If the scion doesn't grow as much as the rootstock, it can die out. Some I have caught just in time. Others I fail to catch in time and the scion, after growing a bit, will die out and I will just get rootstock growing. If I do catch them in time, I pinch them out of the rootstock.
This year, for example, on both the ones made at the scion exchange and ones I grafted, the buds on the scion were green and growing and slowly they started turning brown and dying. I searched the rootstock and found the little buds were growing and sucking the energy out of the scion. I think I got some of them just in time but others, I don't know. Luckily, many have revived, but the crucial time is during the green Spring flush.
My two cents.
John S
PDX OR
John, I don’t mind another perspective but I want to make sure I understand it.
Technically, all grafts are to existing plants; though my advice was meant for both an existing tree (less important due to its massive store of nutrients) and a one-year rootstock (with less energy).
You said, “Many times I have seen the rootstock outgrow and conquer the scion, and the timing on this is crucial.†– My advice was not to allow the understock bud growth to outgrow the scion but limit it to a couple sets of leaves. Yes, if the understock, or ‘rootstock’ is allowed to develop a competing stem, it can out-grow the scion, thus the need for ‘tip pinching.’
“This year, for example, on both the ones made at the scion exchange and ones I grafted, the buds on the scion were green and growing and slowly they started turning brown and dying. I searched the rootstock and found the little buds were growing and sucking the energy out of the scion.†– Here’s my take; the graft failed. There was enough energy stored in the scion to feed its buds for an attempt at growth; but lacking a connection with the stock, they died. “Little buds,†continuing to grow at the rate the scion buds should have would not have drawn enough energy to stifle the scions.
“Luckily, many have revived…†-- Do you mean the scion buds were “turning brown and dying†and after you ‘pinched the stock buds’ the scion buds revived? I’ve seen stunted scion leaf development, delayed slightly from that of the stock (tree), perhaps from insect attack? But they’ve also pulled out of it, going on to develop normally. But I’ve never seen a brown scion bud (usually two) recover.
My advice to Irazz was the same as that on my grafting aftercare hand-out; it’s derived from the experience of several top HOS grafters as well as my own. Let me know if I understood you, we’re all striving for successful trees!
[quote="lrazz":xl581w7g]I did some grafts after the scion exchange and they seem to be growing. The buds are leafing out anyway, should I pinch off the leaves on the rootstocks to direct more energy to the scion?[/quote:xl581w7g]
Yes, pinch off leaves that are of the rootstock. Anything left on the rootstock besides the graft will soon overgrow the graft, and contribute to its failure.
You live fairly close to me. If you want free fig trees, email me.
Yes, it amazed me too, but I noticed from years of almost/truly losing some grafts. They turned brown and the rootstock was growing, then I knocked off rootstock buds and the green started growing a few days later from brown buds. This happened on HOS grafts as well as on my own. They have now truly leafed out (some of them) and I'm wondering about the rest. Some of the plants that I grafted onto, like flowering quinces, were only as large as a rootstock, while some were fully grown semi-dwarf trees. This can also happen if, at a crucial time, the graft doesn't receive quite enough water. I think the rootstock is protecting itself that way.
John S
PDX OR
Here's another grafting anecdote.
Once I had a grafted tree that the scion had been growing modestly, but the rootstock just suckered profusely all up and down the trunk. I eventually noticed that the union looked kind of rough and exposed. I wondered if there was some sort of evaporation stress happening at the union that was making the stock sucker so badly. I whipped out my jar of Doc Farwell's glue (kids school paste would likely have done just as well) and painted the actual grieving union. That one action stopped the suckering altogether. Something about a rough union was making the stock sucker. Glue seems to have fixed it. That same union grew all last summer with zero additional suckering on the stock.
That particular graft was a maclura pomifera (osage orange).
I've also been waiting anxiously to see if my grafts took - did about 12 apple trees; a pear & a 3 variety plum; the apples all with interstems. Now waiting to see how my novice grafting skills worked, at least most of the apple interstems seem to be budding out; which is better than nothing - figured I'd attempt to do two part trees all in one go; but if they don't all take at least maybe the interstem will; then I can try budding onto them later or graft again next year.
I've also been rubbing off most of the emerging buds on the rootstock & interstems, though leaving top ones on the interstem for now just in case my upper graft doesn't take; want at least the rootstock to grow!
Dave
Lotus026
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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