You can whip and tongue graft cherries. Here the season would be ending about now. I don't know about there. It's basically as the trees are leafing out.
They are more commonly bud grafted, which here is often August and September, whenever the bark is slipping.
John S
PDX OR
Now is a good season if you have scion wood in your hand. After you get them all grafted up, spread kids school glue all over the scion part to seal in all moisture. If you weather is warm and dry this will help prevent the scion from drying out before healing and growing. Be careful not to get any glue in the actual graft union -- this should be intuitive, but one has to cover all his bases.
I whip grafted the Cooper Black cherry last Mid-August to a mahaleb Pontileb rootstock. I painted the scion with glue material after the graft was wrapped up. It kinda sat there, I thought it might have died. But this spring it came roaring out like a graft should! Now I see last Augusts graft a mere 3-bud graft equivalent to any August chip-bud, with 3 buds instead of one bud.
I had others of the same graft grow a little (wild mazzard rootstocks), but eventually winter killed because the new growth had not had sufficient time to harden off before freezing weather became an issue.
JohnS: If you will be home next week I will mail you your hawthorn scions on Monday. Sound okay to you?
I’ll agree with the prior posts, and add: you may want to ‘Bud Graft’ later this summer... Cherries are best grafted early when dormant, they’re generally the first grafts I’ll do (don’t remember why 
).
If your “seedling trees†are from 1 to 3 years old they’d be excellent candidates for Bud Grafts (aka ‘Budding’) later this summer. You’d still have to locate the cherry varieties you want, which would be ‘currently growing’ wood, do some serious homework with regard to the graft itself (if you’ve never done one) and be ready to make the grafts as you acquire the wood.
Greece… wow ~ please keep us posted!
Is it too late to bark graft? I'm kind of excited about it. I've never tried it before.
Not too late at all! Right now is the sweet spot for everything except peaches and nuts. They need a little more heat. But for everything else - just perfect!
Here is a good pictorial on bark grafts in case you have never done them:
http://home.comcast.net/~gkowen/grafting/barkgraft2.htm
I use regular PVC electrical tape around the trunk stub to hold the scions tight. I notice the pictorial does not. Also I look for any possible air leaks that would dry the scions out (like at the union of the trunk stub and scion) and fill air spaces with modeling clay prior to covering the exposed scion with Doc Farwell glue. A scion that dries out is a dead scion. Glue keeps the whole scion from drying out. Use it! I suppose you could also use school glue too. Make a cardboard rain shelter for the whole affair to keep schoolglue from getting rained off. After growth ensues, it does not matter if the glue washes off or not. Doc Farwells does not wash off after it is dry, that is why I like using it.
Notice how the pictorial puts 3 or 4 scions around the circumference of the trunk stub as well. This is very good, as it makes it impossible for part of the trunk to die back. Having all those scions growing keeps it alive all around. After the first season, trim all but one back to one bud for the next season. They should not be allowed to compete with the leader that you will select. Their only purpose will be to keep the trunk alive.
John, bark grafts are also great on older, more established trees, with much thicker bark. But it’s necessary to hack back quite a bit of ‘tree’ to allow enough sun to feed the leaves of the scions, thus allowing them to put on the kind of growth necessary to establish a productive limb.
I like ‘the inverted L’ bark graft, it works well on thicker bark; as you put only one scion ‘wherever’ you’d like a ‘new limb.’ They’re also a nice accompaniment to the ‘crown veneer’ grafts depicted in the tutorial. If it’s an older and larger tree, after I ring the top with scions (as depicted) I’ll also ‘plaster’ some ‘inverted L’s’ below to help feed the stock and establish even more limbs.
Plumfun, you say: “Having all those scions growing keeps it alive all around. After the first season, trim all but one back to one bud for the next season. They should not be allowed to compete with the leader that you will select. Their only purpose will be to keep the trunk alive.â€
I understand what you’re describing, but I’ve actually nailed wood slats to the tree below the grafts, around 3; their ends extending far enough out to tie over each scion and establish as ‘many limbs’ as scions. The stock heals as fast as possible. Just a month ago I realized I was standing 4 feet out on a couple of these ‘grafts’ while pruning them. They’ll actually beef up that much, over time.
Guess I’m reluctant to hack off any portion of a successful graft… and usually do the same with two-scion ‘cleft grafts.’ The stock heals faster and more completely as there is ‘even nutrient activity’ on all sides; plus, you’ve a couple of ‘natural limbs.’ …well, not completely natural 
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Good point Viron, thanks for clarifying.
Previously I was always worried that too many limbs originating from a single stump would be the source of much disaster, being that the branch angles were very acute -- just asking for limbs to split out at a later date. Are you saying this does not happen?
“Previously I was always worried that too many limbs originating from a single stump would be the source of much disaster, being that the branch angles were very acute -- just asking for limbs to split out at a later date. Are you saying this does not happen?â€
I’d ‘wondered’ about that, too… But I’ve actually done a lot of ‘crown bark-grafts,’ trained them all the very next year (otherwise they’re a thicket!), and they’ve all beefed up while trying their best to ‘fill in’ that center void. Their strength is amazing! I’ve even stood on the ‘inverted L bark-grafts’… granted, they’re going on 25 years old! But never a problem.
Idyllwild
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Marsha H
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