[nafex] Grafting - nurse limbs and apical dominance

I am grafting to apple and pear rootstock suckers. The original grafted
trees are gone. Last year I stripped off growth on the shoots arising
below the graft, but had no takes. This year, I selected suckers with
side shoots which I left to use as nurse limbs in the hope that
increased shoot vigor would give me better results.

Question- some of the nurse limb apices are higher than the apical shoot
of the graft. I have only found one source that suggests that one does
not prune the nurse limb until the graft takes. But I am afraid that the
apical dominance effect of the nurse limb will prevent my grafts from
taking. My only thought is to 'split the difference' - to tie nurse
limbs down horizontally.

Does anyone have experience with this issue?

Betsy Hilborn
7a NC

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