Any tips grafting

[Anthony]

I just watched the video of Nobuichi Urushibata demonstrating how he moves mature branches and it inspired me to practice some grafting. I've read up on the basic techniques but still really don't know where to start.
I think those 14$ home depot mallsais would be fine to experiment on but are chinese elm and ficus good species to start with?
Does anyone have any tips or ways they used to practice that helped them?
Where do you get the branches or roots that your going to graft with?
Can you get a few trees and kinda Frankeinstein them together to get one balanced tree?
Why is grafting tape called "tape" when there's no sticky side to it or is there a trick to get it to stick?
On a Juniper I tried the graft where you circle a spindly branch back towards the trunk and graft it on top of itself. The foliage has stayed green for a little over two months now. How long should I wait to take the wire and grafting tape off to see if it bonded?
How many grafts on a tree is safe to do at a time?

[bonsaihunk]

Hi Anthony.
Grafting like all skills takes some practice to perfect. It does help to watch someone do a graft or two to be sure that the "doing" looks like the "reading".
I have not grafted elms but Ficus are the easiest to graft of any trees. Sources for the grafts ideally should be the same plant. In that way the genetics and appearance of the bark will match in the final tree. Otherwise you will get a Frankenstein tree with mis-matched, bark leaves etc.
Grafting tape does not need to be sticky. In my case I use a plastic cord, very flat to compress the graft to the host. This pressure helps ensure a good contact and increases the success.
Your juniper graft should not be severed for 2 years. My experience resulted in dead branches before that time period.
You can do hundreds of grafts on a single tree.
For more information about fig grafting check here.
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/info/ChiangGrafting.html
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/GraftingFigs.html
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/rex/AdvancedGrafts1.html
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/FusedFig.html
Hope this helps.
Jerry

[Anthony]

Jerry,

Thanks for the links! They read easy and make a lot of sense. I read through the first one and it seems easy enough?

Where it says "matching the cambium" does that mean they line up, where the recipient ends (the chisel point) lines up with the top of the V in the free graft?

All the Best,
Anthony

[bonsaihunk]

Anthony,
Try to align the green layer beneath the bark at least on one side with graft and host.
Good luck.
Jerry