Is it really bad to use scions with growth older than one year?

Hello,

I was wondering if someone might be able to tell me if using older scion wood greatly reduces my chances of having a successful graft?  By older I mean using currently and somewhat recently cut scion wood that has grown two or more years before, not scion wood that was harvested long ago.

I've been grafting for a few years now with limited success.  I'm not very good at grafting - about 20% of my grafts take. All of the scion wood that I harvest comes from older, never pruned, trees that never seem to have very much growth from the year before. The wood is thin and usually only about two or three (if I'm lucky) inches long.

Assuming that I'm totally awesome  at grafting (I'm not) how much chance is there of having a successful graft using the older scion wood?  I'm wondering if part of my grafting failure is due to the incredibly small twigs that I try to graft.  I've read countless hours of information on grafting and think that I'm doing everything by the book.   Pear trees seem to be my failure.  Apple trees are a toss up.  The pear trees that I'm trying to reproduce never have good quality scions to offer.

Thank you for any replies.  I appreciate you all.

Stay healthy.
Regards,
Tim

If you are doing end on end grafting, I find it's more important to have the branches the same width than to have them the same age.

Depending on the kind of fruit, I might try a few different styles of grafting, like budding, to compensate for older or unusual scion.  

The key is to try lots of different methods.  Do it 'by the book' and do it differently.  That way you can discover what works well for your conditions.

Tim Mackson wrote:Pear trees seem to be my failure.  Apple trees are a toss up.  The pear trees that I'm trying to reproduce never have good quality scions to offer.
Thank you for any replies.  I appreciate you all.Stay healthy.Regards,Tim

Try hacking back the pear tree, hard. Get rid of ~20% of the branches. That will cause it to create numerous water shoots to form that will be good grafting material for next year.