rootstock dying

Posted some pics of a MM111 rootstock with withering leaves.  It has a failed graft on top....stored for a while in a cool basement with only indirect sunlight, but seemed OK until suddenly the leaves began turning brown from the tip of the leaves working back toward the stem.  Any ideas what this could be from and any thoughts on saving it?  Or is it too far gone?  Not the best pics. sorry.   Bill
 

Was this benchgrafted just before planting?  Turn the pot upside down and gently pull off the pot and examine the roots.  If roots are alive it may regrow.  If not it never was able to establish new roots.

If you do examine the roots; when you're finished I'd plant it in the ground. I did 3 apples on M7's on top of M111's which while I'm not completely satisfied that my grafts will survive are doing OK so far. I'm about 75 miles west of you. I planted mine out about April 20 to the 23rd; in the ground. They were obviously not dormant when I planted them. One has a new growth stem shorter than yours and some leaves on the scion. I'm allowing some growth on the two rootstocks to help support the plant, but I cut off some of the growth on the rootstocks.

Good luck with your graft, don't give up, try it again whatever your results are.

Thanks for the advice...now for the rest of the story...this was kind of a test.  This rootstock had a failed graft.  Even though the rootstock had pushed leaves I wanted to see what would happen if I used another dormant scion I still had on this rootstock.  That's why I had it in the basement out of direct sunlight...to give the new graft time to callous.  The leaves on the rootstock were a pale green but looking OK, I just figured they were pale from a lack of sunlight.  Also, just before this happened I had plucked off the largest leaf of the rootstock (you can see where I pinched it off in the 3rd picture) and now I wonder if that was the beginning of the end.  I'll post again when I know something new.  It actually looks like it may be pushing some new growth today.  I want to be optimistic.  Does anyone know the exact reason you supposedly cannot graft to a rootstock that has sprouted leaves?   I asked a Professor of Horticulture at Penn State but never got an answer.  Thanks, Bill   (PS  Three of the 5 grafts I did seem to have taken, but it's still early.  One that I thought had taken last year sprouted leaves and looked good for about 4 months, then the leaves dropped and the tree died.)  

Bill

So, if the theory is that you "can't graft to a leafed out rootstock":

That would mean that you can't T-Bud graft to a rootstock in the first year, till the second, third year?

I tried T-Budding to a one of my grafts a few weeks ago, about June 1. I had problems because the bark and the cambium layer were so thin that I couldn't get the bud to stay in place while I tried to tape it. But I don't know if that's a characteristic or if my problem was my lack of experience. I want to try doing a T-Bud next spring instead of using 2 or 3 buds, just grafting with one bud. I tried it on some sticks that I'd cut off while trimming my trees in the spring. That seemed to work, but the cuttings weren't fresh and I had made no attempt to keep them cool or darkened. This would be useful if for instance you wanted a franken tree, or you just wanted a lot of grafts out of the scions you bought.

In hte end the rootstock died.  Plan to send a pic to the nursery where purchased and get their input.  Nothing ventured!