Some amazing things were discovered accidentally. 
Unknown red pear (probably Red Barlett) onto Callery root stock that grows everywhere in my neighborhood! The graft took but is so ugly to look at! When I first unwrapped and looked at it, I thought of the dried out Egyptian mummy displayed in the Chicago museum!
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Tom, there is nothing wrong with that cleft graft. Looks normal to me. In a couple of years you’ll barely notice it. Are you planning to let both grafts grow?
I’ll let both grow until the gap merged. After that, I would prune off the less desirable growth.
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It may be a little bold and early to declare this particular graft successful, but I’d say this is generally what people mean when they say you can just generally throw an apple scion in the right direction and get it to take:
It’s not exactly growing happily, but it’s struggling along.
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Wow! Structurally unsound, but you can’t argue with vegetative growth!
I am probably going to be needing advice on how to shore it up if it keeps going. I was originally thinking about trimming a sliver off the inside and trying to rebind it, but if it takes how it is maybe I just need to brace it like it is and trim the unjoined side off.
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I would carefully trim and re-bind w/ electrical tape- waiting until next year to take off the binding. A splint is more work but would be added peace of mind.
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As in, today? My only concern is I am NOT a gentle giant. I’ve mostly knocked off plums trying to bag them, and cut myself multiple times (Blood is copper + nitrogen right?) grafting them in the first place. I’m hesitant to futz with a graft already clearly floundering. I was considering painting the whole durn thing with grafting sealant but I didn’t want to prevent any callous that IS filling in that gap from expanding.
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Just make sure it doesn’t get bumped until it is stronger then trim off the left tag. You don’t have to rush the cutting. Just let it grow. In a few months it will be much stronger. Bill
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What Bill said! Plus, splinting isn’t that hard, just take a couple of bamboo skewers (the type for grilling shish kebab), put them on two or more sides of the graft joint. Tape them securely, a couple of inches above, and a couple inches below the graft.
Update!
I didn’t touch it, and it’s filled way, way in:
I should be able to snip the jutting out part this winter, if it isn’t swallowed up already.
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I dont have a photo but have an IE mulberry cleft graft where one side took and the other completely failed, with a huge (maybe 6+ inches) split down the rootstock. Next year i may try to saw off the half of the rootstock cleft that is now just a glorified clothespin helping pinch the scion in place…
Better to snip it during the growing season so it can heal, unless you are only cutting dead wood.
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Probably but as it stands I’m afraid if I messed with it I’m gonna rip up clean off the other side where it calloused. next year I’m hoping to clean it up some
You should probably just leave it alone, it will be subsumed in a year or two.
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I heard you guys like ugly grafts.
Well @Lizzy… here is the Winter Nelis pear you sent me growing away nicely, but the union is kinda goofy looking. There are rumors on the internet that Winter Nelis has a “trashy” growth habit. Maybe that’s what we’re looking at. Before and after I took off the bandage:
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I get a lot of that kind of callous sometimes- and others not at all. They all seem to work!
Nice tags, by the way- nice hand.
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