I am concerned about some grafts I did about a month ago. One of eight on my apple tree has a bunch of leaves coming out, but the other seven have no leaves, nor bud swelling. The puzzling thing is these scions are still green, not shriveling up like some of the plum grafts I did which are not taking.

MAIN QUESTION: should I remove leaves and flowers below the grafts? The tree is in full bloom now, and I don't mind losing some of the apples below the grafts if it will mean the difference between success and failure of the graft, but I was under the impression that leaves just below the graft will help get moisture up to the region near the graft.

Perhaps I should trim the leaves, but not so severely that I break into the bark (i.e. don't remove the bud, just cut the leaf stalks)??

any experience with this is appreciated.