I had good luck with trimming the scion foliage way back and grafting quite high on the rootstock, like above the 2nd or even 3rd leaf. I hadn't planned on doing it that way but I was trying to match up with overgrown rootstock. I have lately had good luck by not trimming the leaves from rootstock, I feel like the rootstock continues to thrive and is not forced to depend on a weak scion until it begins growing well. On a few plants I've even made a second graft of a different variety if a rootstock sucker begins growing. I kept a tray of different heirlooms always growing, I would harvest scions above the cotyledons so they would sucker and I'd always be able to find something to clip a scion from. Now that I'm done grafting I felt sorry for the hideously malformed plants that have been pruned relentlessly for their body parts. I potted them up and will try to find a home for them while they live out their remaining days in a secluded part of the garden.
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