The scions of some species are more responsive to grafting relative to their position on the mother plant, and it is also important when they are harvested. Protea rupicolor and P. aristata respond quicker after grafting when the scion still has the apical meristem intact and harvested in early summer when the terminal bud is just (repeat – just) beginning to swell prior to new growth. If these two proteas have the meristem removed on the scion and grafted later in summer they will be very slow to respond with any new growth. Protea humiflora, P. sulphurea, P. mucronifolia, and P. odorata will shoot well with the apical meristem removed in an early to midsummer graft.
Protea nana responds poorly if a thin single stem is taken, but better if a slightly thicker recent growth (this seasons) multistem scion is used in early to mid-summer. The grafting wound should then be just inside the leafless or older leaf part of the stem, however hand stripping the leaves off a P. nana does not wound the stem as deeply as in P. humiflora. A dissection microscope will tell the story.
Protea scolymocephala responds poorly to a late summer graft with the apical meristem removed, it is better to graft after the first new shoots have hardened enough (early summer) and retain the apical meristem.
This is where having ex situ plants that can be assessed daily is a tremendous advantage to the grafter. This also allows for pruning of the scion and rootstock mother plants for better stems and even disbudding to stagger new shoot development. Spraying with seaweed extract and fulvic acid is another procedure in manipulation of the motherstock, as is a spray application of a gibberellin.