Yeah. As you use it you’ll see that the 3/4" tape is too wide, for most grafts. Cutting it in half is about ideal for wrapping (and not coincidentally, the same size as budding rubbers). I have used the 3/4’ width for really big grafts, but for pencil sized grafts, I like half the width. As a bonus it makes the roll last longer. It’s a 7’ roll, but by the time you stretch, it’s double, then when you slice it in half, it’s double again. So a $2.50 roll ends up being a long roll.
This is different than regular electrical vinyl tape which a lot of people use. As Drew sort of alludes based upon his comments, I think he’s referring to the the electrical vinyl tape which has a sticky side and a non sticky side. Many people on the forum wrap the black vinyl tape backwards, as Drew mentions, but what I am referring to here (and the rolls you bought) are the true rubber electrical tape. It doesn’t have a sticky side. Neither side has adhesive. Because it’s so stretchy, it will not girdle.
It’s like 10 times the cost of vinyl electrical tape per roll, but still reasonable at $2.5-$3 per roll. Since it doesn’t have any adhesive, it sticks either side. Being black, I especially like it because it absorbs and transfers heat to the union, in colder grafting conditions, vs. clear tape. The downside of course is that it can heat the union up too much, which may require some aluminum foil wrap.
Again, I’m not willing to fall on my sword based on the type of wrapping to use, just that I like the Temflex. I’ve done a lot of grafts over the last 10 years, and tried lots of materials (masking tape, vinyl electrical tape, plastic, etc.) and once someone recommended the Temflex, I fell in love with it.
Honestly, I haven’t tried the Buddy tape, but it’s about 10 times the cost of rubber tape, and doesn’t have the benefit of black to absorb heat, so I haven’t been that excited to try it. It’s basically clear stretchy tape. Probably no different that Parafilm, though from the experience of other users, it doesn’t break down as fast. As mentioned, I use Temflex for wrapping strength and Parafilm M for moisture seal.
I do quite a bit of grafts per year the last few years, and pretty comfortable with my system (but I do mostly budding). For the last few years I’ve successfully budded/grafted about 50 peach trees per year (and sold the extra) on rootstocks. I’ve found this is much harder than grafting to existing mature peach trees to add varieties, so I’m pretty comfortable with the supplies I use. I’m probably not any better than other folks who graft a lot of peaches here, but I’m probably not any worse either.
@Barkslip mentioned a tool in a thread which garnered my attention because it seemed to produce such clean, effortless cuts for I bought it because for 30 bucks seemed like a no-brainer. I haven’t used it in the field yet, only in practice. But, so far, it strikes me as as one of the cleanest cutting easy to use tools I’ve seen. Based on practice, it gives perfect matches every time, which is more important than various wrapping materials (although wrapping materials can increase success, imo.)
As an FYI, here is some notes from large peach nurseries who graft. It’s just based on informal telephone conversations of large nursery growers (some mentioned frequently here) but sometimes that’s some of the best info.
