Kevin, as we talked about this in a previous message, My understock isn’t growing. Complete tree looks dormant. I went ahead and cut the top scaffold off of the newly planted peaches… we will see what happens.
Well my friend, wait no more! haha. I just had to try it. I used the spray version instead of the dip, but I really think this might be worth further exploration! I first did regular grafts, then sprayed the graft area as well as the entire scion wood. I was really impressed. It really did seem to create a rubber-ish coating over the whole thing. I think it really will prevent drying and leaking on grafts. Also, it is white so it makes it easy to spot the grafts. That can be helpful because I’ll go ahead and admit that I have actually pruned nice, successful grafts right off my tree before because I didn’t notice them until too late. So all in all, I think this is worthy of further evaluation and hope someone else will try it.
My only concern is that is has a strong chemical/petroleum smell, so I worry that whatever chemicals are in it will soak into the wood and damage or kill it. I mean, if you dip a scion in gasoline I would suspect that it would kill it, and I fear this could have the same effect due to the smell. However, I pealed the “rubber” coating off of a few pieces of live wood that I sprayed as a test and it didn’t seem to have soaked in all all and seemed to all stay within the “rubber” material. But I only gave it 15 minutes so that isnt much of a test.
try it!
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Keep us posted. I’d be a little worried about a petroleum based product as well but cool experiment none the less
I only did a few of my grafts just to be safe, in fact, I did the ones I wasn’t too sure about so that really is a poor test since the ones I did were most likely to fail anyway. I think I will just “rubberize” some random, small branches to see if it hurts them. If not, I really think the seal it makes is awesome and if the chemicals don’t hurt the tree, I’m almost certain that this will result in a good seal/protection. TIme will tell!
I love to see people reach out and try something new. Keep us posted.
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Maybe a two dip process? Seal the whole thing with dilute latex, and then seal that with plastic dip?
Of course, that sounds awfully complicated compared to the easy peasy scion pixie stix with parafilm!
That is actually a good idea! Of course you are right about it being more work than dipping the scion in wax, what I really like about this is that it covers not only the scion, but also puts a nice rubber coating over the entire set-up: the scion, the graft itself along with whatever tape or method used to hold the graft together and in place, and a lot of the understock…or the whole limb if one wanted to. That way, you are sealing in all the live tissue and related moisture and the ends of the tape where water can run in and air (and moisture) can get out. Thats what I like about this over just protecting the scion. I know there are other ways to do this (paint, smearing soft wax over everything, etc) but I really think this is a great method of doing that. If the petroleum or other chemicals doesn’t harm the bark or wood, then I really think this may be a GREAT new grafting trick.
Ok… Kevin… Here’s one for you!!
You make a great point. Have a candle handy to spray? I don’t know if petrol products will break down wax, but if not the easiest and safest way may be to wrap or dip the scion with parafilm or wax, wrap the graft with film, and spray the whole thing down, THEN wrap with tape or rubbers for physical support.
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haha. Nice Bob. Complete with that really annoying guy from the infomercials! My generic version was about 1/2 the cost of that junk. And BTW…just because I think this stuff may be great for grafting, that sure as heck doesn’t mean I think I can install a screen door to replace the floor of my boat and then spray it with flex seal and go boating all day with no leaks! hahaha. Its amazing what the Federal Trade Commission lets these infomercials get away with. What ever happened to “False Advertising” charges? 
But if you want to put a screen in the bottom of your boat and rubberize it with this, I’ll be happy to watch the video of you swimming back to shore, Bob! ha
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LOL… I actually laughed out loud and my co-workers are probably thinking what the heck is Bob up too… I just got a notice that I will have rootstock here next week from Burnt Ridge and CopenHaven. It is still a bit early here but, I’m more that getting excited to knock out some grafts.
I put PLASTI DIP on an aluminum plate and that stuff is difficult to get off.It will be very interesting to see if buds can break through it. Brady
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I can relate to that about laughing…I have no doubt that my e.a. thinks I am crazy because I am frequently looking at my computer screen and laughing out loud. Lots of people here have good sense of humor. Glad to hear you have some rootstock coming. One of my countless projects for the coming year is to try and grow a lot of different seeds to serve as rootstock. Of course it won’t be nearly as dependable/predictable as buying “real” rootstocks, but I only need a few of each variety and its mostly just for fun. Something appeals to me about “creating” my own complete tree- top to bottom.
And btw…you said you were excited to get to do some grafts? You know what I did yesterday? I did about 15 grafts. What’s funny about that? Most of them were just wood that I took off my own trees a couple months ago. ha. In other words, I have full trees of most of the things I grafted…in many cases I was literally grafting wood from one full tree over to another full tree that was right beside of it! I doubt too many people are that crazy! Most people graft because they want a NEW variety and/or want a limb of something they don’t have space for and so on. There is no LOGICAL reason to spend 1/2 a day grafting only to end up with the same varieties you already had! haha Point is, I just enjoy grafting. Its also just fun seeing trees with different colored fruit and so on. Hopefully someone here can get that?
@Bradybb - I thought about that too. But the stuff I used is the spray-on plasti-dip and it is really micro-thin unless you let it dry and put on more coats, which I didnt. So I can’t imagine it will be hard to break through, but you may be right. Its a good point. But I still worry more about whether it contains enough petroleum or other chemicals to harm the live tissue. The good news it that I got it on several leaves 2 days ago and it doesn’t seem to have harmed them at all. I would think leaves, especially tender, new leaves, would be much more susceptible in chemical injury than bark/grafts will be. And remember, before spraying I’ve already tightly wrapped the actual graft itself, so the chemical plastic spray isn’t contacting the immediate graft area.
Anyway, I think this might be a great thing, but time will tell. Either way, it should be repeated that it was actually @speedster1 who first put forward the idea. Of course, if it works, I’ll take all the credit and if it kills the graft limb then its all his fault. (ha- just kidding, Dave, its your idea and I think its a good one)
Grafting so far seems to be going well, especially with the crazy weather. Here are a few so far.
Flavor King
Flavor Supreme
Satsuma plum
Orangered apricot
Arctic star
Arctic Jay
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I had a few extra scions and a few small seedling apples so I wanted to see what would happen with a big scion compared to the understock. Looks a little like a bobble head but it might take. The scion is definitely starting to push growth. Scion is about 3/8" and understock is about 1/8".
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i am using liquid latex rubber this year on some to see how it works. it is called “tear mender”
I have used latex caulking on my big rind grafts but I mostly used wax I saved from my baby bell cheese snacks this year.
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That’s funny about the baby bells! Just a couple weeks ago I had a little pile of those wax baby ball wrappers in my home office where I’d snacked on them and just kind of piled them on my desk. Later, I was bored and watching tv and noticed one of those little glass-jar type candles that had been used up. Just for kicks and curiosity I took a little piece of cotton rope/string I had, kind of mashed those baby bell covers around it, and put it the little glass candle holder and lit it. BEST CANDLE EVER!!! ha. Burned slow but bright and lasted for hours. haha
Its nice to see we are finding good uses for those baby ball wrappers! ha.
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Grafts all in a row. All three grafts have a short Winter Banana interstems. They are grafted onto a Ayers pear limb that is yet to bloom.
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