I bought some parafilm from our local CRFG meet last winter. It was very rigid and didn’t stretch much at all. I left it in the sun where it warmed up and became real pliable. Since then I’ve left it in the garage and it stays warm.
I’ve been using this 4 gauge 1 inch grafting tape that resembles parafilm
and I’m liking it very much. It kind of serves a dual purpose and eliminates
the need for parafilm on almost all grafts. I’m only using parafilm to cover
exposed areas of bark grafts on wide under stock.
When I took a grafting class for apples, the master grafter used freezer tape instead of masking tape. It doesn’t take much for apples or pears. He suggested freezer tape over masking tape simply because it has a water sealant in it that helps keep moisture in and out of the graft where masking tape doesn’t. He said that both break down naturally and there is no need for removal like with electrical tape.
I use electrical tape for bark grafting persimmons where pressure seems to help. Of course I then have the extra step of removing it.
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f&f,
I like the freezer tape idea… slightly more expensive than masking tape - and harder to find, anymore, but also has better adhesive properties than masking tape.
If I do Parafilm, then tape, then rubber band, there’s nothing to come back and remove - rubber bands degrade in sunlight… and pretty rapidly once I get into May, which is prime grafting season for pecans/hickories.
Sometimes, though, if I overwrap the rubber band with tape to slow UV degradation… I have to come back and remove the rubber band.
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Parafilm on sunlight loses its strength and disintegrates! Therefore, i pulled a single layer of tape insulates on it.
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if you have some to share i would be grateful just ordered some and it was not the real stuff , on amazon
I’ve come to the same conclusion. I don’t go through a roll of parafilm very fast and so I keep it in the refrigerator. And it needs time to warm up to be at its best.
I have bought some parafilm through Amazon that worked, sorta, but obviously wasn’t fresh. It was brittle, didn’t seal well, that kind of thing. It really pays to have it in good condition.
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I spend a relative fortune on buddy tape from AMLEO.Com but it never dries out and stretches beautifully. You can do hundreds of grafts with a single roll if you are doing splice or small wood type grafts so the price doesn’t matter to me.
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Vic,
pm your address…I admit, I bought parafilm grafting rolls recently and I hate them compared to the actual lab film…it’s like twice as thick, and fairly rigid–I may find it isn’t so bad once I get used to using it, but right now it doesn’t want to stretch the way the lab stuff does. I haven’t used it to hold a graft yet but it’s been a PITA for wrapping petri dishes…
I agree, I bought a whole box of grafting rolls. I like the width but it has no stretch continually breaks, and doesn’t stick to itself very well so sometimes the whole wrap loosens. The actual lab film is wonderful.
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Is the lab film similar to Buddy Tape,(which to me,is thin like skin,that peels after a sunburn,but is stretchy)?bb
I never tried buddy tape; I came from a molecular lab in grad school and they were doing lab cleanup 1 yr and I scored a near-whole roll of parafilm, so that’s how I got the lab stuff and I never tried anything else.
Pisser that their grafting stuff feels so much harder to work with 
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I am not sure if mine is ‘buddy tape’ brand as the box it came in is gone but I bought it from an orchard supplier. I was a lab tech years ago and so when I found the tape to be hard to work with I bought the lab parafilm and that is what I prefer.
People use what works for them. I used cheap parafilm before but it was poor quality. I switched to Parafilm M and am happy with it. I use it to wrap scionwood and a graft union to prevent desiccation.
But parafilm alone is not strong enough to hold scionwood tightly to the rootstock. I use Temflex for that purpose.
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Parafilm M is also my favorite but I use electrical tape to tighten the union. This year I’m trying out what looks like a 1" roll of saran wrap but I don’t think it would be suitable to cover the scion buds.
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I like Temflex for several reasons.
It is very stretchy so a 1.5” strip is usually more than enough.
It is self adhesive.
It does not girdle a graft union like garden tape does.
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I like Temflex too. Was going to order some this weekend from Amazon and it was $6.48. I’ve bought it from Lowe’s before and thought that price was high…it’s $2.68 At Lowe’s. I think I’ll drive to Lowe’s! The Temflex holds well but will disintegrate with growth of the graft union and then will split right off.
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It’s probably the Texas heat that helps it to do that.Here,Temflex will melt into itself and will need to be removed in pieces.I don’t like making a slice to peel the stuff off.bb
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For holding grafts I use vinyl tape whose downside is that if you don’t remove it, it can girdle apple and pear grafts, although it’s never been a problem with stonefruit which grows strong enough to stretch it. When there is a threat of girdling you can often unwrap it through summer but in winter and spring it can lift off bark tissue, which hasn’t been fatal to grafts for me, but I often prefer freeing the graft with a cut with a razor knife even though it involves cutting into the graft a bit.
That said, I don’t fee like a genius at grafting lately after two seasons of near utter failure grafting peaches and nects and a relatively poor percentage of plums (about 50%). Until I figure out the cause for this inconsistency I will feel like a grafting idiot, no matter how many grafts I do.
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I haven’t tried Temflex but not having to remove it is appealing. $2.68 sounds reasonable if it self removes. I’m assuming the rubber tape listed below is the type your using.
3M Temflex 2155 Rubber Splicing 22-ft
https://www.lowes.com/pd/3M-Temflex-2155-Rubber-Splicing-22-ft/3129711?cm_mmc=shp--c--prd--rpe--google--lia--106--electricalaccessories--3129711-_-0&store_code=1737&placeholder=null&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqNPyBRCjARIsAKA-WFwgHVK9maO2goASoTcxAmMtcD-8dwUVoQLZrnDktMkcxbNBQ3kpPVIaAj6iEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
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