First year in the life of a scion

[Barkslip]

You could still buy a deep fryer and get your wax ready and do all the dipping in advance. Even if you need to cut twice on a scion where there’s wax you can.

I’ve posted many times about the deep fryer I use. Here it is:

First time grafters: what's working, what isn't?

It disperses Lizzy. All you have to do is stir until the wax is melted and then sort of work quickly. 160F is the best coat. When it drops below 120, the wax gets real thick on the scions that will cause cracking outdoors. Not good. You want a nice & thin coat. Beeswax with paraffin is best for outdoor grafting (or indoor but not beeswax is not necessary for a greenhouse.) If bench grafting and pushing your grafts in a greenhouse or another controlled environment (I have friends that graf…

I’ve found that about .3 oz paraffin to .1 oz. beeswax is consistent. Once the scions look like they have a watery surface I just cult a sliver about 1/4" of one of my paraffin chunks and a sliver less than that of beeswax and I’m back in business. Repeat as often as necessary.

Then you just add a bit of parafilm to finish each.

My buddy is like you. He never returns to remove budding strips. And I’ve found many year old grafts growing just fine with electrical tape on those. Those are usually bark grafts on larger caliper seedlings. I do unwrap those because it drives me a bit cuckoo to see those. And the wood is usually like a finger that’s had a bandage on for too long. But he tells me, eventually the electrical tape will push off and he’s never had a problem.

Dax