I will test this stuff as stated and make a thread about it. It can’t hurt to try it.
I agree about the Temflex.Is the silicone light gray non-fusing stuff,the Super 33? Brady
One more take on all this:
I’ve used four different ‘tapes’ over the years- 1/4" polyvinyl grafting tape(strong, somewhat stretchable), 1/4" parafilm, electrical tape, polyethylene strips made from produce bags.
For whip and tongue, parafilm alone works fine for me, get your carpentry right with this graft it provides it’s own pressure on the union. Nice not to have to unwind all the tape midseason, parafilm degrades and won’t strangle the trees as they grow. Polyvinyl tape I use for topworking situations where I need to provide some pressure- bark grafts mostly. Plastic grocery bag strips worked okay, I found that I could apply good pressure with them to my grafts and they are ‘thrifty’.
For budding, veneer type grafts I use a budding rubber over parafilm to provide the pressure.
Back in the day they used waxed string!
Jesse. I’m not sure if we are using the same parafilm or not for the whip grafts. This is my first season for using the parafilm so I tested more than one way of applying it. The last whip grafts I made was with the 1/2" grafting parafilm without any additional tape such as electrical. All the scions with this method are leafing out and look great. My main reasons for using it was to keep it simple and to eliminate the tedious job of removing other tape types. Is the self removable of the parafilm reliable? I would love to skip the hand removal part.
Auburn, the Parafilm I’m using is actually 1/2". It will degrade with UV exposure and fall off on it’s own after a couple months outside. This fact, combined with the stretchiness, means that it won’t constrict the growth of your graft as it increases in caliper. The other tape options do need to be removed by hand, generally by mid-summer. I made some ‘wasp-waisted’ pear whips when I used the polyethylene, I’d stretched it pretty tight and the grafts had an hour-glass figure for awhile after I removed the poly in July. They filled out and are fine now, but if I’d waited much longer they would have had quite a weak spot at the union which could have been bad in my windy location.
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T
I know what you mean. I watched 100 piano videos and when I sat down at the piano…NOTHING! 
The guys on U tube make it look easy but, we need …
Practice, practice, practice.
Mike
Mike- your piano analogy humor is more accurate than I’d like to admit! ha. I think I actually believed if I’d just read and watch enough videos that I’d be good at grafting. When that didn’t work I started buying special tapes and tools. We’ll see if they help, but I am starting to think your right…practice must be the only way. The funny thing is, the few grafts I’ve done that did take are among the things I’m most proud of in my orchard. I think I’ll have a Red Rome apple tree with a limb full of Yellow Delicious apples this year and I can’t wait! I know that is a very minor, every day thing for the rest of you, but for us newbies its pretty fun stuff.
Bradybb- where do you buy the tape you mention and have a photo of? Is it available at regular Big Box stores/auto parts stores or is it a specialty product.
Appleseed70- same question about “non-fuing rubber tape” where do I find it?
thanks
T,
My first attempt at grafting (last spring ) were 4 saddle grafts on pencil thick apple scions & stock because that method looked safest for me. They took but are so ugly that only a mother ( or father) could love. But I am so proud of those ugly offspring.
Last summer I practiced on my prunings. Maybe I won’t embarrass myself this year.
This year I am trying W&T .
Mike
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I’ve used a few different types of tape: masking, electrical, budding rubbers and rubber tape.
I like the rubber tape Brady mentions the best. I cut it longways and pre-stretch it before wrapping the union. I prefer it to budding rubbers because it does stick to itself a little bit. My fingers aren’t nimble enough to work the budding rubbers. I prefer to the rubber tape to masking, or electrical tape because it stretches better. It’s really nice to work with. The rubber also eventually breaks down in sunlight, so unlike electrical tape, you don’t have to remove the it if you don’t want to.
I’ve used the rubber tape to bud very small diameter rootstocks (about 3/16" diameter) with good success. By pre-stretching it thins out the rubber tape some and goes on nicely. Then I wrap with two pre-stretched layers of parafilm M to hold moisture.
I’ve started keeping my parafilm M in a sealed ziplock bag to try to provide more longevity. It does tend to “dry out” if it gets too old. Then it won’t stretch very well without breaking.
I’ve tried using plastic wrap to hold moisture, but parafilm M seems to “breathe” just the right amount to keep moisture in, yet not let the buds get “soggy”.
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I’m there with the good feeling when a graft takes,cityman.I bought about a 12 inch stick of Howard Miracle Plum last year and spliced parts,both to trees and potted root stocks.Everything was drying,but one potted piece finally grew.Happiness,I really wanted this variety!
I found the 3M 2155 in the electrical section at an Ace Hardware.I’m going to try what Olpea does and cut it lengthways.This stuff has a lot of stretch,is thick and can put a bunch of pressure on the graft. Brady
Thanks Jesse. That was exactly what I needed to know. Bill
Here’s a link city…just the first one I came across. If you send me a pre-stamped bubble envelope I’ll send you a roll. May be cheaper to just order it depending on the postage cost…I dunno. Check ebay too…it’s probably there as well.
Just bought a roll at Ace too- senior citizen day means a 10% discount, so I paid $4.04.
Basically I think any reasonable system will work when done well, but some approaches sure lend themselves to the process; it’s also nice if you don’t have to go back and remove the tape. I want to try Alan’s technique using nippers to make the cuts for whip grafts. A tape that will stick to both pieces before making a full wrap will certainly help.
sorry, duplicate post.
I’m in the same boat, cityman, struggling with my first season of grafting, about 40 grafts so far. All I can offer is that the ones I just did look a lot better than the ones I did at the beginning. It’s just a steep learning/experience curve.
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Appleseed- It just completely blows my mind that a virtual stranger would offer to go to the considerable trouble of packaging, addressing, going to post office, etc. for no personal gain whatsoever. I see others do the same with scion, and I promise everyone that when (if?) my trees get big enough that I can harvest decent size scion, I’ll gladly send it to you or others who may need it. It will be a tiny way of paying back (or forward) for all the help that you and others like you have given me. As much as I appreciate your offer to send me a roll of that tape now that I know what it is I will either find it locally or order it the next time I have enough of an amazon order of misc. items to get free shipping, I’ll just pick up a roll there. It will be cheaper and certainly easier on you! But again, I sincerely appreciate the very kind and generous offer from appleseed and all the information, assistance, and especially encouragement from everyone else. I love this site and genuinely care for the good folks who are here. Thanks all. Now wish me luck on this year’s grafting…especially my really big important (to me) the topworking of a very old apple tree that was the impetus and cornerstone of my entire orchard. I’ll post photos when I start on it and I hope you’ll all help out on that one!
thanks again.
Kevin
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Kevin, I hope you post those pictures before you start and that I get to follow along watching the advice you’re given and learning along with you.
Re-working old trees kinda intimidates me. A good friend has an honorable old Wealthy that needs attention and I wish I could guide him with more confidence. We took some dead and sick wood out of it last year and it put out a lot of new growth. I hope we can get serious about selecting and training it. Turns out (for me) to be a lot easier in theory …
:-)M
Marknmt- I’m very glad to hear you say that you are interested in following my top-working project and advice. Before I even got your post saying so, I already took photos to post and seek advice from others. So look for the thread…hopefully it will be a good one.
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Cityman…really, it’s no big deal. I have loads of it here and if you said you needed it quick I would go the postage too. Marknmt sent me scions the same way as have others. It’s a give and take kinda thing and since many have been gracious to me it is kinda my duty to do the same. Send me your address…you got some larger trees that it may be particularly helpful with…I have tons of Super 33 also.
Jeff in Maryland
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Thanks everyone for bringing up the Temflex. A few days ago I did some bench grafting with cleft grafts of thin scion onto beefy rootstocks. I used rubber bands for those. Then last night, after hitting up the Home Depot I did some more bench grafting using the Temflex and it is so much easier to work with. I tried it both over and under Parafilm-m and of course it is easiest to make sure the alignment is good when the Temflex is the first layer so I’ll probably keep doing that.
But I was wondering if anyone had any issues with it damaging the bark when it comes off. Or is the fact that it is rubber mean you can just leave it on and it will break down and fall away? I was just a bit worried that if it is below the Parafilm the Parafilm would have to break down first before exposing the Temflex so it might stay intact too long and need some human intervention. What have others found to work the best?