Appleseed- Again, your kindness and “pay it forward” mentality is awesome, and your confirmation that others here have done and still do the same thing bodes well for the entire “growingfruit.org” community. But I suspect that now that I know what I’m looking for, I should be able to find it around here…especially since zendog said he found it at home depot. But thanks again for the generous offer.
Temflex is different…much thicker, less elasticity and fusing over time even in the absence of applied adhesives.
The Temflex does stick to itself (which is why I like it) but it does not stick to the wood. I’ve left it on many times and it is so stretchy, it stretches as the graft grows (I’ve had some fast growing grafts too). If I want to remove it, I generally tear it off with my fingers, it never tears the bark. It does not break down before the graft has a chance to callus, but it does eventually break down, so it’s not essential to remove it.
I love Temflex. I’m going to bed in a few minutes. I think I’ll grab a roll and sleep with it under my pillow. 
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Olpea, the only times I have used this I overlapped as I went, but it sounds like you might be leaving space between each lap- i.e., spiralling without overlapping.
Have you tried both? Do you have a preference?
Thanks.
I wonder how well friction tape would work. I’ve used it on softball bat handles for years. Its tacky to the touch and sticks to itself well but its pretty easy to replace when it gets worn out. http://www.lowes.com/pd_332745-133-1449695_0__?productId=3283276
It has sa rubberized feel to it. Kind of tar like.
I got the only rubber splicing tape they had at my local ace, but it was 30 ml, and felt way too thick and unwieldy to use for little whip grafts. (I could see using it on thick stock for bark or cleft grafts though.) I returned it. Maybe the Temflex is thinner? If not, I’m also curious, like marknmt, as to whether you are overlapping it or spiraling it.
I just started with it, but I overlap it just like I would with a rubber band so that there is continuous pressure to hold things tight. As I think Olpea suggested, I cut it in half length ways and then stretch it out to about double its length before using it which does thin it out a good bit.
Yes, exactly what I do. Pre-stretch it. Then overlap a bit.
I’m not understanding the concern about the thickness. I’ve used this stuff on some very small stock for T-budding and scion grafting (smaller than most people attempt). By the time I overlap, it does leave a bulge, but it’s no big deal. Budding rubbers also leave a bulge.
It’s lovely stuff.
Temflex isn’t thinner Lizzy, and you’re right…it’s much too thick to be ideal for small grafts.
Okay. It’s probably not for me–I’ve got carpal tunnel in my wrists and probably couldn’t stretch it enough. I’ll stick with the regular electrical tape.
I have ready access to Parafilm M, in the 2" x 250 ft roll. I cut 6" lengths of the 2", then split it lengthwise into three ~2/3" wide strips. This size is pretty easy for me to work with, and one piece will usually do a double layer on most graft unions and entirety of scion for most stuff I work with. Larger caliper pecan/walnut, when I’m doing a 3 or 4-flap ‘banana’ graft may require 2 or 3 pieces.
As others have said, Parafilm is only for sealing in moisture - it has no significant 'structural strength;, and on the rare grafts I have done where I did not overwrap, there was significant degradation just within a few days, resulting in cracking and drying of the graft union.
I always overwrap my graft unions with a rubber band. Banana grafts, I often overwrap the initial Parafilm layer with masking tape, then apply my rubber band(s) - and often cover those with aluminum foil to shade the union and delay UV degradation of the rubber bands - these are much slower to callus in than apples/pears.
Had one experience playing with some Parafilm Grafting Tape a few years ago when I was doing a grafting demonstration for the local Master Gardeners class. I did not like it. Does not stretch or self-seal nearly as well as good ol’ Parafilm M.
Someone mentioned grafting back in the day before the availability of all of our ‘modern’ materials. I have a friend in Iowa who recounted following her grandfather as he was grafting apples, many years ago. He wrapped with union with cotton string, then sealed the union and covered the scion with a liberal slathering of fresh, slightly runny cow manure - fresh and still warm from the cow, and as it was usually early spring, with fresh green grass, the manure was just the right consistency!
Any of you who’ve ever stepped in a spring cow patty know, they ‘splat’ and spread out pretty nicely at that time of year, and after a day or so, they get a nice dry crust…but just underneath, they’re still moist and green. I also suspect that pH and bacterial populations in the manure probably retard fungal growth.
You definitely don’t want friction tape speedster. It is even virtually non-existent in the electrical industry anymore. It used to be common as dirt.
Marknmt,
I’ve not tried the silicone tape Appleseed mentions, just various other non-adhesive and adhesive materials.
I think is some cases it’s a matter of personal preference. Bob Purvis once showed me how he grafts. He uses masking tape. I tried that for a few grafts, but didn’t like that at all. He said some people cut strips in bread sacks, so I tried that and didn’t like it either. I can’t tie budding rubbers very well. I don’t like the vinyl black tape because it doesn’t stretch very well. The rubber Temflex works nice for me.
Appleseed’s tape sounds like it is nice to work with, as long as it would break down so the graft won’t be girdled, but I think I would still prefer the Temflex which doesn’t have to be tied.
those grafting shears are awesome, but sometimes the manufacturer instills too much lubricant oil, which literally drip into the blade. You might want to use a q-tip and alcohol to get rid of the excess oil(especially on the blade), until the blade is no longer glistening, as oil could be a barrier to the cambium layers, no matter how well you’ve approximated them.
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Thanks Olpea. I didn’t like masking tape -no stretch and it stays on for ages- and electrician’s tape doesn’t stretch and needs manual removal. I’m OK most of the time with rubbers but I’ve messed up grafts when I fumbled the tie-off, so I’m interested in anything that is self-adhesive but won’t damage bark, stretches but won’t tear, and holds well but doesn’t need to be removed or cut. I’ve got the Temflex and will try it this year.
Mark
Years ago, I saw Ed Fackler say that they just used masking tape at his Rocky Meadow nursery.
If all you’re grafting is apples & pears…that’s probably enough…they callus so quickly that if you’re doing whip & tongue grafts, you probably don’t need much more.
Anymore, I’m mostly doing oaks and nut trees…the oaks are almost as fast as apples/pears, but pecan/hickory/walnut… I need some added strength for quite some time.
How soon will you be doing your grafting Mark?
Looks like I’ll be able to start just about any time now. We’re leaving town for two weeks early in May and I want to be done by then. I only have a few to do this year so I may wait a little longer. We don’t even have the irrigation turned on yet, so if it doesn’t rain I’ll have to deal with that.
Parafilm is a lot more convienient than wax. I used wax one year (my first) and probably won’t do it again, even though I have 80%+ of the package left. The wax was hard to keep molten and made a huge mess. Parafilm on the other hand is thin and goes where I put it.
Why do you want it to not stick? Today I tried out the rubber electrical tape that @alan has recommended in the past (at least I think it is- maybe he can comment).
I was a bit confused when I first opened it up, as there wasn’t any sticky part (not glue at least). By trial and error I found that I could just wrap it on tight and smush it onto itself at the end and it stayed in place nicely (like a stronger version of parafilm. Looks like it will seal the union nicely as well, so I don’t need to apply parafilm there- just the top of the scion. By the end of 9 graft, I was happy with it and seemed to be moving along pretty quickly. I don’t need to cut it while applying either- I can rip it with my fingers, so that shaves yet another step off the process. I think I was making better grafts than with the green (non-sticky) garden tape too.
I’m interested to see how removal goes, later in the summer. So, it has occurred to me that I may want to try a few other types of grafts, just to make sure that I don’t lose a lot of them, if something goes wrong with this.
@Bradybb, how did the tape work? Was removal a problem?
It seemed OK on medium thin grafts, but I can see it would be harder with truly tiny grafts. Though I’m not sure what wouldn’t be tricky then. I looked around and didn’t see a non-fusing silicone. Most of the silicone seems to tout that as a benefit (that it fuses to itself). Did you mean the grey vinyl electrical tape? I’m thinking about trying a bit of that as well.
I use a combination of vinyl tape and parafilm, with spectracide
pruning sealer. I’ll be starting my grafting later this week and it will
continue for a whole month. I have lots to do, and I take my time
doing it.
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