I tried to stretch it, but it’s not like Parafilm kind of stretch.
No, I don’t think it’ll go parafilm thin. Mine is frozen solid right now or I’d try it! But it will stretch out quite a bit and still have holding power.
I like it when cleft grafting to a stub that’s a little on the large side, say larger than the base of your thumb, because you can pull the pieces together well. I like to wrap first with parafilm to protect the bark and hold everything in place and then cinch it down with the 2155. It’s easier than getting a rubber band to behave.
3 Likes
That’s what I bought the tape for grafting Sumo scions. I might do some bark grafting soon, after the rain. Plus I might not be here to remove the plastic wrap, so I thought this tape is better.
The 2155 will break down if you’re not around to slice it, but don’t do what I did and get all carried away wrapping up a pile of it!
I think @olpea slices it lengthwise and wraps a spiral, not overlapping (except maybe the first wrap to hold it in place. I was actually using the full width and overwrapping it, which was overkill.
3 Likes
I did over wrap it for this little twig, it looks like a croissant, lol, I will try to do better next time.
1 Like
Trev’s picture above shows good technique for both parafilm and rubber splicing tape.
Here is another example:
3 Likes
My hands are not very good, plus the jujube tree is thorny.
For the diameter of your wood,maybe try slicing the tape in half lengthwise.It will be easier to stretch that way.Also possibly holding a hair dryer on a cut piece,beforehand.
5 Likes
Absolutely! Narrower pieces of rubber splicing tape are much easier to stretch and work with.
3 Likes
Thank you @Bradybb and @SpokanePeach, I will definitely do that. Maybe that’s the reason for not being to stretch, it was too thick.
Btw, I just received an email from Home Depot that they are shipping me another tape. So I have another one for backup.
1 Like
Not too thick, too wide.
2 Likes
I like to think of it as a stickier budding strip (which also works great).
For sure Mark. It is a temp thing. In cooler weather one has to be more careful to keep from breaking it. In cooler weather, I stretch a little at a time. In other words, I kind of tease it along - stretch a little piece at a time. In warmer weather, I grab the whole piece and stretch it all.
Parafilm is sort of the same way, except that when it gets old it really wants to break. So for old parafilm, you have to stretch little bites at a time to get it stretched out.
Yep. That’s exactly how I do it! Not overlapping the Temflex much.
4 Likes
Thank you.
2 Likes
Wanted to mention. If you try splitting the tape, just split a little at a time. In other words, take a razor knife and carefully go around the roll a couple times. The first time around cuts a couple layers, then the second time around it cuts another couple layers (Be very careful with this step, as it takes a good amount of pressure to get through the layers of rubber tape, and you could cut yourself badly.) After going around the roll a couple times you’ll end up with about 4 layers of tape which is 3/8" wide. Then for small grafts just peel off a couple inches or so, pre-stretch it, then apply to your graft.
Part of the reason your graft looks like a dirt dobber’s nest is because it’s harder to stretch 3/4" wide tape. It will stretch, it’s just harder. I was trying to remember how much I stretch mine, and I was thinking about 3X the length of the unstretched. But I looked on the 3M website and they claim it will stretch 700%.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b00017540/
I’m pretty sure I’ve never been able to stretch it that far. I still occasionally break pieces when pre-stretching. Much more often when I first started using it.
Also the rubber tape won’t stick to itself very good if it’s wet. But even vinyl tape doesn’t stick very good wet, and vinyl isn’t nearly as nice to work with as the rubber Temflex.
Also, if you have some spare time and are interested, here is an old thread which discusses peach grafting. I didn’t contribute much, because most of my peach propagation is from budding. But there were a lot of good contributions, especially from Scott and Bob. The thread also demonstrates there are many successful ways to graft.
3 Likes
All this talk of parafilm. I gave up on that years ago. It splits and cracks. Buddy tape is much superior. You get what you pay for.
You’re referring to these?
Ok, so the One Green World product is $39.95 for a roll of 900 perforated pieces.
The Buddy Tape brand name manufacturer is in Japan and produces several products.
Other sizes and knockoffs are offered at Amazon.com buddy Tape.
1 Like
A number of those are not Buddy tape.
The real stuff isn’t cheap