Re: [nafex] grafting tape

Spot on, Alan.
I use parafilm on everything, but its probably not necessary on apples &
pears.
Rubber bands photodegrade fairly quickly, so I generally donteorry about
them girdling.
I used dome black vinyl electrical tape last week on some 3-4 inch
calleries that I cut off and bark-grafted with 3 or 4 scions each. zeill
have to come back later and cut it to prevent girdling but they are close
to the house and easy to find.


On Wed, Apr 22, 2020, 4:44 AM Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com> wrote:

> As mentioned, the use of parafilm is to hold in moisture, I doubt it lets
> any oxygen in. I use electric tape to hold my splice grafts together and
> then wrap my scion with the parafilm. Pears and apples don't really need it
> and a dab of some kind of sealant at the tip is generally adequate.
>
> Vinyl electric tape can eventually girdle apple grafts but peach growth is
> strong enough to force it to stretch. A longitudinal cut with a razor knife
> after the tissue is merged and strong is sometimes needed, but if you
> unwrap it when the bark isn't slipping you can usually get away with that
> without peeling off any bark. Alternatively, you can use rubber electric
> tape which stretches much more than vinyl.
>
> Where the parafilm seems useful and even necessary is with stonefruit,
> persimmon and paw paw grafts.
>
> I exclusively use splice grafts because they are the quickest and require
> the least skill, especially if you use a double bladed Italian pruning
> shear to cut the scion and annual shoot (or 2nd year) you are grafting
> together. If you match diameters any idiot can do it without ever cutting
> their fingers. The trick is to make long diagonal cuts of scion and mother
> wood as close to the same as you can. This creates a lot of matching
> cambium.
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