North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <Lucky.Pittman@murraystate.edu>]

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At 09:14 AM 09/13/2000 -0700, Claude wrote:

>Parafilm is an excellent material that does not have the potential to
>start fires and cause either human or plant tissue to be damaged by high
>wax temperatures.
>The problem seems to be the difficulty in obtaining small quantities of
>parafilm cut into 1/2 inch strips. The parafilm obtained from medical
>supply outlets is 4 inches wide and the cost is prohibitive unless
>people pool their money to purchase a roll and somehow divide it.

Claude,
Carolina Biological Supply (they're probably on-line, but I have a catalog 
- toll free #800-334-5551), sells a 2"x250ft roll - price listed in my 1996 
model catalog was $16.60 - probably higher now, but I'll bet not a great 
deal more.

I usually cut off 4-inch pieces, then cut these lengthwise into 3 or 4 
narrower strips.  A 250 ft roll will do a LOT of grafts - I've been using 
the same roll for the last 5 years & it'll hold out a while longer, yet.

I've had good success wrapping t-buds on persimmon, mulberry, apple & pear 
with Parafilm, then overwrapping with rubber budding strips, but have had 
NO success whatsoever trying t-buds or 'coin purse' buds with pecan, 
hickory, or walnut budwood handled in the same manner.
My best success with the nuts has been a 'coin-purse' bud, wrapped with a 
rubber strip, then enclosing the budded portion with a piece of plastic, 
kind of like enclosing it inside a bag - wrapped at the top with a piece of 
budding strip, closed at the bottom with masking tape,which also serves as 
a date/variety marker so I can know what variety and when I budded it, so 
that I can open the 'bag' at the appropriate time.
Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY