North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["HDessureault" <inter.verbis@atreide.net>]

Hi Gordon, 
Thank you for this interesting grafting description. Such a reminder is very 
timely as we are entering the grafting season.
I use a bagging method too, but a more simple method than yours.
I use only one cover, cut out of the plastic white bag that one invariably 
gets when purchasing anything in a store, these days. 
I make a bag with one rectangular piece of plastic ( 10" X 4" approx for a 
scion with 4 buds) which I fold loosely over the scion already grafted and 
which I then attach at the foot of the scion, i.e. on the rootstock or the 
receiving branch part, so that the scion and the graft are completely 
enclosed. It is not entirely sealed, but it does provide good moisture 
retention,  some shading, and plenty of space for buds to leaf out.
After a while, I can peak in to see what is going on from the side without 
disturbing the wrapping too much and without have to undo and redo, which is 
time consumming and sometimes destructive.
When the buds start leafing out, I usually open one side to let in more light 
and progressively work toward removing the plastic cover.  
The plastic pieces are reusable if you care to recycle. I also cut up the 
rest of small unusable pieces of the bag in strips to tie the cover into 
place.
I also cover the graft part over the rubber band with a layer of plastic 
strip to retain all the moisture around the graft. Last year, I ran out of 
rubber bands for a while and simply used the plastic strips to do the graft, 
and it worked very well. This plastic (from bags) is somewhat stretchy.
By now, I keep the grafting wax for rare and very specific situations, like 
occasionnal repairs.

Hélène, zone 3-4


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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