North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lucky.PIttman@murraystate.edu" <Lucky.PIttman@murraystate.edu>]

Karen wrote:
i've never used parafilm for grafting this time of
year - in the NW  
it seems to really help to seal all the wounded
surfaces of a new  
graft with something that really keeps the rain out
and the tree/ 
scion's moisture in. would parafilm really cover well
enough on a  
cleft graft or topworked tree, or does it only work
on whip and  
tongue style unions (smooth ones with out weird
lumps...)?

OK, confession time for me, too.  I'll admit,
Parafilm doesn't work all that well when sticking on
cleft grafts of relatively small scionwood - as you
might do when reworking an older apple with
relatively large-diameter branches.  But, it works
great for bark grafts with scions considerably
smaller than the stock, 4- & 3-flap 'banana'-type
grafts, simple splice & whip & tongue type grafts,
and even cleft grafts where the rootstock is not more
than an inch or two in diameter,.

Lucky