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[Jwlehman@aol.com]

> Does anyone have comments / instructions of any kind for using Parafilm 
in
> grafting?  I've never used / attempted to use it, and someone has offered
> to give me some to try.  I'd really appreciate any input or experience 
> that anyone has.
>
> Thanks,
> Chris
> __________________

I echo what Hector & Lucky wrote. Parafilm is wonderful stuff. After 
stretching, then wrapping such as when doing a splice or whip & tongue the 
scion 
is sealed from evaporation loss. The clean overlapped stretched film anneals 
to itself producing one solid coverage. Maybe 30 minutes after wrapping one 
can't unwind it, it is solid. And don't worry about taking it off, it falls 
off with time. I usually use a grafting rubber to hold the scion and 
understock firmly together, then wrap. In that case one needs to return and 
release 
the rubber or it can girdle. The Parafilm blocks UV and the rubber doesn't 
disintegrate. Even when doing a bark graft I completely cover with Parafilm. 
Once I made a June bark walnut graft and covered completely. It was 
bleeding and two weeks later the bud hadn't swelled and the bleeding had 
stopped. 
So I removed the scion piece which was still very much alive. I cut off about 
1 inch off the understock, re-cut the scion wood and placed back on and 
once again covered. It took! The scion had not dehydrated any in the June 
temperatures and open sun location. 

Jerry
>From david.maxwell@dal.ca  Fri Dec  9 12:37:27 2011
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From: david.maxwell@dal.ca
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Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Parafilm
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I use it exclusively for budding.  (For whip-and-tongue grafts I generally 
use electrical tape).
But one major advantage emerged last year when I was supplied with scion wood 
which was
well out of dormancy, beginning to leaf out in fact.  I wrapped both the 
graft and the entire
scion, including the tip end, with parafilm.  The parafilm maintained the 
moisture in the scion
until it successfully callused. (I actually had 15" growth in that first 
year.) Highly
recommended, but not used locally by the commercial growers. (I had 
considerable difficulty
obtaining it because the local ag supply place didn't stock it.  Eventually 
found some in rolls
only 1/2 inch wide, but this seems to work quite satisfactorily.  A practical 
detail: if you leave
the roll rattling around in your bag of grafting supplies the knocks by the 
other things in the
bag tend to cause the layers to fuse together on the roll, at which point it 
tends to break when
you try to unroll it for use.  So, protect it from external trauma.

> Does anyone have comments / instructions of any kind for using Parafilm in
> grafting?  I've never used / attempted to use it, and someone has offered
> to give me some to try.  I'd really appreciate any input or experience that
> anyone has.
>
> Thanks,
> Chris
>
>