Thanks Jason...for the heads up on the teflon tape!

After I read your post, I went in the garage and practiced wrapping with it. It is a PITA to keep it from folding over; however, $1 for a durable and waterproof teflon/thread seal/PTFE tape is a good solution.

My major concern is that it doesn't stretch and isn't degradable. So I will have to be much more attentive and cut it off so that it doesn't girdle the graft as the tree grows.

JD

PS: I think you meant 520" of 1/2" teflon/thread seal tape

it does stretch.... sort of.  It stretches until it breaks.  I think it's thin enough that things can poke through it.

And yep, 520".

I don't think it's degradable per se, but .... in a pinch....

The trick to not having it fols over is in the way you hold the roll.  If you've ever wrapped wires with electrical tape, hold the roll in the inverse of how you'd do that, and it rolls out very easy, you can keep good tension on the spool.  The trick is to roll the spool around the stick rather than letting out tape and wrapping the tape around.

Thanks Cypress my green gage is going on its third year hopefully it will fruit for me this year.My gage came from one green world.Cypress do you have any pictures of your green gage?Thank you.

Hey Jason. Have you watched any of this guys grafting videos? -

Yes, Bill!  Loved watching all of his videos, he demonstrates very well.  Any time I want to know how to do anything these days, I hit YouTube.  At least one person has loaded up instructions, whether it's replacing some random part on your car, learning how to dance, properly picking your nose, or grafting trees ;)

Ps - this is another guy whose explanation I liked: 

rob0520, ..my 'green gage' is now in its 4th year, but gave me a small harvest in its second year already. Keep in mind it is not self-pollinating like a Hollywood plum for example. Do some research and find out what it needs to cross-pollinate. The other varieties on the some tree are 'methley', 'burgundy' and 'hollywood'.  They all bear fruit. I will post some pic soon.

Jason, ..nice video. Makes it very clear.

So, I wound up cutting these about 2-3 buds above the graft, the I over-wrapped the grafts with teflon tape to hold in moisture.  For lack of other stuff, I took a candle and melted wax on the top of the sticks to prevent dessication.

We got some good cold weather overnight to stave off growth.  Two of them are sending out shoots above the graft already, so I'm staying positive still.....

Jason,
Toilet seal wax...worked great. Less than $2 and easy to apply. I'll follow up with some non-scientific results with regards to the graft; and a few photos.
JD

Sorry to bump (again) this non-fig post.

I just wanted to share some results from my grafting experiment.

First off, teflon plumbing tape works great for grafts, buds push right on through it.  I opted for candle wax dripping instead of toilet seal wax.

Second, I have at least one very, very strong shoot at the top of one out of a dozen.  Four others look promising.  The other half dozen or so are not shrivelled, but some of them have all buds that are a bit brown, so I'm not keeping my hopes up on them.

Anything above the first two, Bass and JD, I still have you guys in mind.

(clearly the rootstock I used is having zero problems sending shoots, eh?)

Jason, remove whatever sprouted below the graft before the graft dies.

Good job Jason. They are looking good.

I haven't attempted my first graft yet but it is now time for me to do so. We should be past any danger of a late frost so I can start anytime now.

Even though I've not done any grafting yet Jason, I would agree with what Bass says - remove all growth on the rootstock. That energy should be directed into the bud wood. This based soley on everything I've read & been taught so far.

I've been debating what I should use to seal the graft union as well as the rootstock. Keeping in mind that the rootstock I'm using will be large, well established, in-ground trees. I've heard that laytex paint will be ok to use. Anyone have any suggestions?

Please keep us updated on how your trees progress Jason. The pics & info are very educational for us all. Thank you!

Thanks guys, it's already gone. I took the lower buds off yesterday after snapping the photo.  I was so excited to see the graft is OK and topgrowth is happening I had to shoot it ;)

Wow, that is something how fast the rootstock is trying to take over. Hopefully, once the graft gets a strong foothold, the rootstock will become less aggressive.

I did my first graft yesterday (cleft graft). I'm trying some plum scion on a peach rootstock that re-grew after the cultuvar died back a few years ago. I'm about to go out & graft the rest this afternoon. I'm using latex paint to seal the wood after wrapping the graft with strips of plastic. Anyone have a reason why the paint is a bad (or good) choice?  We'll see how it goes......

i think a lot of what you're seeing with the rootstock growth is because i rec'd it so damn late in the year, and/or spring arrived too soon.  A lot of the wood was starting to bud the week the rootstock arrived.

Jason...is this the same AU plum you have?
http://www.directgardening.com/detail.asp?ProductID=3444&nav=tre

Thanks, Sara

No.  AU is simply an indication that it was grown at Auburn University.  There are many AU plums.  Mine is specifically "Rosa".  The one you linked is "Cherry Jumbo".

I bought mine here:  http://www.johnsonnursery.com/FRUIT%20PAGES/PLUMS.htm

It is really hard to find the Au Rosa plum.  Johnson is sold out right now.  I will tell you, I'm in year 3 now with my trees and they're literally loaded with marble-szied fruit.  I expect some drop.  These things grow like weeds.  I am glad I rooted several more this year.

@Jason: thanks for the clarification!  Later in the day I realized exactly that. 

Bump.
How are your grafts doing?

100% failure within 3 months. You want cuttings?

Yes, but only after I find a suitable rootstock. I am in search of a commercial solution (Nemaguard or Flordaguard) as well as native seedlings (Gutherie or Chickasaw). Once I have those, I will follow up.

Hey Jason. Sorry to hear that those failed on you. Do you know what happened?

Jason,

I am going to try and graft the ones I picked up Sunday on my existing plums and pluots. I am not a big fan of multi-graft trees, but there is so much I want to try and not sure how much limited space I want to dedicate to fruit that I will probably lose the bug battle with. I have not grafted plums before , but if I fail it's only a few branches on a existing tree

You will be successful with the pear, they are easy to graft and the Bradford callery types you can graft both Asian and Euro pears to. If you want to give it a go I still have several types of Pear scion available so just let me know. The callery seedlings are becoming real pests in some areas. Couple years ago I bought a couple clearanced Brafords for a couple bucks planted them down by the creek and grafted them into a multi Asian tree.