I tried to search the forum for this but failed to find the answer.

I have seen photos here from several forum members showing their cuttings being rooted.  Some  cuttings seem to have what appeared as grafting tapes wrapped around the top parts of the cuttings, when potted in small cups.  Is this being done to prevent moisture lost during the rooting process?

Would someone be kind enough and explain this practice? 

Thanks in advance,

Bill, i wrap my cuttings with paragilm to prevent moisture loss. I believe overall it just helps keep cuttings longer. I just started doing this recently and other members may use it for other reasons.

Edit: Parafilm

Meg

Thanks, Meg. Do you put parafilm only on the upper part of the cutting, that is, the part that has buds? And I believe you do that before the rooting process?

I seen people wrap everything accept whats in the soil. A thin layer is all it takes.

I do this for my rarer fig cuttings. Helps prevent moisture loss and also lowers the chance of mold. Just wrap the area above the soil line.

Hi Bill. I also started using parafilm to work with cuttings this year. I have been pretty impressed with it as i no longer use a humidity bin which i like. Havent lost a cutting this time around, but the whole thing seems to take a little longer. At least the way im doing it. Btw i was inspired by Tim Clymers method. He seems to have done it for a while. He has his own site threefoldfarm.org He explains his use of parafilm there.

I have used parafilm the past 3 months 60 cuttings they all survived so far. I just started 60 more outside April18th . I wrap the cuttings to just below soil line and put them directly into one half gallon pot outside or 4x4x12 tree pot to save space inside and soak them with water once, after that I forget them or very little water as needed. My first 60 sprouted within a month. I stratch the parafilm over the buds to make it easy for them to break trough, the rest of parafilm will stay on longher and save moisture, eventually come off by itself. When leaves look good ( 1 inch or so) I know I have roots and add fertiliser. No humidity dome,no cups , no gnats and not as much reepotting . I'm sold on it.
Mario

Thank you Mario for sharing your method. 

Hey Mario sounds very interesting .
Any pics ?

John

And here I thought I was so creative, deciding to wrap the tops (the parts not in potting soil) of my cuttings in parafilm or Buddy tape this year.  Reinventing the wheel, apparently.  Anyway, it seems to have been very effective, and as mentioned, means you don't have to mess around with those annoying humidity boxes.

I'm in Italy at the moment, but I posted a picture in the "LUV fig post" you can see the cuttings in the background. I will try to post picture here, not sure I can do it.

Try again

This can be done as an alternative to using a humidity bin (which I don't use) or covering with an upside down cup.  The purpose is to slow down the drying process for the part of the cutting above the potting mix.  The part below the potting mix presumably does not need this protection because the potting mix is moist and therefore the relative humidity just below the surface of the potting mix is high enough to prevent dehydration. 

Buds certainly have no problem pushing through parafilm.  I suspect roots would be able to push through as well, but I haven't tried covering the lower parts of the cutting. 

In my experience it is equally effective as other methods.  In my opinion most times cutting failure is not caused by the top drying out, but rather other factors.