It's electrical rubber tape, raw rubber that bonds to itself, thus the release film. It quickly degrades in sunlight.

Thanks. I might give it a try, as my supply of parafilm is losing its stick.

Here you go:

{{gwi:87948}}

Mark,
This may be the post. Brady

Here is a link that might be useful: affect of electric tape on grafts

Thanks to you all, both for the help and for the promptness.

As much as I like parafilm I'm up for anything, and I suspect that, given the variable weather we get around here, the black tape might help overcome the cold snaps (30 F here this AM, with fresh snow, 50F at the moment.) I'll wait another week.

Surprised by takes on a couple of last year's grafts that I had all but given up on. A bud back up that never calloused-in properly looked like it was going to fall out of the bark, but a nice leaf is emerging now. The Belmont sprouted last year and then withered, but new growth is poking. Two apricot grafts calloused properly, but only one actually has emerged so far. It ain't much but it's my first 'cot success. The other isn't dead, just not going anywhere yet. We'll see.

The weather seems to be turning. I just hope we get some insect activity this week, or all those lovely pear blossoms will disappoint.

Just to be clear, I don't use the splicing tape INSTEAD of parafilm. I use with WITH parafilm. I think the two perform entirely different functions.

The parafilm is for sealing in moisture so the scion (and the graft union area) does not dry out during the knitting process. The splicing tape takes the place of grafting rubbers, rubber bands, green tape, etc. It is used to reinforce the graft area and hold everything tightly and motionless until knitting occurs and even after while the scion has begun to push but the union is still physically weak.

This post was edited by steve_in_los_osos on Wed, May 1, 13 at 20:58

Appreciated. Well said and very clear.

I usually wrap things up tight with rubbers and cover with parafilm, but I like the idea of the somewhat self-adhesive nature of the splicing tape. Makes me wish I had more grafting to do this year so I could experiment more!

:-)M