strudeldog, I've never used the Parafilm Grafting Tape - have seen photos of it, and thought that it looked different - thicker than the old standby Parafilm M that I've been acquainted with and have worked with for over 30 years. The manufacturer's description is that the Grafting Tape is a different formulation (higher olefin content?) - perhaps that's why it doesn't stretch as much as Parafilm M. The unstretched Parafilm - whether M or GT won't just stick to itself, the way you're trying in your video - it has to be stretched to 'activate' it; as you're wrapping around the stock or union, it seals to itself pretty nicely. I don't try to stretch the whole piece at once, but stretch it a little at a time, as I'm wrapping around and around, allowing it to adhere to itself as I work my way up the scion and back down again. Have a look at the linked video below - looks like they're using Parafilm M Here is a link that might be useful: budding with Parafilm

3 weeks????!! holy moley!!! yeah, yours is way WAY overdue to be changed. you MUST change it every few days or so.. because it ferments & goes bad! you might even see some black mold growing in there when you open it. they will avoid nectar that's gone bad, but if they were to drink it, it would make them sick or possibly kill them. you gotta change that right away!! i know it kind of seems like a pain, but you get used to it pretty quick (taking it down & changing it). here's an easy way to do it: buy a big bag of white table sugar, keep it in a big glass jar (to keep ants out, etc.) get a plastic glad-ware type container. mix 1 c. sugar with 4 c. filtered water (or however much you want, as long as the ration is 1:4). close the container & shake well, for a couple minutes, til all is dissolved. put some in your feeder and keep the rest in your fridge-- it keeps for about a week or 2, but the trick is to make enough that you will use it up by then. (when it's empty, put the container in the dishwasher & start a new one.) then every 3 days or so, take down your feeder, and rinse it out with hot water. if you do this every few days & there's no mold (or fermenting smell)- you can just rinse, refill & put back out there. then every other week or so, take the feeder apart & run it through the diswasher, or wash it well with soap & a few drops of bleach- & rinse VERY thoroughly. note: you might be able to keep it up more than 3 days-- i have had mine up for a week and it has not gotten cloudy OR fermented. but that is pushing it, and 3 days is just a good rule of thumb! also the hotter the weather, the more likely it will go bad. this might seem like a lot of trouble, but i swear it isn't!! you get used to doing it, and it takes very little time at all. you might want to keep your feeder closer to your house (do you have a porch?) so you can watch them, and it will be easier to change. you might also want to get a second feeder so you can rotate them. hope that helps, good luck!

This year I got some striped species sort of red tulips and blue alliums FREE from Brecks ($25 free deal) and mixed daffodils and crocuses FREE from Menards (free with rebate.) I also get gladiolas free or ultra cheap at Menards each year lately, with rebate also. Why buy anywhere? :-) If you want a LOT, I once ordered gazillions (1000+) bulbs/corms the first year in my last house from K. VanBourgondien (sp?) wholesale catalog. I had ordered from VanBourgondien Bros. before that and someone online tipped me off that they had a wholesale catalog. So you get many more bulbs but for the same price, it was like $22/100 daffodils, $9 for 100 crocuses, etc. Mind you this was in 1991, but they still have great deals. Minimum order was $50 but if that is a problem for you, just order some with a friend or neighbor. Why are you all shopping at Walmart, don't you know how evil they are? They rip everybody else off (suppliers, employees, taxpayers) to give you a good deal. Here in WI they are the number one company in terms of employees being on the public Badger Care health insurance. We are paying their health insurance because they are too greedy to provide affordable health care to their employees. Shop somewhere else that pays a living wage and doesn't have more of their product produced at slave wages in China. Marcia

The other crops are pretty boring like number one in beets, we have a sugar industry here. 6th in peaches I guess my point any place you live is what you make it. I have an orange tree, a black peppercorn plant, cacti, and fig trees. I can grow anything I want. I have a limited season, but the plants don't know that. Peppers and tomatoes are tropical plants yet grown everywhere. Both originating from South America. I hate our winters, but we don't have poisonous spiders or snakes, no hurricanes, or earthquakes, just an occasional tornado. Cost of living is really decent here too. I own waterfront property but am middle class, hard to do in CA or FL. Everyplace has it good points and bad, it is what you make of it. I have often thought of moving but many of the things mentioned changed my mind. I'm excited this week I have all kinds of new plants coming. Spring is at last here, and after the hard winter, the roses never smelled sweeter! I have Nadia the cherry-plum hybrid tree coming. It's like a huge cherry! Developed in Australia. You couldn't grow that in FL, not enough chill hours. Two elderberries new cultivars from the Netherlands that are pruned like raspberries, making management and harvest rather simple. Two new currants, a pink, and a red one. Again cannot be grown in CA or FL due to these cultivars not taking the heat. I picked up three more blackberry plants, and a tropical fruit tree, that produces the sherbert berry. I will have to overwinter inside. This cultivar is from India. I added two plum trees Satsuma, and a weeping Santa Rosa plum. Both are very good Japanese plums. My raspberry crop is going to be huge this year, as is my strawberry and blackberry crops. I have garlic, and onions planted out already and have 15 tomatoes, and 15 pepper plants ready to be planted out. My Spice Zee nectaplum has swollen blossoms, about ready to bloom, As does my pluot tree, and Indian Free and pf-Lucky 13 peach trees. Also my Arctic Glo nectarine is loaded with fruit buds. The blueberries are going to produce a large crop, as our my currants too. Getting ready to plant beans, cucumbers, melons and watermelons. I'm growing orange, yellow and red watermelons this year. Have a good spring everybody!