I've always felt that I needed the good mechanical pull that a budding rubber provides, and to keep it from drying out I think it needs to be sealed with parafilm or wax. Parafilm is my first choice because it breathes a little. But it's not enough by itself to make me feel secure! I used the Ace rubber tape this year on clefts and felt like it worked really well. Rubber tape or bands or rubbers all seem good to me. I think that if you use the wide budding rubbers or tape and overlap thoroughly then the parafilm/wax precaution is probably redundant, but it's cheap redundancy and I do it. I use wide and long rubbers also because it's easier to wrap them off- you have so much to work with, and they're cheap enough that you can afford to cut off excess. Like MiHiGirl I'm in the Rockies, but not at a mile high! We're at 3200 ft, give or take a couple of feet. But it's definitely an arid environment: we get about 12-13 inches total precip per year.

I have read that in this instance that people can do two grafts. The native variety being the most hardy and strongest rooting, then a short intermediary piece which can bridge between the native and fruiting varieties. Can anyone assist? Or know someone who can? I have cut down a large native cherry and would like to graft lapins and stella to the sprouts which are sure to come up this spring. "example taken from plum/almond stone fruit grafting" - " Also (and this is where the fun starts) most fruit trees in the Prunus genus are sometimes compatible with each other: almonds, apricots, nectarines, peaches, and plums all are compatible for grafting, but occasionally it's complicated. For example, some plum rootstock is not compatible with peaches or nectarines; and some almonds require an intermediate step before grafting onto some plum rootstocks."

I will have scions from the following trees this year: Apple: gala, macintosh, red delicious, yellow delicious Green gage plums: June only peach white peach apricot, maybe, they are so delicate early (June) and late (July) sour cherries and concord grape cuttings I have all the seeds I can possibly use so I would like to trade only for the following, at this point, please: I would prefer to do a larger trade for several things to make it worth the postage. crocosmia bulblets, seedlings wisteria, plant or hardwood cuttings lotus, dwarf, red or pink snowball bush, plant or hardwood cuttings buddleia butterfly bush purple, plant or hardwood cuttings elephant ear bulblets canna lily bulbs with sprouting eyes large dahlia bulbs with sprouting eyes only horse chestnut bottle brush shrub baby

I don't have any of the varieties that you are looking for... I inherited a few trees when I moved in to my home & planted a few since. We have: Apple - inherited NoID: insanely sweet mottled red & green Pear - inherited NoID but I would guess that it is Comice. Peach - Reliance Cherry - Rainier Plum - NoID yellowish red coloured Black Currant - inherited NoID, roots easily, doesn't have to be grafted, just planted. Blueberry - Bluecrop (very limited quantity) Grape - Concord (very limited quantity) Grape - Himrod(very limited quantity) It isn't the best list... but its a start (: The last 3 plants are still quite small, so the scions would be less than pencil sized (which I believe is ideal for grafting). Good luck with your scion hunt Zestfest. If there is anything that you are interested in, just let me know. Cheers, Nicky Here is a link that might be useful: nicky's garden