Ok, so here's an out-there idea.

Premises:
- commercial superglue is the result of surgeons taking home liquid sutures and using them as glue for broken things
- liquid sutures were originally formulated to be non-toxic and bio-compatible at least for humans

Theory:
- use superglue to hold a cleft graft in place, in lieu of parafilm, grafting tape, or other products


So anyone have any opinions, anecdotes, ideas, etc. about whether this will work? I don't have any rootstock or scions to commit to this theory, does anyone have any interest in proving or disproving this?

g000n

Only way to know, is to try it.

If you get the cleft union tight enough, pruning sealer would work fine. One of my first cleft grafts to take was left unwrapped on the upper half of the graft and covered with only pruning sealer.

In my work I’ve used Super Glue( cyanoacrylate) for 30 years or so. Hobby Stores are a good place to buy cyanoacrylates.
You can buy high and low viscosities cyanoacrylates and an accelerator. But caution needs to be exercised with the accelerator. When you spray a high viscosity cyanoacrylate with an accelerator at close range the glue will boil and smoke. The extreme heat would burn a scion.
The low viscosity glue reacts much more slowly to an accelerator and therefore, low heat is generated.
I have tried to use the thicker glue in a scion union. I didn’t find it satisfactory.
First, even the thick glue flows. If not covered it can flow in between the scion and the rootstock before you can set it with the accelerator.
Second, The glue sets up very hard. Removing it off could dislodge the scion.
As a side note, the thick glue works well in sealing a cut on your finger.
Terry

Terry thanks for weighing in with your experiences. I'm disappointed to hear that the superglue didn't work well for you. Once I get my hands on some decent rootstock I'll give it a try, I have access to some Vaniglia Sanguigno bud wood that I want to try propogating.