Hello all I recently cleft grafted some pears on to p. calleryana and had a few questions. I followed this tutorial for grafting on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy1Ca8RotRI I did almost exactly like shown expect i just wrapped the whole scion in parafilm instead of using the wax. Now I find joes tutorial and note that he uses rubber bands and wraps the scion twice with parafilm. Is this really necessary? Will my grafts not make good cambium contact? Also with 75-85 degree temps and that the buds on the rootstock have begun to swell how long should my pears take to push? I read that mr citrus had one the forced itself in less than a week? Should mine be doing that?

I find that using rubber bands makes very good contact because there are times when you split the stem, it is very uneven. Also if you have rubber band, it is a very strong union. Sometimes when the graft has grown a lot of leaves and a strong wind blows, it could break at the bud union. Rubber band doesn't last very long if left uncovered. Covering the rubber band with parafilm makes it last for six months to a year, and gives enough time for excellent and strong graft union.

if you have absolutely no winds, and you can split the stock perfectly without deformity in the stem, then you don't need rubber bands. As for me, I will always use rubber band as support for the graft union.

I mentioned more detailed reasons why I use rubber bands in all my other posts. The only time I am not using rubber bands is when doing T-budding or when the budsticks are tender or tiny. I usually prefer pencil-sized diameter sticks, but sometimes, other friend's selection are the size of toothpick, and we can graft that too, and I don't use rubber bands in those case. I just double the parafilm layer on the union.

I used rubber band all the time as per Joe's instruction and my grafts almost always take.
As for my reasoning, the rubber band makes the cambium forced to get in contact with the other so there's a continuity of food transfer thereby success in the process.
But there are times when I don't have rubber bands on hand so when I graft I double the parafilm wraps.
I just bought a large bag of rubber bands for $3.99 so I have a supply of it for years to come.