Superglue and grafting

[bonsaichile]

I was wondering... I use superglue to save branches that I have accidentally broken but are not completely separated from the tree. It is remarkably successful. Superglue was developed to treat wounds in the battlefield, and it does not impede tissues fusing together. That let me to think: Why not use superglue to seal a graft and simultaneously keep in place the scion? It might work. Has anyone tried this? How was your experience?

 

[Gabler]

I was wondering... I use superglue to save branches that I have accidentally broken but are not completely separated from the tree. It is remarkably successful. Superglue was developed to treat wounds in the battlefield, and it does not impede tissues fusing together. That let me to think: Why not use superglue to seal a graft and simultaneously keep in place the scion? It might work. Has anyone tried this? How was your experience?

Would it not block the flow of sap between root stock and scion? For a branch that's partly attached, there's a non-glued path for sap flow. For a fully glued scion, I would expect it to soon dry out and die.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

and it does not impede tissues fusing together.

Yes it does. In water, it forms an inpenetrable barrier.
Human wounds push foreign objects outwards, and the healing starts on the inside. Ask any adult who had a belly button piercing as a teenager.

Plants do that too sometimes, or engulf them, or just not grow at all, but the healing usually starts from the outside in plants (rolling over, cambium first and then wood). Meaning any glue remains would be locked in there forever in plants.

Superglue would prevent sap exchange and the scion would be dead faster than when you would have treated it as a cutting. It's a sealant.
The reason why grafts usually fail is because there is too little sap exchange. Adding a sealant on that wound would cause some glue to seep in and prevent proper exchange. It can hinder you in doing future grafts because now there's some kind of hard plastic embedded in a branch.

Not sure if super glue is still some kind of cyanoacrylate compound dissolved in acetone, but plants (and human bodies) don't really like those chemicals and these chems can kill the tissue around the wound in plants.

So summarizing, I think it's a bad idea.

 

[bwaynef]

I think you'd have to make sure not to get the glue inside the cut. Assuming you're able to do that, I don't see why it wouldn't hold the scion in place w/o letting water in ...which is all we're after in grafting. Maybe use a gel so its thicker and you're able to keep it where it should go.

 

[Gabler]

I think you'd have to make sure not to get the glue inside the cut. Assuming you're able to do that, I don't see why it wouldn't hold the scion in place w/o letting water in ...which is all we're after in grafting. Maybe use a gel so its thicker and you're able to keep it where it should go.

You would have to put some sort of tape over the wound to keep the glue out. If only there were some sort of tape designed to protect graft unions...

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

If keeping water out is what we're after, why not use lanolin, beeswax or vaseline?
Half a minute in the sun and it'll seep into the wounds and become a problem. That's also a problem with superglue, in the sense that it wants to adhere to things; put some on your fingernail and it will flow into a crease where it'll glue your skin to your nail.
Candle wax is often used by nurseries that do a whole bunch of grafts.

I don't think water is a problem, callus tissue formation and healing can take place under water just fine; I've rooted scions that dropped off while they were wrapped in parafilm just fine. The problem usually is a poor connection between scion and understock, which can be overcome by tape, push pins, wraps and making deeper and cleaner cuts.

In rose grafting, people use rubber bands that I've been trying to get a hold of myself. And I just found a couple: https://www.fillco.it/product-page/rosefill?lang=en
If only I can get the shipping costs down to less than twice the product cost, I'd drop the parafilm and go with these. They've been proven effective for about 300.000 roses in my local area, for the past 40 years or so.

 

[gooeytek]

How about supergluing a "sleeve" made from the cortex of the same plant?

 

[bonsaichile]

Thanks for all your answers. I will restrict the use of superglue to fixing mistakes then lol

 

[Drcuisine]

The use of splints for broken bones has been used for at least 3500 years probably longer.

Splinting the cracked branch with a segment of a chopstick and some wire not only stabilizes the branch but reminds the owner that the branch has a tree which must not be manipulated for quite a long time.

if it’s substantial amount of the branch is damaged, the wound will always be weak and by keeping the branch and allowing it to be fully developed, puts the tree at risk for accidentally breaking the branch in the future when there’s a lot more to lose.

My personal preference is now to amputate sooner rather than later.

 

[penumbra]

If only there were some sort of tape designed to protect graft unions...

Consider grafting tape.

 

[bonsaichile]

The use of splints for broken bones has been used for at least 3500 years probably longer.

Splinting the cracked branch with a segment of a chopstick and some wire not only stabilizes the branch but reminds the owner that the branch has a tree which must not be manipulated for quite a long time.

if it’s substantial amount of the branch is damaged, the wound will always be weak and by keeping the branch and allowing it to be fully developed, puts the tree at risk for accidentally breaking the branch in the future when there’s a lot more to lose.

My personal preference is now to amputate sooner rather than later.

It is not my preference nor my experience fixing branches with superglue

 

[Srt8madness]

Consider grafting tape.

Pretty sure that's what they were alluding to

 

[Gabler]

Pretty sure that's what they were alluding to

I was about to explain the joke, and then I remembered the advice of E.B. White: A joke is like a frog. You can take it apart to see how it works, but it dies in the process.