If you do not find anything in time, you can always make your own strips from breadsacks cut in half inch ribbons, or wide office rubber bands cut once to open them up. Paper type masking tape can be applied after the rubber band to stop the sun from eating it up too quickly. Breadsack material might need a little masking tape as well just to get it to "stay put" and not unwind on you.
A regular $3 utility knife with a brand new 20 cent blade works very well for making your cuts if you practice a bit.
After you get everything bound up exactly how you like it, you can apply interior latex paint or school glue over the entire scion to prevent moisture loss and graft failure. Just make provisions to keep rain from washing the school glue off too fast. You only need 2 or 3 weeks for it to do its job, then you are in the clear.
Or you can go online and spend a hundred bucks getting equipment and supplies, but your plants won't realize the difference!
You’ve also got to watch what’s sold as “grafting supplies.†That stuff always catches my eye, and though I’m glad to see someone carrying something for grafting, it can also be ancient weird stuff several generations old; like blocks of grafting wax and asphalt emulsion … along with very expensive knives.
Being (as described above) many items will work, a lot depends on how many grafts you’re planning to make… For all I do for others, I like to use the best products I can find – which causes me to look further a field. The “Doc Farwell’s†grafting compound is readily available from the Wilco farm stores around me. Fred Meyer may even carry it, as do most decent Nurseries.
I do like a good grafting knife… though doubt you’d find one for as little as I did ($4.99 many moons ago!). Fixed handles are my preference, but it appears anything that cuts can work. The largest ‘Budding Bands’ are hard to beat … and hard to find… Oregon Bag Co. is the closest source I know for them (mail ordered at that). Some are using “Para-film,†though it’s apparently not specifically marketed for grafting, and I’ve not yet found an absolute need for it.
Tell us what you’re lacking and we can likely tell you where to find it!
Question about sealant - once the graft has been rubber-banded into place, is there any reason one can't use something like Tanglefoot to keep what's in in, and what should be out, out? The stuff seems to shed water for several seasons, it's almost infinitely flexible, and it's nasty enough that no one's going to touch it to look at the condition of the graft.
Marsha, the rubber band should complete the seal, but Tanglefoot’s a great addition. When I notice ‘chewing’ on the new leaves of a graft -- that’s what I grab. Smear it around the scion base or the limb they're on and the chewing stops!
It sure is a mess to work with though… you basically have to wear it off 
Just got your email Jim. Go for it!
A little more on how I know all this breadsack stuff works:
A dozen years ago, one wintry day I attempted to make baby treelets using root pieces from my uncles prune tree mated to similar sized twigs. Hadn't studied the internet or even read a grafting book. And I think I was a little fuzzy on just how the union should have been mated, cambium-wise. I thought the scion had to be centered in the middle of the width, instead of getting a really good match on at least one side. Anyway....
I must have done several dozen of these "unions" using breadsack material. Used cotton string to hold the last wrap of breadsack in place. Musta used a couple of yards of breadsack per graft, thinking "more is better"! LOL Had a big old knot of plastic there!
Hadn't even thought of using school glue to keep the scion moist, so I'm sure alot of them just slowly dried out.
A couple of months later when the weather started warming up, I ended up with exactly two plants that made it. It was like winning the lottery, even tho most of them failed! I had done it, in spite of my crude technique.
Since then I have learned to store scionwood of plum and prune in the frig under moist conditions until April-May sometime when there is warmth in the air for a good week or so. Apple and pear can be done in late Feb on till July or beyond (the earlier the better). I have discarded the breadsack for rubber electrical tape, started using Doc Farwell glue on all grafts, added the Vit C squirt bottle to the grafting tray, graduated to my Stanley utility knife instead of a semi-sharp kitchen knife, kids modeling clay to fill small holes, paper masking tape, etc.
Seems like everyone develops their own styles and equipment/supplies over time. They find what works best for their particular locale and budget.
I could go back to breadsacks in a jiffy, using schoolglue to cover everything, and I am sure it would be alright.
If you graft apple and pear too late in the season, you will notice that small ants can get into the emerging bud and kill the graft sometimes. If I see that starting to happen, first I surround a small, upstream, graft area with a band of masking tape, and only apply the Tanglefoot to the masking tape. I have heard that the ingredients in Tanglefoot are not healthy to thin bark and cambium, so I don't take the chance of girdling by direct application.
Idyllwild
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Marsha H
Viron
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