Soy wax to seal cuttings

FamilyPhishFigs

FamilyPhishFigs

Member
Hey all,
I had been using parafilm to wrap my cuttings, now I am just wrapping the tops with parafilm, but am considering using wax to seal the tops. I love parafilm, but I don’t love how much it costs. I have seen people talk about all sorts of waxes, but I haven’t seen much about soy wax. Does anyone have experience using soy wax? Any pros or cons to it? Just asking as my wife always makes candles for the holidays as gifts so we usually have at least 1 20lb box of soy wax laying around. If I end up with some cuttings I don’t really care about I may do a trial run with soy wax, I just don’t want to potentially waste money on cuttings then have them fail because of the type of wax I am using.
thanks
 
FamilyPhishFigs said:
Hey all,
I had been using parafilm to wrap my cuttings, now I am just wrapping the tops with parafilm, but am considering using wax to seal the tops. I love parafilm, but I don’t love how much it costs. I have seen people talk about all sorts of waxes, but I haven’t seen much about soy wax. Does anyone have experience using soy wax? Any pros or cons to it? Just asking as my wife always makes candles for the holidays as gifts so we usually have at least 1 20lb box of soy wax laying around. If I end up with some cuttings I don’t really care about I may do a trial run with soy wax, I just don’t want to potentially waste money on cuttings then have them fail because of the type of wax I am using.
thanks
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I am also interested. How would you apply it? Heat it to a liquid, or is it a soft wax? I would like to find a cheap soft wax that I don't have to heat to apply. I saw a youtube video of an arborist that uses Howard's Feed-N-Wax to seal tree wounds. I don't know how that would work on cuttings. I don't know if it would soak into the cutting and ruin it, and it's $10 for a 16 oz bottle. I'm sure a little would go a long way and but if you are doing a lot of cuttings that might not be the best option. I know there has to be something better.
 
I have seen videos in which people melt it and dip the end that would be sticking out of your grow medium. I have seen folks use cheese wax, bees wax and paraffin wax, but haven’t seen anyone using soy. Just seems like a cheaper and potentially better way to seal cuttings then using a plastic or parafilm wrapping.
I’ll probably trial it myself when I take cuttings off my trees if I don’t hear from someone who has tried it. I’ll report back to this thread or start a new one with my data.
 
I tried beeswax, unscented candle wax and paraffin wax but now I just use parafilm tape to cover just the tip of the cuttings. It was time consuming to do and became brittle when stored too long. I might’ve done something wrong but it was too messy from start to finish. I’ll have to look up soy wax if I’m going to propagate 50+ cuttings.
 
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I use wax, Ive settled into using Thrift store found emergency candles mixed with some toilet flange wax. The parafin wax can be too brittle on its own, the wax ring blend gives it some flex and seems to lower the melt point. the temp of your wax is important when you apply, not too hot to scald the cutting and hot enough that it's only a thin coat. It's not hard just take a few to get the hang. I do it on the stovetop and dip the whole cutting that going to be above the soil.
Im not sure on the characteristics of your Soy wax I've never used it that I know of.
 
FamilyPhishFigs said:
I have seen videos in which people melt it and dip the end that would be sticking out of your grow medium. I have seen folks use cheese wax, bees wax and paraffin wax, but haven’t seen anyone using soy. Just seems like a cheaper and potentially better way to seal cuttings then using a plastic or parafilm wrapping.
I’ll probably trial it myself when I take cuttings off my trees if I don’t hear from someone who has tried it. I’ll report back to this thread or start a new one with my data.
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I have never heard of soy wax, I only use candle wax.
 
twocat said:
I have been using bees wax for a number of years. I just melt it in a little pot and dip the ends into it. I am real happy with it
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I have seen a lot of people use beeswax with great success. I am just wondering about soy wax since I have about 40 or 50 lbs sitting around that I can dip into. Also beeswax isn’t the cheapest, but I’ll probably go that route if soy wax doesn’t work well enough. I’ll probably trial it when I take cuttings next month off of my trees since I am not hearing from anyone who has used it.
 
FamilyPhishFigs said:
I have seen a lot of people use beeswax with great success. I am just wondering about soy wax since I have about 40 or 50 lbs sitting around that I can dip into. Also beeswax isn’t the cheapest, but I’ll probably go that route if soy wax doesn’t work well enough. I’ll probably trial it when I take cuttings next month off of my trees since I am not hearing from anyone who has used it.
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I will encourage you to take a lift of faith and use what you have already.
 
I think the treekote grafting wax is a blend of beeswax and something. You might could blend the soy with beeswax. 🤷‍♂️
 
I have sealed cuttings with Titebond III waterproof wood glue, canning wax, and soy wax.

For the waxes, I melt them in 6 oz tomato paste cans, placed in a hot water bath. After the wax is melted, I do let it cool a bit before dipping the cuttings, so as not to burn the tips of the cuttings. I find canning wax gets too hard and cracks off the cutting if you store in a refrigerator. I only dip the exposed wood of a cutting, not any bark, in soy wax. It adheres better than canning wax, but also can get soft and runny in warm conditions.

Titebond III gives the best seal but I have seen too much mold grow on the tips when rooting in humid, indoor conditions.

After trying all these sealing techniques, I found not sealing the tips of my cuttings works just as well, or better, than wax or glue.
 
I gotta weigh in here. Wax is an excellent way to keep your cuttings from drying out. Parafilm is good, but there will be tiny air pockets between the film and the surface of the cutting just due to the bumpy surface of the cutting in general. As the cutting naturally respires, it will release some moisture into those spaces, which becomes a possible point of mold/rot. (Sanitizing is important.) That is generally not the case with wax, IF it is the right kind of wax and it is applied correctly.

The wrong type of wax can cause a lot of problems. As temperatures fluctuate, the wax you use must be able to expand and contract along with the cutting. Many types of waxes are rigid and do not have that sort of flexibility. Candle wax and paraffin are rigid. In fact, they will sometimes just fall off in cold storage as the cutting retracts. If the seal is lost at all, then the benefit of the wax is lost. Soy wax is moderately flexible and might work, but I haven't used it personally. Beeswax can be a very good solution. If you keep bees and have that, then use what you have for sure! However, the best wax for sealing cuttings is cheese wax. It is designed to move and flex with cheese as it ages over time. It works really well and maintains the seal with no gaps. The little leaves have no problem breaking through. With cheese wax, you will not need a humidity dome, thus eliminating the challenge of weaning small trees from that environment. The key is that you only need a thin layer of wax. Anything beyond that is a waste. So your wax needs to be hot, but not simmering. It will not harm your cuttings and may help sanitize the surface somewhat as well. If the wax is too cool, it will go on too thickly.

To heat your wax, we recommend using a cheap crockpot/slow cooker. We had one that just cooked too hot for food, but you can pick them up at yard sales or thrift stores for pretty cheap. When we are done, we store the wax pot away until next time. If you put wax in it once, don't expect to ever use it for anything else again. lol

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I don't know what video I got it from but I use a mix of paraffin and beeswax and a toilet seal wax ring which is very cheap and very sticky and I heat it in a tiny crockpot. Imthe toilet seal wax helps make the others flexible and the beeswax although more expensive is antibacterial. Not an expert and I'm new but so far it works
 
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