Best cut paste

WNC Bonsai

WNC Bonsai

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In looking for a general use cut paste I see the usual green containers sold by suppliers like Stone Lantern, etc. These supposedly are specially formulated for use with bonsai and may contain fungicides, antibiotics, etc. and are relatively expensive, but are they worth it compared to plain old plumbers putty or duct sealant putty? I have looked at the various plumbers and duct putty and they all seem to now be made of either silicone, bentonite clay with various oils, or synthetic compounds. Old fashioned plumbers putty was a mox of clay and linseed or other oil. So what is the best for sealing cuts on bonsai, the expensive stuff with the Japanese characters all over the container or something I can pick up at Lowes?
 
I can't really say that the other products won't work, because I have never tried them. :)

However I find that there are two types of bonsai cut paste - the clay type that is easy to apply and easy to remove, and the latex type that is messier to apply and very difficult to remove. I use the former to do one job, and the later to do another. For example if I need to seal something for a year, I use the clay. If I need to seal something forever (like the bottom of an air-layer) I use the latex. I find that I don't really use that much; one tube of the latex lasts me years.
 
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Bonsai Nut said:
I can't really say that the other products won't work, because I had never tried them. :)

However I find that there are two types of bonsai cut paste - the clay type that is easy to apply and easy to remove, and the latex type that is messier to apply and very difficult to remove. I use the former to do one job, and the later to do another. For example if I need to seal something for a year, I use the clay. If I need to seal something forever (like the bottom of an air-layer) I use the laytex. I find that I don't really use that much; one tube of the latex lasts me years.
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Do you mean the green toothpaste tubes? I use that on some applications that are small but in this case I have some large cuts on bald cypress and I am trying to close the wounds which takes several years. @johng in his videos uses a dark grey putty but never has said what it is. All the plumbers and hvac putty now is more of a white or tan color unlike the old stuff which was dark grey. What do you use on your large trident maple cuts?
 
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This is what Ive been using as many others on here do too. Juan Andrade when he was at our club also had a stick of the same stuff. Linky- Duct seal

Ive also had reasonably good results with plain old Elmers wood glue. My only complaint with wood glue is that its very difficult to clean up after the wound has healed, little bits get stuck in the closing wound and can pull bark off. But for general rough cuts that will get cleaned up at a later date it works just fine.
 
Cofga said:
but are they worth it compared to plain old plumbers putty or duct sealant putty?
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For clay type, I use duct seal like Tiki linked above. It looks to be an identical base material to the round containers from Japan sold here in the US. I’ve had others tell me they have all sorts of special compounds, but the websites don’t usually promote it that way and I can’t read the jars.

If I have a tree that is slow to callus, I dust some rooting hormone before using the duct seal or I use Callus Mate (yellow tube, green lid). I’ve also been told it has hormones and it does seem to induce good callus growth.

I have never used plumbers putty on trees, but I would think it would dry and crack.
 
You all must be doing a lot of major cuts. A tube of very high quality relatively inexpensive cut paste lasts me a few years. I don't think this is a corner I need to cut.
 
penumbra said:
You all must be doing a lot of major cuts. A tube of very high quality relatively inexpensive cut paste lasts me a few years. I don't think this is a corner I need to cut.
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I use 2-3 tubs per year. AT 18E per tub that is money to be safed!
 
leatherback said:
I use 2-3 tubs per year. AT 18E per tub that is money to be safed!
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Whereas I get 2 to 3 years out of a tube. I seldom seal smaller cuts unless there is a lot of bleeding (as is ficus). For collected trees that are cut back severely, I use silicone caulk. But I do this seldom.
 
Aah, ok. yeah. I have the clay type. Bought a tube of the other stuff this spring to try. But will mainly use the clay. perfect stuff.
 
This stuff can be had at Home Depot for less than three bucks. It looks like the imported gray paste, applies exactly like the imported gray paste, and does exactly what the gray paste does, though it doesn’t have any added hormones or fungicides. I’ve been using this for at least five or six years and always have an extra brick in the garage. Feel free to check out my threads to see this stuff in action.
5E21BF6F-3386-4D0D-8984-FFC78D397957.jpeg
 
As @Bonsai Nut displayed this attached photo in his post. I use this all the time. It works for me. Spreads easy. Covers well. Lasts....it last through all my weather. Stays in place. I put it on....and don’t have to do anything else. For me....it works perfect. I’ve tried others, even the clay type, I came back to this and stayed with this because of its success in doing the job.
 

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Tieball said:
As @Bonsai Nut displayed this attached photo in his post. I use this all the time. It works for me. Spreads easy. Covers well. Lasts....it last through all my weather. Stays in place. I put it on....and don’t have to do anything else. For me....it works perfect. I’ve tried others, even the clay type, I came back to this and stayed with this because of its success in doing the job.
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My experience as well. I really like the fact that it flows and covers well. Works well on bleeding ficus.
 
I've used woodglue. I actually tried gluing some bark on a trunk chop wound, I'll see how it responds to it. Should be fine basically.
 
OK, I have the stuff in the green toothpaste tube and use it for small er cuts. The clay stuff in the green capped container is what I was wondering about. I can get that from Amazon for about $15 or the duct seal at Home Depot for much less. From what I have seen of @Dav4 trees it seems to work about as well as the Japanese stuff. I have to do some major carving this year so will need to do some serious sealing so may opt of the duct sealant. I just didn’t want to go that route and find out that it might have something in it that would impede the healing process.
 
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