Kankan, I have not found the buddy tape to disintegrate even after a year. If you use several layers to wrap tightly when grafting it will girdle your plant, so it's important to remove it after a few weeks and rewrap with flagging tape, rubber bands, etc. I was following Simon's advice to remove the buddy tape after buds start to grow, but some fragile buds ended up coming off with the buddy tape and did not regrow.
I'm not sure about the advice to cover plants with plastic. I followed that advice with the first buy from Beicadad, and as I mentioned mold grew quickly. For Bill's first buy, I thought I made sure to add enough ventilation but same problem and mold grew. I was checking them often so I did not lose plants to mold on that round.
I kept my plants on heat mats and used a diffuser for humidity and initially got several leaves to grow, but challenges came when I took them off the heat and turned off the diffuser. So I learned they really need to transition slowly to give time to acclimate to different conditions.
For soil and fertilization, I recommend using any fertilizer in diluted strength and test on one plant only. I was really surprised that one of my plants that I thought was growing well died after feeding with beneficial soil microorganisms and mycorrhizae.
One of the challenges with soil mix containing peat and/or wood products (pine bark, aged or composted forest products) contained in most bagged potting soil is that once it gets too dry it will become hydrophobic and will not absorb water. I did an experiment where I filled a container with dried peat on the bottom half and peat that was soaking in water for several hours on the top. After several waterings the bottom half remained dry. This may not be an issue for areas that get consistent rain, but for me in SoCal, it matters a lot. So I recommend adding something to your growing medium that absorbs water so you know your containers are absorbing water readily. I use finely ground coir that has been rinsed of salts and pH balanced, crushed granite or course sand. I also, add pumice, kanuma, and kiryu to acidify and aid air flow.
I received my plants in the mail on Monday and they looked pretty dry and somewhat shriveled. I cut off all the damaged roots and trimmed the branches to live growth and only sealed the ends of the cuts with buddy tape. Soaked the roots in seaweed and fertilizer with micronutrients and planted them. Then I filled a sprayer with rainwater, seaweed extract, humic substances, and AEA's planter solution. I misted all the branches every hour or so the first day and I will continue to mist them a couple of times a day. This morning the plants are looking way better and the branches aren't shriveled anymore. I am not covering my trees with buddy tape because I want to be able to consistently spray the branches to feed and hydrate until they develop a strong enough root system to take up water and nutrients through their roots.
I have my trees outside amongst ferns, palm trees, and other potted plants to protect them and provide humidity. Bill sent me pics of trees he planted directly into the ground on the recommendation of his friend and they are growing fine. He gets a lot colder than me, so I'm just keeping them outside to make less work for myself and hopefully less stress on the trees because I won't have to move them. Besides, I have all my heat mats and grow tents inside taken up with other plants.
Janet