Sealing pruning wounds with grafting compound or any other gunk, like paint, wax, tar or roofing compound, literally adds insult to injury. Grafting compound should only be used to temporarily limit desiccation while graft unions knit. It eventually flakes off as the affected parts (understock and scion) grow. Because the cut surfaces of pruning wounds do not grow, grafting compound does not flake off right away, so can remain mostly intact for years, retaining moisture and actually promoting rot. Some thick emulsions may even inhibit callus growth over wounds (healing).

Because so many people expect pruning wounds in trees to be treated with some sort of dressing, some tree services apply black spray paint. Most who do so fortunately know that it is best to apply the paint lightly enough to be porous instead of actually sealing the surface. Some use temporary marking paint, which is designed to deteriorate in the weather. (The cut surfaces hopefully darken simultaneously so that no one notices.)

The best way to promote healthy recovery from pruning is to prune properly, leaving no stubs to interfere with compartmentalization (healing). The sort of rapid growth that most efficiently compartmentalizes pruning wounds naturally occurs at branch unions, even after the associated branches get pruned away. This is because the remaining foliage beyond the unions (the parts that do not get pruned away) remain vascularly active and able to sustain such growth. Similar growth at the end of a stub is much slower because there is no foliage beyond.

More often, a stub dies, leaving an obtrusive peg lodged where callus growth should be closing a wound. By the time the stub rots enough to not interfere, rot will have also extended into the union with the supporting stem.