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flyingfish2

grafting tomatoes

flyingfish2
10 years ago

Searched the archives with very little input on this subject on the Fl forum. It seems like a natural with our heat,humidity, and nematodes.

Have started several of my favorite heirlooms and root stock seeds from TG'ers. Start a couple of heirlooms every day so that I can match the 2 diameters when grafting. Am using soda straws for the clip. Have tested using the straws just to graft an everglades to everglades and they seem to be fine.

After using all my stock seeds from TG , am going to try everglades for a rootstock. Anyone else tried this?

Will grow grafted and nongrafted side by side. If I find anything of interest will keep pics to show results.

Let me hear anyone else's results?

bernie

Comments (8)

  • zzackey
    10 years ago

    I think you can find something online with EDIS about that.

  • garyfla_gw
    10 years ago

    Hi
    what is the advantage?? last experiment I tried was growing them upside down lol What a waste of time that was lol good luck gary

  • flyingfish2
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi Gary
    Heirlooms with resistance of hardy rootstock. More and longer production, hopefully !

  • bugbite
    10 years ago

    Hi,
    A local nusery gave me a grafted tomato last year, a big brand in the grafted tomato world (can't remember the name). The tomato grew like crazy, but no tomatoes. I finally pulled the tomato and found the worst case of nematodes I ever saw.
    I guess the secret is to know your rootstock.
    Bob

  • garyfla_gw
    10 years ago

    Hi
    I grow in raised bed . Main problems this year has been overgrowth . One is pushing 8 feet and shading everything else . Interesting that one variety is under 3 feet has produced 12 rather small but good quality while the gigantic has produced 3 larger but of poor quality. Mostly bird and bug bites lol On a whim I planted some cantaloupe
    which seems to be doing well but the "monster " is hogging all the limited sun lol Oh well good luck with your plan gary

  • L_in_FL
    10 years ago

    I read recently in another forum that there are different genes for nematode resistance in tomatoes. The gene present in the commercial tomato rootstocks is temperature dependent. When the soil temperature exceeds 84F, the nematode-resistance rapidly declines. Not so good for us Florida growers, huh?

    However, the rootstocks still offer resistance against other soilborne diseases, so grafted tomatoes can still be useful for people who live in an area where soil diseases are endemic.

    Many of the tomato rootstocks are highly vegetative and vigorous. This is great in a cool area, but in a warm climate like Florida, it can lead to the problems Bugbite and Gary reported - all foliage and little or no fruit.

    Those vigorous vegetative rootstocks have to be managed with heavy, consistent pruning. When you see the pictures of grafted tomatoes in seed catalogs, notice how they split the grafted plant into two main stems and do not allow ANY side stems (suckers)? That's done to force the rootstock's energy into tomato production and not making tons of leaves.

  • pnbrown
    10 years ago

    Also low Mn can lead to poor flowering.

    what is 'TG'?

  • yardenman
    10 years ago

    I am going to try grafted tomatoes this year. I see some sense in the idea. If it were not for grafting, there would be no European wines anymore.

    My plan is to plant twice the number of seeds this year. Half the heirlooms will be grafted onto Big Beef hybrid rootstock (very good disease resistance and I have lots of those seeds). Half the heirlooms will be left natural. Of the grafted types, half will be done by cleft grafts and half will be slanted grafts. I
    have graft clamps on order.

    All the plants will be labeled according to their rootstocks and graft type.

    I don't have enough space to rotate my tomatoes as I should, so the soil has gotten to be more of a problem the past few years. So we will see what happens. I don't expect a great surprise that the "natural" heirlooms will produce weakly. I am HOPING for much better production on the grafted plants in the same soil (they will be alternated with the natural ungrafted heirlooms). And I will grow 2 ungrafted Big Beef just because I grew them in the same beds last year and I have an idea what they should produce with their disease resistance.

    All the tomatoes will get powdered eggshells for calcium, N-Lite (2-5-6) so there isn't TOO much nitrogen, and 2" of compost dug into the 2'x'2' planting hole for general soil health and weekly foliar seaweed spraying for trace minerals.

    Best I can plan...

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