This summer I tried my hand at grafting tomato plants. The first test was a procedure test to see if It would work, before committing the expensive root stock seeds(17cents each). Both grafts took, so grafting actually works in my cobbled together setup. One plant survived the transplant. It is not doing all that well. That may be because I used a determinate root stock and an indeterminate scion. It was what I had on hand and it did prove the graft would take

The second series was 10 plants, 5 each of Cherokee Purple and Super Sioux. This one didn't turn out so well. Part of it was a different seed starting medium (I knew better). Part of it was excess humidity that caused leaf blisters. The last gotcha was the difference in growth rates of the root stock and scion. The scion is supposed to be slower than the root stock, but for these varieties, it is the other way around. Only one plant made it to the garden.

I ran a third series with the few remaining root stock seeds. I will get at least one plant and probably 2 from this group.

Grafting is not particularly hard to do. Any dark room or closet can be made to work as the humidity chamber. The main problem with small scale grafting is the scale. If you have flats of root stock and scions to choose from, it is much easier to match stem sizes. The Japanese have been grafting vegetables for many years. They have machines that will do 100's of plants an hour.