Three of four look great and the fourth looks poor but all are still not wilted.

I wanted to see how it was done. Did you buy the clips or use tubing from a hobby store? It looks interesting but will I ever get around to trying it? Did you do a side graft or a top graft.

I did graft a pear tree once and it lived for a few years until the whole tree got fire blight in a wet year.

Here is a link that might be useful: grafting video

I used a top graft and used the tubes I bought from Johnny's. Still looking like they might pull through. I guess we'll see. I'm changing them from total darkness tomorrow to a more opaque cover.

I think you will be successful because a tomato wants to grow - unlike a woody pear stem and if you don't succeed this time it will only take a few weeks to try again. You probably purchased root stocks but anyone could use Celebrity.

It is wonderful to be really interested in things that don't cost a fortune.

Helen - agree. I'll be interested to see if they do survive. May open up new territory ...

Reed will be interested in your results. I have done a few grafts the last two years. I didn't have much trouble till I started weaning them off the healing chamber. I tried the same rootstock you used along with a few others. The few that I had that survived did better than their non grafted siblings. If I decide to start seeds this year I will try grafting again. I'm going to use a different healing chamber set up and see if that helps. We are fortunate here in KS that one of the pioneers in the recent grafting of tomatoes movement works at K-State now. I have watched his videos and read his writing along with that of several others. From the research I've seen there are several rootstocks that out perform celebrity. The two you are using are very good. They say that Cherokee Purple is one variety that seems to really benefit from grafting. Jay

Jay, I'm glad to see you posting again. Are you out of the healing chamber?

Jay, You're back!!! I sure hope you're feeling better. I miss you when you're not here.

I am not going to try grafting until you guys are successfully raising grafted plants that give you oodles and oodles of tomatoes. Then I will be insanely jealous and decide I simply must give grafting a try...... : ).

Last year a small handful of seed companies sold grafted tomato plants online. This year a lot more are. I'm looking forward to seeing the reviews of people who buy them and plant them. Personally, I don't think I'd pay that much money for a grafted plant, especially when the companies who sell them don't start shipping them until a date that I think is too late to be planting tomato plants here.

I need to get off this computer and finish potting up my tomato seedlings. I'm halfway finished with a flat that had cool season veggies, tomatoes, peppers, and three kinds of ground cherries started with multiple seedlings in each cell of the 72-cell flat. By the end of today, all of the plants will be in their own paper or plastic cups. Then, I'll start a whole new batch of flower and herb seeds in the flat, and in 2 or 3 weeks I'll be potting up those seedlings.

I don't know how y'all have the time and patience for grafting. I have cats, too, and they think the light shelf and the green house are just big cat clubhouses, so I have doubts about whether I could protect a grafting chamber from the curious 'this world belongs to us' felines.

Dawn

Reed have you considered grafting on to your vigorous C H Porter tomato - just for fun.

You know, it could certainly work. What if I grafted the CH? Boy, that could be a monster.

I grafted these last Sunday. I only removed the humidity dome to take this photo. They were under complete darkness for two days, then under an opaque cover for two days and now under the clear with the humidity dome cracked open about 25%. I'm going to be going to a conference until Sunday and my hope is to open the humidity vents on Sunday night and remove it completely on Tuesday or Wednesday. Is there anything wrong with that plan?

I'm hopeful that, since they are not dead yet, that they might live. Also, I realize that the graft is close to the soil level on the foremost plant. I will fix that when they come out of the dome.

They look good to me but I don't know much except they aren't dead as you said. It has been 4 days so I think they may have made a connection. You will just have to wait and see.
You will fix the one with the graft close to the soil. Is that by removing some soil? Will you have to keep the graft above the soil level? If the upper part roots is that a problem? I know you don't want the rootstock to make shoots.

This post was edited by helenh on Fri, Feb 15, 13 at 0:56

Reed, I think they look good, but I have not grafted any myself. I'm sure Jay will comment when he sees your photos.

Helen, The main reason to keep the graft line above the soil line is so that all roots come only from the rootstock. If the scion is able to touch soil, it can root in and that defeats the purpose of the superior rootstock. You only want top growth from the scion and you only want root growth from the rootstock.

A secondary concern could be that the graft area might be a tiny bit more prone to being infiltratedor attacked by soil-borne pathogens, but that is just a guess on my part.

Some companies (and Territorial Seed Company is one of them) are now grafting two different scions to a rootstock. Isn't that amazing? I wouldn't think it would be cost effective to buy many of those plants, but if a person were really and truly space-challenged, it would allow them to grow twice as many tomato varieties in the available space.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Plants Grafted With Two Different Scions

Carol in grafting terms I'm still in the hardening off chamber. The issue I've had with this viral/bacterial infection is I would feel ok but 5-6 days after I came off antibiotics I would have a relapse. The last time he treated it very aggressive with some of the strongest antibiotics. It has been a week now. I ran a low fever yesterday morning which he said would probably happen but ok this morning so far. So taking it day by day. I'm still avoiding crowds and the cool night air. Trying to get my strength back and build my system back up.

Reed your plants look fine. The hardening off chamber is where I had issues. I was trying to do too much I think. Most of my grafts took even on the plants I lost. This year if I get the time to graft I'm going to change my humidity chamber and the way I harden them off. I will be interested in your results as the season progresses. The nice thing about grafting is you can selects rootstock that is tolerant to the issues you have. There are some that are almost 100% resistant to root node nematode. The best results I've had so far in the recent drought cycle has been on rootstock with large, vigorous root systems. Hope they all survive and do well for you. Jay

I'm about to try my hand at grafting ... Please keep me updated on your success.

~Melissia

Took my grafts out of the healing chamber last night. As of today, three of the four are alive and the fourth was probably doomed to death anyways since the scion and the rootstock weren't very close in size.

I am also trying grafting for the first time using maxifort root stock. I began a trial run with 4 plants and all 4 survived and are doing well under lights. I am going to give these to a friend with a greenhouse and do another run of 40 or so plants. Wish me luck!