Do a search for "grafting" and you'll find lots of topics.

I think grafting is a desparate move only to be attempted if your soil has many soilborne diseases and you want to grow flavorful tomatoes.

Hi all, after checking this morning:

"I did some side by side with Cherokee Purple but did not see any advantage on that one."

I need to update that, looks like the grafted CP is getting it's second wind. I see quite a lot of new growth it it. The two non grafted CPs besides it are done for. Don't think it will set anymore but it is clearly doing better.

The grafted Balls is bigger then the non grafted Balls and has at least %50 more leafs on it.

I also found that my grafted Red Brandywine has quite a few small green tomatoes on it so it set well into the hot weather, and I don't see any BER on it while the non grafted RBW had lots of BER.

When I get the time I will do a follow up on how the grafted and non grafted plants did.

Take care, DC

O-nut

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Feldon writes: ...and you want to grow flavorful tomatoes.

Certainly nothing I would want to do. :)

I dont have any soil born diseases to speak of , so my grafting experiment is more of a "just for fun" project than an act of desperation. I was a little surprised to find the process easier than I had anticipated. Tomatoes are very resilient, and if I can manage to muddle my way through it, IÂm sure anyone could.
Below is a post I made a while back, at another forum. IÂll try to get some current picÂs up soon, as the plants are really starting to take off. Many of the Maxifort grafts seem much more vigorous than their non-grafted counterparts. I am curious to see how yield and flavor will be effected.

Posted 4/24/06:
Thanks to the encouragement and generosity of Farkee and others, I've tried my hand at some tomato grafting this year.
Thought IÂd share how things are going. The Maxifort seed that was to be used as rootstock, was planted 10 days after the scion varieties were sown. It germinated in only two days and quickly caught up to the other seedlings.The Black Beauty eggplants were sown three weeks prior.

Maxifort rootstock prepÂd for grafting
cut tops were re-rooted in perlite-mix (background)



Brandywine scion carefully selected for size



Silicon grafting clip in place



Eggplant selected for a tubing graft
I found the latex tubing at a local medical supply


Recovery chamber (upside down fish tank) Grafts are kept humid with an occasional misting

After several days of re-hab



Cherokee Purple on Maxifort


Carbon on eggplant rootstock


Here are the Maxifort cuttings busting out of their container less than three weeks latter, already overtaking all the other seedlings - again!

Still amazed by how vigorous this variety is.
IÂm very happy with the progress so far, and hope to grow out side by side comparisons per/variety against some direct sown plants as well.- Thanks everybody!

Wow, many of us would like to see the results of your grafting.

Any followup on this thread would be appreciated. I didn't notice it until doing a search but I'm quite curious of which heirloom varieties might benefit most in YIELD by grafting onto Maxifort rootstock.

I already goofed by starting the rootstock first. I thought NC State researchers recommended starting rootstock 3-5 days before scion seeds. My Maxifort plants are already emerging and I haven't started scion varieties. A preliminary trial of grafting 4 hybrid varieties onto 12 Sun Sugar rootstock appears to all have succeded in healthy plants. Now I want to try ~ hundred various heirloom scions onto Maxifort. Cherokee Purple, Carbon and Prudens Purple were at the top of my list.

Any yield or plant vigor update on any varieties grafted onto Maxifort rootstock would be helpful.

Organic Nut,
My forum time is not much these days but I am glad I caught your post. I tried to find your e-mail through other posts but you must not be set up to receive them.

I am glad you posted again concerning this topic. I was sending you some Maxifort seeds that you requested when I had some extra but misplaced your address.

I was sending different seeds to 4 people and since we are on opposite seasons I knew I only had to get them there by spring so I kept procrastinating. I found the other addresses but not yours.

I am sorry for the delay. If you would still like some send me another E-mail with your address and I will send them out immediately.

farkee

I just realized that this thread was started many many months ago. Hope O.N. sees it and contacts me.

Organic Nut`s e-mail is Onut@zero.cotse.net

Try dropping him an e-mail. Bet he´d be thrilled to get that seed.

George
presently in Mexico City

Where could I find some seed if I wanted to try my hand at grafting on Maxifort root stock ?? I don't mind buying them if there is a retail source available anywhere.

I have always thought that it sounded too complex and too much trouble to mess with, but the pictures and demonstration above make it seem like it is not so hard.
Bill P.

Bill, I've purchased my Maxifort seed and grafting clips from Johnnys but noticed other suppliers handling them for similar prices. The one complaint I've heard is the min. order of 250 seeds but so far my germination rate is under 50% on seeds I purchased. Might turn out to be an expensive hobbie.

Thanks so much bmoser. I looked that up at Johnnies and I see what you mean. 250 Seeds shown as minimum order and I surely would not need that many to experiment with. One member has been kind and generous enough to offer to share a few seed with me to let me try them to experiment with, and I appreciate it very much.

Those spring loaded grafting clips look interesting, but their ad says 1 (one) unit for $37.50 but do not say how many are in a unit. I will make do with the clips that the other member sends and / or some plastic oxygen hose slit open to go around the stem over the graft.

Now I need to start studying and learning all I can about the art of grafting, plan on growing some to save seed from and decide what I want to try my hand at grafting. ":^)
Bill P.

Bill, just wanted to mention that the simple clips(~$11.50? for 200) seem to be the preferred clip for most grafting. These are going to be very close to your plastic oxygen hose idea.

I was at a presentation given by Cary Rivard, grad student of Dr. frank Louws at NC state on this subject. I think his power point presentation is on their website and there are many good points given there. If I recall correctly he said that he could do 800 grafts in a morning. The high humidity afterward seems important but I think a plastic storage box with a lid and 4 times per day misting works great without any other modifications.

I live in France and am trying this for the first time this year. Graines Baumaux, a generally reliable supplier of seeds (including MANY heirlooms and many biodynamically produced) and garden products sells "Groundforce F1" (I can find NO references to this on the Internet) in 25 seed packets for Euros 4.60. That's fine for the limited number of grafts I plan to do (like, ever! 25 per year would feed the village!) It's obviously more expensive (at 10X) than buying 250 seeds from Johnny's, although I won't know the germination rate for another week or so. They also sell packets of 25 grafting clips (these are like the so-called "Netherlands silicone grafting clip" in the Johnny's catalog) for Euros 6.00 (a definitely bad price compared to Johnny's 200 for US$ 11.95!!

Anyway, ny point here is two-fold: if anyone has Maxifort seed to offer or trade, I would be interested; if anyone wants to try the Groundforce seed, I'll be glad to send you the ordering details

Just a thought... If the Maxifort is too expensive to dabble with at 250 minimum order, might not a cheap disease resistant hybrid like Celebrity work almost as well?

The Maxifort F1 I used last season was from De Ruiters Seeds. Viability - 100%, and extremely vigorous.
Germination in 48 hours. I see that other companies are starting to offer them as well. The F2 seed that I saved had 100% germination as well, but lacked the extreme vigor that the F1 had shown.

MAXIFORT F1

While these F2 may still have many of the disease resistant traits, It's the vigor of the F1 in which I'm most interested.
Production in general, was better on the grafted plants, noting also that they began setting fruit up to a couple of weeks earlier as well. Most markedly improved - a Brandywine, least difference, a Cherokee Purple. Admittedly, due to the small numbers of plants overall, that had non-grafted counterparts for comparison, this could have been more scientific. None the less, from what Ive seen, Im very encouraged.

In regard to taste, I couldnt notice any difference between grafted and non-grafted fruits. I forgot to taste any of the Maxifort berries.

Here is part of another post with some grafting tips I made at another forum;
-I have played around with some grafting techniques, and have found top grafting (tube graft) to be the most fool-proof for me. Smaller seedlings seem easier to handle and care for, with less requirements for time and space. Youll know relatively soon if youve been successful or not.
Many of the sites Ive read, put a lot of emphasis on sanitation, which I found to be one of the least critical factors in the success of a graft taking. Not that there is anything wrong with sterile tools and work area, but as I practiced more, all that went pretty much out the window and my results continued to improve.
Most important, seemed to be that the scion and rootstock were well matched in terms of size (diameter) and cut (angle). Next, that they be kept in relative high humidity during recovery. A well done graft might show no sign of wilting, while a bad attempt will wilt severely and maybe not recover.
In matching tops and bottoms, an accurate planting schedule should be determined. The idea is for rootstocks and scions to reach grafting size at the same time. Ive seen sights that recommend planting Maxifort rootstock prior to the scion stock, which would have been disastrous for me, as every cultivar Ive matched with it has needed about a two week head start against this vigorous variety. You can test germinate the varieties you are using to get a time frame, and work backwards from there. Some sites state that the cut must be made below the cotyledons or some such nonsense. I get better results making the cuts at the points where the diameters best match for size. Just be vigilant for any unwanted suckers below the graft, as they grow true to the rootstock. This would be undesirable for large scale growers, but simple enough for a backyard gardener. If however, you want two cultivars on one plant, this is probably the easiest method to use.
As for tools, for making cuts, Ive found the thinness of double edge razor refills make the cleanest cuts. Theyre cheap, and worked better than my Exacto, or any thing else Ive found for that matter.
For the patch, Ive tried clips, clamps, tapes, and even Liquid-Bandaid. By far, the easiest to use for me, were the silicon grafting clips. Latex tubing will also work. I found some at the medical supply shop down the road for $1.99/ft. They would even sell it by the inch, but for versatility and ease of getting everything in place and secured, the silicon clips are the way to go.
For a recovery chamber, as a hobby gardener, Ive found an upside down aquarium in my indoor seed starting area to be ideal to maintain a humid environment for the 4-5 days necessary to heal.
For larger clef and side grafts, Ive had some success using 3M Nexcare surgical tapes and Popsicle-stick splints. Tomatoes are pretty resilient, it surprises me what they can endure. Good luck, George.

http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/graf...dsgrafting.htm ohio state info

http://www.deruiterseeds.com/page/Co...g_instructions de ruiter info top grafting

Apparently, moving my post killed the links, hopefully this will work. The one from Ohio State links to an article on grafting for heirloom tomatoes that I found particularly helpful.

http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/graf...dsgrafting.htm ohio state info

http://www.deruiterseeds.com/page/Co...g_instructions de ruiter info top grafting 

Any New Information on Grafting Tomatoes ?????

Koreyk, No production info to relate yet but so far from a practical management standpoint this has been more of a problem than I expected.

First, some of my grafts that looked good were actually Maxifort regrowth. Those plants start normally with smaller leaves than grow like weeds. I pulled 9 plants so far.. extremely hard to uproot a 3' tall plant because of extensive root system. Plants reek of an odor much like cat urine.

Second, even good grafted plants will try to send rootstock suckers from below the graft. These are often difficult to remove.... I broke the entire plant stem on one before the rooted maxifort sucker broke free. Since I sucker all my plants heavily I tend to notice the rootstock suckers more readily but they grow quickly and add time and labor to the operation.

I'm not giving up on the concept yet but, in my opinion, grafted plants will need to show clear advantages in production in order to justify all the problems of grafted plant organization and management.

Dear 'Geol',
I am wondering if it would be o.k. for me to use your picture of the Maxifort leaf and fruit you posted here in a presentation about grafting tomatoes. I will be giving shortly. Unfortunately I had taken some photos of a full-grown rootstock but they were lost during a computer glitch. If that is o.k., please let me know how you would like to be credited. Thanks very much. suzanneoconnell@hotmail.com

Are any of you guys still around that did this last season?? If so can you please give a report.

Sure sounds interesting!

Thanks,
Terry Light
Oak Hill, Virginia

Terry, a report from the northeast would certainly be different than from the south where soilborn diseases would be much more of an issue. I was mainly grafting from the standpoint of trying t increase production. I will need to first note that I do not keep data on yields,etc. I'm not in this business to do research.

That being clarified, I want to explain my methods and results. I grafted over 30 different varieties of both hybrid and heirloom scions onto Maxifort rootstock. When I transplanted them into high tunnels I planted ungrafted and grafted plants of the same varieties next to eachother. The grafted plants were tagged by var. name and a large circled "G". Using this method I could constantly observe yield trends throughout the harvest season.

Throughout most of the season I noticed very little yield differences between grafted and ungrafted plants. Grafted plants tended to have more vegetative growth on selective plants. The real difference was noticed in Oct-Nov. after 4 months of harvesting fro these plants. It seemed that when ungrafted plants were fizzling the grafted counterparts were going strong in both new vegetative growth and production. Since overall yields are lower during this postfrost period it is difficult to put a % increase on the yield. But to have a late crop surge was as valuable to me as an early June crop from a marketing standpoint.

In summary, I'm going to repeat the process again this year because I saw a difference. There are some drawbacks as noticed in my previous posts. Is the return worth the extra labor and aggrevation? I'm still not sure.