No Roots Tomato Grafting Video
 

I know we have a large forum thread on Tomato Grafting and sometimes it can be pretty overwhelming with all the information. I created a short How-to Video on how i Tomato Graft. Hope you enjoy it!

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RImyEiHpq6U&lch=email&feature=em-comment_received&lc=b99Arhk9C4M8tiW474ILKigFsvnsFJwRx9t6IfAbK-8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RImyEiHpq6U&lch=email&feature=em-comment_received&lc=b99Arhk9C4M8tiW474ILKigFsvnsFJwRx9t6IfAbK-8[/URL]

Been going back and forth on this with you for a while on YouTube. Looks like your the graft master! I still haven't tried it but now I can just follow you.8-)

Nice concise and easy to follow video. I think that one thing helping your success is the rootstock cannot supply too much water without roots and that gives the cut some time to heal. I had a terrible disaster when I tried grafting onto some rootstock that were in very wet cups of potting soil. Water just poured out of the cut on the rootstock causing the graft area in the clip to rot and the ones that didn't rot took forever to heal. It was like trying to fix a pipe without cutting off the water first. I am going to experiment with this method because it may be the one way to have the rootstock moisture at the perfect level and as it gets roots and starts sending up more to the scion the graft is partially healed or fully healed at that point. I use DE to do all of my rooting of cuttings or suckers and rarely does one fail. If you did the same thing with potting soil many would get damping off or bacterial wilt or at least they would down here.

Bill

Bill that is the reason why i use DE for the grafting (no damp off or soil born pathogens). Cuttings/Clones do so well in DE that it was the perfect choice for grafting applications. I knew if i had to keep the humidity up during the (3-5 Day) healing period what better way to do it than keeping the the DE wet using bottom watering. I was able to achieve the high humidity that i needed with a little heat from the bottom of the tote while the graft healed first while slowly developing roots. From my observations the Graft Heals first then it will develop roots which is exactly what i wanted it to do. With grafting normally because the rootstock has roots if the soil medium was to wet then the scion like you said would either damp off or get pushed off. That is where it made sense to me to get rid of the roots to avoid the water stress to the scion and get the graft healed first then worry about the roots later. Also what i really like about grafting this way is being able to grow 2 tasty varieties on the same plant. Using a prolific rootstock that actually tastes good and has the enough vigor and decease resistance to help the weaky scion actually produce a decent crop. So if i allow a sucker/leader to grow from the root stock its not a total waste as using something that's not edible :).

[QUOTE=SleestaksRule;355305]Been going back and forth on this with you for a while on YouTube. Looks like your the graft master! I still haven't tried it but now I can just follow you.8-)[/QUOTE]

Yes.. :) we were chatting about this since last year. I have way to much fun grating. You probably remember when i posted that video last year when i just got in to grafting. Talk about lots of failed trials lol. The experience gained is well worth all the trouble.

Hi Delerium,

I LOVED the video!! I'm definitely going to try this method, esp. now that I have large plants in the garden to take scions and rootstock from and I now actually have some suitable DE:)!

Now I just need to decide which scions I want to use with which rootstocks - and if I want to try any new varieties. So far, I haven't been able to discern much of a difference in my rootstock tests, but I guess time will tell!

As you noted, one of the cool things about your method is the ease of doing two different scions on a single rootstock. BTW, I have 3 tomato varieties on Ping Tung rootstock and they're all doing fine so far (albeit a bit smaller than the controls or ones on other tomato rootstocks as I started them later). I think I read somewhere that the eggplant rootstocks stand up to heat better than the tomato rootstocks - which could be a big advantage around here ;)

What type of eggplant rootstock are you using?

Anyway, great video and keep us posted on this thread or the big grafting thread.

Anne

Anne how is your eggplant / Tomato doing? Do you see better production from the Eggplant vs say a tomato rootstock? I was surprised to see how fast the eggplant graft healed compared to the tomato grafts. If i ever used Eggplant for a rootstock I'd probably use Blackbeauty but since its got no taste i never bothered to grow them this year. I am using Eggplant variety from Sri Lanka called Pink Stripes as the rootstock as it was one of the better looking eggplants in the garden. The scion was Rosa Bianca.

Hi Delerium,

Great video....

I have swimming pool DE and also some DE I got from Solutions from Science that is intended for insect control and they are both very white in color. Your DE in the video looks dark. Where do you get your DE?

Thanks much.

Charley

Hi Delerium,

My 3 eggplant/tomato grafts haven't really started fruiting yet (too young), but they're looking great so far and have started to blossom. I'll post some photos in a little while. One interesting thing is how much faster the tomato part of the graft grows compared to the eggplant. But even though it's much smaller in diameter, the eggplant rootstock seems to have no problems holding up the much larger tomato stem.

I was sort of daydreaming about what varieties I'd like to try (that I don't have seeds or plants for) for a fall crop and wondering about trading scions and rootstocks by mail. I think I might do an experiment by cutting the rootstock and scion sections as demonstrated in your video with the leaves trimmed, them put them in a closed zip lock bag with damp paper towels where required, and let them sit out for a couple of days, then trim the ends and see if I can get a graft to take.

Anne

Hi Again Delerium,

I'm attaching some photos on a KBX, Prue, and Opalka all on Ping-Tung rootstock. There is actually a fruit on the Opalka about 2" long.

As an experiment sort of, I'm keeping the eggplant stems growing up from the rootstock of the KBX. (I know it has little holes in the eggplant leaves - but not too worried about it at the moment).

Sorry the picture quality wasn't a little better but oh well, at least you can get an idea of things.

Anne

Hats off to you Anne - That is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Now you have me all excited to try some Eggplant/Tomato grafts lol. When you grafted the eggplant/tomato was the diameter of the stems the same size? If eggplant grafts heal faster that is very tempting to do with Tomatoes. I wish i had some black beauty seedlings to work with. The stems on black beauties can get very thick.

[QUOTE=Salsacharley;355858]Hi Delerium,

Great video....

I have swimming pool DE and also some DE I got from Solutions from Science that is intended for insect control and they are both very white in color. Your DE in the video looks dark. Where do you get your DE?

Thanks much.

Charley[/QUOTE]

This is the same DE that RayR recommended (Ultrasorb) at Autozone

[QUOTE=Delerium;355189]I know we have a large forum thread on Tomato Grafting and sometimes it can be pretty overwhelming with all the information. I created a short How-to Video on how i Tomato Graft. Hope you enjoy it!

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RImyEiHpq6U&lch=email&feature=em-comment_received&lc=b99Arhk9C4M8tiW474ILKigFsvnsFJwRx9t6IfAbK-8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RImyEiHpq6U&lch=email&feature=em-comment_received&lc=b99Arhk9C4M8tiW474ILKigFsvnsFJwRx9t6IfAbK-8[/URL][/QUOTE]

Like it? I love it! Pure genius!:yes:

Thank you for sharing this awesome video. I appreciated the cleanliness and attention to detail. On average, how long does it take for a nice root system to develop?

[QUOTE=macbettz;356146]Thank you for sharing this awesome video. I appreciated the cleanliness and attention to detail. On average, how long does it take for a nice root system to develop?[/QUOTE]

Just like any regular tomato clone. Once the graft is healed i would say the same time frame it takes a regular clone to develop some decent roots which is about 2-3 weeks. I did a cloning video on DE and according the date stamps on my pictures it was about 2 weeks. So roughly the same. About 1 week to heal the graft and get it adjusted to cfl lighting then another 15 days to get some decent roots so you can transplant it. Of course during those 15 days it would be a good idea to harden off the plant. Saves sometime.

i skipped to the part where you can see the roots on the sucker - March 7th - March 22 which gives you 15 days roughly.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ikAbt60IE9Y#t=99s[/url]