Quote:
Originally Posted by b54red
One tip that can really make a difference in the height of the graft is to start your root stock before your scion seeds. Frequently the scions will get bigger any way but it is better to give them a head start so that the root stock seedling is tall enough to graft further up the stem which is really important if you are dealing with soil diseases.
Despite all my complaining of failure I have about 100 grafted plants that look like they will make it. I will start potting them up into cups with potting soil this week starting with the largest ones first. I left all of them outside for the past two days of rainy misty weather and hope that the sun shining today will not burn them. This rainy damp weather really helps with the healing but it can increase the amount of damping off in the air which can cause more incidences of it in the healing chambers but I much prefer grafting in damp cool weather as opposed to hot dry weather which causes me to make big changes in how I handle the grafting and healing. When it is hot and dry I try to do the grafting in air conditioning, place the grafted plant immediately in the healing chamber and put the top back on as soon as I do. When I get through I will take the chamber inside the house away from windows or air conditioning vents and cover the whole thing with a towel so it is pretty dark inside. I will open it each day and mist the top if it needs it and cover it again. At the end of the second day I remove the towel to allow some light in but still keep it sealed until the end of the third day when I will loosen the lid a slight amount. I keep close watch on the plants and slowly open it more each day and then bring it out into good indirect light by the 5th or 6th day and hopefully can totally remove the lid by then or at least the 7th day.
When working during frequent rainy and cooler than normal days I will only close the lid completely if it is not raining and open it when it is. I usually get a good success rate and end up leaving them open sometimes by the 4th or 5th day if the favorable grafting weather continues.
I have not used anything larger than a 2ml grafting clip so far this year. When grafting later in the spring and early summer I will usually need much larger clips. I presently have 1.5 ml, 1.7 ml, 2. ml, 2.5 ml, 2.8 ml, and 3. ml clips and during a season of tomato growing I will usually use some of all of them. I recommend that anyone grafting have a good assortment for the amount of time it will save you. That way you don't have to wait for the seedlings to get to just the right size when you are working with only a few clip sizes.
Good luck everyone experimenting with grafting.
Bill
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I'll definitely start my RS earlier next year. I realized a few weeks ago that I ought to have. My RS initially blew past the scions so I gave the scions a bit of a boost. Within 10 days the scions were now larger than the RS.
I think I'd maybe prefer the tops to be a touch smaller. Based on your info, it's probably a little safer to move up the RS when it comes to cut points than it is to move down.
I just did a quick mist on my domes after 24hrs and the height of the graft points is even worse than I thought. Lots of clips sitting right close to ground level.
I started by germinating 3X the plants that I'll ultimately need, and after sizing and a few mistakes I have 2X with a backup set of non grafted heirlooms in case of catastrophic grafting failure. I'm hoping that I can use 12 of the 23 grafted plants when it's all said and done. Anything beyond that is just a bonus for my neighbors and my mother in law.
Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of a greenhouse yet so I end up having to balance the gradual reduction of healing chamber humidity against fairly dry inside air. I was actually surprised when I test grafted two into soil last weekend at how quickly I was able to move the survivor completely out of the chamber! It was day 5 or 6 post grafting and I had her in the shelf in dry inside air.
The balancing act is kind of fun. It's not as daunting as I expected in that it's fairly easy to see when the exposed plants are ready to be covered up again, and they seem to recover rather quickly once the lid is back on and the humidity is up!
Those low graft point have me worried a bit though, for sure.