2017 Grafting thread: Open to all

[b54red]

Maxifort is a very good root stock but is only resistant to two races of fusarium wilt so I didn't get to use it much. It is very vigorous and vegetative. This means that some varieties will grow larger and have much more foliage than you might expect. Be ready to do a bit of pruning or a lot. You will be surprised at the root system when you pull it up at the end of the season.

Bill

[Hellmanns]

Originally Posted by b54red

Maxifort is a very good root stock but is only resistant to two races of fusarium wilt so I didn't get to use it much. It is very vigorous and vegetative. This means that some varieties will grow larger and have much more foliage than you might expect. Be ready to do a bit of pruning or a lot. You will be surprised at the root system when you pull it up at the end of the season.

Bill

In the tunnel where they are planted, I will try to keep them pruned to 2 leaders.

[rick9748]

Planted 4 types of seeds; estamino, maxifort, cherokee purple & black krim.All planted on 6/10 @ 80 dg.Today maxifort pushing up some 1/4-1/2 in. .That is 4 days, ever experienced this rapid germination???
Group of 6 each to determine growth rate for grafting.
Was just amazed and wondered if you had experienced this rapid germination of maxifort??

[Hellmanns]

Originally Posted by rick9748

Planted 4 types of seeds; estamino, maxifort, cherokee purple & black krim.All planted on 6/10 @ 80 dg.Today maxifort pushing up some 1/4-1/2 in. .That is 4 days, ever experienced this rapid germination???
Group of 6 each to determine growth rate for grafting.
Was just amazed and wondered if you had experienced this rapid germination of maxifort??

Yes, the Maxifort I planted were up in 4 days. But, next year I will plant the rootstocks 1 week before the scion because the rootstock seedlings are tiny.

[Hellmanns]

Big Beef, and Old German are growing great on the Maxifort rootstock in my tunnel! I have about 20 nongrafted BB in a row as a control, they look good too, just not as robust as the grafted plants.

[Father'sDaughter]

My plants are still doing great. Because my graft point is so low, whenever I go through and pinch suckers and tie to stakes, I also check to make sure the scion isn't producing roots.

As I posted in the rootstock thread, I have three varieties grafted onto two different rootstock -- RST-104-106-T and DRO141TX. Last week they seemed to be neck and neck. Today the plants on DRO141TX are now about 6-8 inches taller and have twice as many flower trusses as those on RST-204-106-T.

My other plants are all on DRO141TX and all have many more flower trusses than I've ever seen. The seed stock description lists it as balanced between generative and vegetive and what I'm seeing so far seems to agree with that.

[Cole_Robbie]

I just made my first grafting attempts. We shall see how it goes.

I looked at humidifiers are Wal-Mart. They only had the "warm mist" kind. I was worried that would make things get too hot. I used wet perlite for my humidity. There's about a half-inch of water and a couple inches of perlite in the box. I covered the box with black plastic just now.

Root stocks are Estamino and RST-105. Top plants are Mat-Su Express, Sky Reacher, Polar Early, Agatha, and Jazz.

I held the double-sided razor blade in a pair of lineman's pliers and used it like a knife. My hands still stink of the smelly root stock plants. They smell like a weed. Maybe they have wild tomato varieties bred into them. The leaves look odd as well.

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

My plants are still doing great. Because my graft point is so low, whenever I go through and pinch suckers and tie to stakes, I also check to make sure the scion isn't producing roots.

As I posted in the rootstock thread, I have three varieties grafted onto two different rootstock -- RST-104-106-T and DRO141TX. Last week they seemed to be neck and neck. Today the plants on DRO141TX are now about 6-8 inches taller and have twice as many flower trusses as those on RST-204-106-T.

My other plants are all on DRO141TX and all have many more flower trusses than I've ever seen. The seed stock description lists it as balanced between generative and vegetive and what I'm seeing so far seems to agree with that.

Thanks for the info about DRO141TX.

(I'm catching up on this thread now as my southern hemisphere season is just about to start, seedlings in trays, grafting soon!)

[Scooty]

Last I checked, all of the commercially available rootstock options are hybrids and have wild tomato in their line.

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I just made my first grafting attempts. We shall see how it goes.

I looked at humidifiers are Wal-Mart. They only had the "warm mist" kind. I was worried that would make things get too hot. I used wet perlite for my humidity. There's about a half-inch of water and a couple inches of perlite in the box. I covered the box with black plastic just now.

Root stocks are Estamino and RST-105. Top plants are Mat-Su Express, Sky Reacher, Polar Early, Agatha, and Jazz.

I held the double-sided razor blade in a pair of lineman's pliers and used it like a knife. My hands still stink of the smelly root stock plants. They smell like a weed. Maybe they have wild tomato varieties bred into them. The leaves look odd as well.

Fingers crossed they do well!

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I just made my first grafting attempts. We shall see how it goes.

I looked at humidifiers are Wal-Mart. They only had the "warm mist" kind. I was worried that would make things get too hot. I used wet perlite for my humidity. There's about a half-inch of water and a couple inches of perlite in the box. I covered the box with black plastic just now.

Root stocks are Estamino and RST-105. Top plants are Mat-Su Express, Sky Reacher, Polar Early, Agatha, and Jazz.

I held the double-sided razor blade in a pair of lineman's pliers and used it like a knife. My hands still stink of the smelly root stock plants. They smell like a weed. Maybe they have wild tomato varieties bred into them. The leaves look odd as well.

Good Luck Cole. I know you can do it.

Originally Posted by Scooty

Last I checked, all of the commercially available rootstock options are hybrids and have wild tomato in their line.

Scooty, that does not surprise me at all. Wild tomatoes can be thought of as weeds because they have adapted to their growing conditions over time - just like weeds.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks. 24 hours have passed, and everybody still looks ok. I am going to start gradually increasing the light.

[jtjmartin]

Grafting is like having your first baby - you worry about everything! The second time through there are a lot less unknowns and it becomes a lot more fun and less time consuming.

Good luck!

[My Foot Smells]

Cool. Did you pair the plants together - then cut? to make a matching angle.

What angle were you attempting (45 or more?).

Did you start seeds at same time? (graft + scion)

I "guess" they grow at the same rate.

Was there any reason for going w/ two grafting varieties?

[Cole_Robbie]

I just estimated the 45 degree angle. Seeds were started at the same time. I sowed more than I needed of my tomato seeds so I could match up stems the same size with my root stock.

The disease I have is fusarium, but I don't know which race. I think I'm also going to prefer the root stock that gives me more compact plants, as long as it still grows well. Finally, I am going to grow out one plant of each root stock variety and try to save seeds. It would save me a lot of money to have my own stabilized OP root stock.