Post for Photos of Grafted Plants

[b54red]

Here are some pictures taken yesterday of my grafted plants. I didn't get many of the whole single plants because they are pretty close together and my beds don't have much space between them so it is hard to get where I can take a picture of the larger plants. I think I could get a few pictures of some of the plants in the top tomato bed if I stand among the squash in the next bed. I'll try it today and see if I can.

1st is a picture of bed of grafted plants set out on March 17.

2nd is a picture of grafted plants all on the fluke rootstock that were set out on April 1. Even though they were planted two weeks later than the first bed most of them are as tall and with almost as good a fruit set.

3rd is my plant that had two scions one Fish Lake Oxheart (on left side) and the other Donskoi (on the right) grafted onto a Tasti-Lee rootstock. It was planted out on April 22.

4th is the lower fruit set on a German Johnson grafted onto my fluke rootstock planted on April 1.

5th is the lowest fruit set on a Delicious grafted onto a Ball's Beefsteak. I counted almost 70 set tomatoes that were easily visible. I don't think this one will produce any record size toms with that load of fruit on it and more setting every day. I probably should have culled this one heavily.

Last is a Crynkovic Yugoslavian grafted onto my fluke rootstock. I have never had one last long enough to get a ripe tomato off of it before fusarium kills it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this rootstock will help it although I have a couple of plants showing definite distress from fusarium but that is a puny amount compared to the usual mess I deal with every year at this time.

I could possibly have some sun scald problems with the loss of foliage on the bottoms of the plants but most of them have good coverage on top. I have had to deal with Gray Mold, Early Blight and Powdery Mildew and that is with them being sprayed every week with Daconil. Actually the diseases have not taken their usual toll on the plants so far so they are in good shape for this time of the year. We really could use a good rain though since we haven't had any for at least 3 weeks and with the heat we are having it hard to keep them hydrated. Of course now that I have the diseases pretty well under control a nice couple of showers could get them going full blast again.

Bill

[z_willus_d]

Bill, your garden is looking very nice. It looks like you're training to 1 or 2 leaders per grafted vine with around 1' c2c spacing. That's probably helping you with the foliage diseases. I could see how sun scald could become a problem on some of the vines with so much exposed fruit toward the bottom of the vine, but those are probably protected from the top foliage canopy during the hottest hours of the day.

I'll be interested to hear how many tomatoes you get off the Delicious (BTW, is it really that tasty? Is it even an heirloom variety?), how many total lb of fruit for the plant, and average size at the end of the season. Once that one starts ripening, you'll have a wall of red.

No one would ever believe that's a field of fusarium.
Nice going and thanks for sharing.
-naysen

[Mlm1]

My 2013 grafted plants. Tomato production is slower than my single stem pruned potted plants but that is normal. They seem a little less vigorous than in past years but it is still early for them. I think I will lose one (Pink Bumblebee) to fusarium. I got sloppy and planted the graft line in the soil.

Marla

[z_willus_d]

Hey Marla, thanks for posting but I'm going to ask for more. Can we get a few single-plant close-ups? Also, it'd be great to get a pick of the Pink Bumblebee that's got hooked up with fusarium (sorry about that). At least you have a control to compare against and know the grafting is working for you.
-naysen

[rnewste]

Well, Marla's 2 grafted plants are doing exceptionally well here for me:



Very healthy plants and vigorous stalks:



Fruitset is coming along well:



Great stuff!

Raybo

[Mlm1]

Naysen, hopefully these closer ups are helpful. First 2 are healthy. The third , Purple Bumblebee, has yellowing of leaves higher up than it should have. Unfortunately I cut the worst off yesterday but you can still see the lighter leaves. It is progressing slower than I would expect for fusarium, especially since we had the hot spell recently but nevertheless it is progressing and I think it will kill the plant.
Marla

[Mlm1]

Raybo, wow want to trade?
Marla

[z_willus_d]

Hi Marla, thanks for the quick response with the pics I asked to see. Yep, I can see the difference in that 3rd photo. It's a familiar look. I can't help but notice that it seems like the grafted plants that get their own cage and are allowed multiple leader stems are putting out about the same quantity and size fruit as those single vine trained plants in the 5gal buckets; but the 5-gal plants seem to take up 1/4 or less the volumetric space. Or am I misinterpreting the pics? I'm just curious if one can get more fruit for the same area with the English-trained matrix method.
-naysen

[z_willus_d]

Holy cow Ray! Nice green, very nice. That's the vision of a tomato plant I hold in my mind that I can never seem to achieve, or if I get close, I quickly wake up from the fleeting dream to the my current reality.

I hope you can keep the dream alive.
-n

[rnewste]

Marla,

Your 2 plants here remind me of the story of: Jack and the Beanstalk!

Raybo

[Mlm1]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

I can't help but notice that it seems like the grafted plants that get their own cage and are allowed multiple leader stems are putting out about the same quantity and size fruit as those single vine trained plants in the 5gal buckets; but the 5-gal plants seem to take up 1/4 or less the volumetric space. Or am I misinterpreting the pics? I'm just curious if one can get more fruit for the same area with the English-trained matrix method.
-naysen

Naysen, I came up with the "goal post - English trained Matrix" system after seeing how market growers use their valuable greenhouse space for tomato growing (single stems, one foot spacing, tied to the greenhouse rafters). I didn't have or need a greenhouse in California. I just needed the "rafters"to tie the strings to, hence the goal posts. I know I get more tomatoes (in poundage) per square foot than I did when I used this same space for unpruned tomatoes. I also get to trial 128 plants vs 30. Now, if I had 5 acres of healthy rich soil would I put up a Goal Post? I don't think so. Also, If I didn't have fusarium in my soil I wouldn't use pots. I would plant in the ground.
As far as the grafted plants go, they will make up for their slow start. The way I see it the grafted plants and the single stem potted plants are two different animals (or should I say plants). The grafts just get stronger as the summer progresses while the single stems start to wane. I think the combination of early single stem and later grafted plants works very well for me.

So Raybo, how about one grafted Purple Bumblebee for an Arkashin?
Marla

[rnewste]

Marla,

Thanks - but I think I wil keep these that you sent me. Will be happy to give you half of the tomatoes they produce, as a compromise.

Raybo

[b54red]

Raybo, those are beautiful plants. I sometimes get plants to look like that for about a week and sometimes two before the foliage diseases get going down here and then they lose foliage like crazy.

Bill

[Delerium]

Hope you don't mind me posting here Naysen. I just wanted to share that this is one of the plants I am using for my rootstock selections as a control to compare against Maxifort, Multifort & Beaufort. Of course my goals for grafting is mostly to grow more than 2 varieties per plant and increase production (not so much for fighting tomato deceases). I have setup 2 macro bins that will be ready for side by side comparisons but the results of those testings won't be till late fall. I just love how well this plant is setting large fruit in our heat. So will see how these new grafts do for our fall crop.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Mlm1

Naysen, hopefully these closer ups are helpful. First 2 are healthy. The third , Purple Bumblebee, has yellowing of leaves higher up than it should have. Unfortunately I cut the worst off yesterday but you can still see the lighter leaves. It is progressing slower than I would expect for fusarium, especially since we had the hot spell recently but nevertheless it is progressing and I think it will kill the plant.
Marla