2018-19 Grafting - Page 5

greenthumbomaha · January 16, 2019

In stock at Harris Seeds too. If they follow the schedule from last year, there will be a free shipping promotion centered around the Superbowl.

- Lisa

charley · January 17, 2019

i wounder if i grew out a full plant of rst-04-106 and saved seeds from the tomatoes if it would be just as good.someone needs to do this and do a comparison.if it worked it would save a fortune and a headache every year trying to find seeds.i could get alot of seeds off of 1 plant

zendog · January 17, 2019

In case anyone is looking for a good source for DR0141TX rootstock seeds, I was able to buy some from Paramount Seeds. They were cheaper than any other source I found, so I decided to grab some and give them a try against the RST-106 rootstocks.

https://paramountseeds.com/product/d...rootstock_raw/

They carry several other rootstocks as well including Maxifort and Estamino.

b54red · January 26, 2019

The tomato seedlings are getting almost large enough to start my first attempts grafting for the year. Due to the shortage of root stock seed and less than stellar germination I may end up having to plant some non grafted plants this year. I haven't ordered any replacements for the shortage of RST-04-106-T seeds because I keep hoping they will be available soon. I still have a few left to plant and once they are gone I will order something else if they are not available at that time.

I hope the spring and summer crops do better than my fall and winter crops have done. The only things showing decent growth lately has been lettuce, rutabagas and collards. I have planted and replanted and replanted most of my cole crops but so far little to show for the effort. I know it is early but I can't wait for spring.

Bill

jtjmartin · January 26, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by charley

i wounder if i grew out a full plant of rst-04-106 and saved seeds from the tomatoes if it would be just as good.someone needs to do this and do a comparison.if it worked it would save a fortune and a headache every year trying to find seeds.i could get alot of seeds off of 1 plant

I did last year. I grew out some RST-04-106 plants and seed saved. I thought I would give it a try on some "extra" tomatoes and see how much of a difference there is.

I have enough seeds to pass some on - NO IDEA - if they would work.

Jeff

zendog · February 5, 2019

Jeff, since we're pretty close geographically, I'm wondering when you start you seedlings for grafting. My grafting was a last minute decision last year, so I started pretty late. I was thinking of starting this weekend (mid-Feb.), but don't want them to get too big before I can safely plant them out.

Did you start yours already or plan to soon?

jtjmartin · February 5, 2019

Zendog:

YES! This is the weekend coming up I usually start. In my more organized years, I only start with a batch of early and mid season tomatoes to graft. Many of the early season tomatoes have trouble in the heat so I don't mind risking them to a late frost. The first year I seeded almost all of my grafts this weekend and it was a mess with very leggy transplants in a cold spring.

I usually seed more over the next 5 weekends - late tomatoes and the early/mids where the graft didn't work.

Unlike regular tomato plants, I can't trench-plant leggy grafted tomatoes. When I get in a pinch, I can fairly drastically prune grafted tomatoes to buy more time. When I have extra grafted plants and no one who wants them, I'll heavily prune the top and put them close together in a holding bed to replace any damaged due to wind, frost, golden retriever, etc.

I work throughout Virginia - climate can vary a lot! I was in Fairfax last week and then drove home - about a 30 degree difference! Beautiful state though.

Jeff

Gardeneer · February 16, 2019

:Happy grafting

I won,t try it. I think we do not have any root born disease.
I have just made my selection what to grow. Lots of Big Beef. Last year it was the only variey to stand the heat and kept pumping. Flooding in October killed them.
On a second thought i might graft a couple on Big Beef, just for fun.

zendog · February 21, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

:Happy grafting

I won,t try it. I think we do not have any root born disease.
I have just made my selection what to grow. Lots of Big Beef. Last year it was the only variey to stand the heat and kept pumping. Flooding in October killed them.
On a second thought i might graft a couple on Big Beef, just for fun.

Disease is the biggest issue for me to graft, but I have to admit I like the way some of the grafted plants keep putting out big tomatoes to the bitter end. I like 106 for the disease resistance, but I'll still be putting some on Maxifort since the vigor kept them going with the big tomatoes.

If you don't give it a try, you'll never know, lol.

zendog · February 21, 2019

I'm finally starting my scion plants tonight (seeds in wet paper towels until I see them sprout) and then I'll probably start the rootstocks on Monday. Last year I actually started everything at once and it was okay, but I keep reading about people starting their rootstocks after the scion plants. What do folks find works best for them?

Planning to plant out around April 15-20 depending on forecasts.

beetkvass · February 22, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by zendog

I'm finally starting my scion plants tonight (seeds in wet paper towels until I see them sprout) and then I'll probably start the rootstocks on Monday. Last year I actually started everything at once and it was okay, but I keep reading about people starting their rootstocks after the scion plants. What do folks find works best for them?

Planning to plant out around April 15-20 depending on forecasts.

I came here to basically ask the same thing. I'm starting root stock and some scion today. But I can't recall what I really need to start when. I guess I'm going to stagger the planting some.

zendog · February 22, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by beetkvass

I came here to basically ask the same thing. I'm starting root stock and some scion today. But I can't recall what I really need to start when. I guess I'm going to stagger the planting some.

As I mentioned I did them at the same time last year and was able to make it work. A few varieties (Opalka maybe) were a little behind the rootstocks, so I think I'll follow the advice of others of start the scion first and follow with the rootstocks a little later. You can always just cut the top of the scion a little higher up to get a smaller stem to match the rootstock, but it is harder to get a small scion on a thicker rootstock and still get a good connection.

I was hoping someone would have the perfect formula, but if nobody has a specifics, I'll just stagger by 3-4 days and see how it goes and adjust for next year.

beetkvass · February 22, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

I now grow only for taste so some varieties that will do spectacularly with the RST-04-106 root stock son't get a try from me. I have narrowed my list of varieties that I grow down every year for the past six or seven years. I have eliminated what I perceive as bland or mushy tasting tomatoes since I don't care to eat them when I can instead have juicy, well balanced tomatoes. My favorites are Brandywine Sudduth's, Brandywine Cowlick's, Dester, ISPL, Gary O' Sena, 1884, Kentucky Wonder, Arkansas Traveler, Henderson's Winsal, Coulis de Tareau, Granny Cantrell, Giant Belgium, Delicious, Limbaugh's Legacy, Neves Azorean Red, German Johnson, Pruden's Purple, Spudakee, Red Barn, and Marianna's Peace. Last season the most successful varieties were Limbaugh's Legacy, German Johnson, Delicious, Brandywine Sudduth's and Cowlick's, Neves Azorean Red, Dester, JD's Special C Tex and Arkansas Traveler. Usually Indian Stripe PL is my most prolific tomato but I had bad luck with grafting it last year so it didn't even get planted until August so it didn't have time to produce the usual massive numbers I have had in the past. I have had real success with heart varieties in the past but have dropped most of them because of the bland taste most have but if you want a lot of meaty fruits for canning you might want to try Donskoi, Wes, and a few others.

There are some varieties that produce more and larger fruits with some of the other root stocks I have tried but my overall success rate with RST-04-106 makes it by far my preferred root stock. I have not had a single case of Bacterial Wilt with any plants grafted to it while every other root stock seems to have little or no resistance to BW. I find that I don't get so much over vegetative growth with it and it seems to have less effect on the growth habit of the different varieties. Since I do the single stem drop and lower method it really works well for me. I still have some seed from last year and hope that NE seeds gets some more in before I run out. The 105 is not as good an alternative for me since I have all three races of fusarium to deal with so if they don't resume sale of RST-04-106 I will be using Estamino and Multifort. Both are good root stock for my garden and though they don't work as well on some varieties they generally produce somewhat larger fruit on many varieties and they do seem to produce larger more robust plants that last a long time unless BW hits them.

Bill

I'm so sorry that I never replied and thanked you, Bill! I really appreciated you taking the time to type all that out for me. I took your advice and ordered quite a few of the varieties you recommended. I also ordered some of the RST-04-106 before it sold out. I only wish I'd bought more. I'd written NESeeds and asked when they'd get some in but they said they were sold out for the year. It sounds like they never got them in though so I'm not sure how they were sold out for the year. I really hope they will still sell them in the future!

I also have some of the RST-04-105 I bought the year before but hadn't tried yet. I'll try some of both of them.

jtjmartin · February 22, 2019

Scion / Rootstock Seed Timing

Rootstock is relatively expensive compared to the thousands of tomato seeds I have, so I seed a lot more scion that rootstock. I'll start some heirlooms a week before I plant my first RST rootstock and continue to sow some of the heirloom seeds every few days.

Because of MMMM, Marsha and the other T-Villers I usually have a lot more varieties that I want to grow than space to grow them.

Germination times vary so much. I planted Aswad eggplant seeds this year along with 5 other varieties. All my Aswad seeds have germinated but none of the others yet. Why? Newer seed?

OTOH, I'm growing Summer Cider tomatoes. Most of those seeds sprouted last week but this morning I noticed that I have another Summer Cider popping out of the soil. I'm not sure that there is a perfect formula year to year.

NESeeds

It was troubling to me that it seems that they just didn't get any RST-04-106 in this year. I called and asked - they would only say that they were sold out. They didn't have a reason why. I did get the 105 as backup before they sold out.

The RST-04-105 emerge from the soil a lot thinner than the 106. I'm using both this year against bacterial wilt and will track their progress.

Jeff

beetkvass · March 3, 2019

Did I screw things up by starting my rootstock in DE instead of starting in potting soil and transferring after I graft them? I was just reading an old thread where Bill posted pics and realized he started them all in potting soil first.

Also can I get a quick suggestion of a good liquid fertilizer to use for my tomato plants? Thanks!

January 17, 2019	#62
charley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: copperas cove TEXAS Posts: 637	i wounder if i grew out a full plant of rst-04-106 and saved seeds from the tomatoes if it would be just as good.someone needs to do this and do a comparison.if it worked it would save a fortune and a headache every year trying to find seeds.i could get alot of seeds off of 1 plant __________________ Great minds discuss ideas;average minds discuss events;small minds discuss people

February 16, 2019	#68
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,909	:Happy grafting I won,t try it. I think we do not have any root born disease. I have just made my selection what to grow. Lots of Big Beef. Last year it was the only variey to stand the heat and kept pumping. Flooding in October killed them. On a second thought i might graft a couple on Big Beef, just for fun. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening !

February 21, 2019	#70
zendog Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: VA-7a Posts: 121	How do you stagger scions and rootstocks? I'm finally starting my scion plants tonight (seeds in wet paper towels until I see them sprout) and then I'll probably start the rootstocks on Monday. Last year I actually started everything at once and it was okay, but I keep reading about people starting their rootstocks after the scion plants. What do folks find works best for them? Planning to plant out around April 15-20 depending on forecasts.

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January 16, 2019	#61
greenthumbomaha Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Omaha Zone 5 Posts: 2,514	In stock at Harris Seeds too. If they follow the schedule from last year, there will be a free shipping promotion centered around the Superbowl. - Lisa

January 26, 2019	#64
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	The tomato seedlings are getting almost large enough to start my first attempts grafting for the year. Due to the shortage of root stock seed and less than stellar germination I may end up having to plant some non grafted plants this year. I haven't ordered any replacements for the shortage of RST-04-106-T seeds because I keep hoping they will be available soon. I still have a few left to plant and once they are gone I will order something else if they are not available at that time. I hope the spring and summer crops do better than my fall and winter crops have done. The only things showing decent growth lately has been lettuce, rutabagas and collards. I have planted and replanted and replanted most of my cole crops but so far little to show for the effort. I know it is early but I can't wait for spring. Bill

February 5, 2019	#66
zendog Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: VA-7a Posts: 121	Jeff, since we're pretty close geographically, I'm wondering when you start you seedlings for grafting. My grafting was a last minute decision last year, so I started pretty late. I was thinking of starting this weekend (mid-Feb.), but don't want them to get too big before I can safely plant them out. Did you start yours already or plan to soon?

February 5, 2019	#67
jtjmartin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Williamsburg VA Zone 7b Posts: 1,110	Zendog: YES! This is the weekend coming up I usually start. In my more organized years, I only start with a batch of early and mid season tomatoes to graft. Many of the early season tomatoes have trouble in the heat so I don't mind risking them to a late frost. The first year I seeded almost all of my grafts this weekend and it was a mess with very leggy transplants in a cold spring. I usually seed more over the next 5 weekends - late tomatoes and the early/mids where the graft didn't work. Unlike regular tomato plants, I can't trench-plant leggy grafted tomatoes. When I get in a pinch, I can fairly drastically prune grafted tomatoes to buy more time. When I have extra grafted plants and no one who wants them, I'll heavily prune the top and put them close together in a holding bed to replace any damaged due to wind, frost, golden retriever, etc. I work throughout Virginia - climate can vary a lot! I was in Fairfax last week and then drove home - about a 30 degree difference! Beautiful state though. Jeff

February 22, 2019	#74
jtjmartin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Williamsburg VA Zone 7b Posts: 1,110	Scion / Rootstock Seed Timing Rootstock is relatively expensive compared to the thousands of tomato seeds I have, so I seed a lot more scion that rootstock. I'll start some heirlooms a week before I plant my first RST rootstock and continue to sow some of the heirloom seeds every few days. Because of MMMM, Marsha and the other T-Villers I usually have a lot more varieties that I want to grow than space to grow them. Germination times vary so much. I planted Aswad eggplant seeds this year along with 5 other varieties. All my Aswad seeds have germinated but none of the others yet. Why? Newer seed? OTOH, I'm growing Summer Cider tomatoes. Most of those seeds sprouted last week but this morning I noticed that I have another Summer Cider popping out of the soil. I'm not sure that there is a perfect formula year to year. NESeeds It was troubling to me that it seems that they just didn't get any RST-04-106 in this year. I called and asked - they would only say that they were sold out. They didn't have a reason why. I did get the 105 as backup before they sold out. The RST-04-105 emerge from the soil a lot thinner than the 106. I'm using both this year against bacterial wilt and will track their progress. Jeff

March 3, 2019	#75
beetkvass Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Georgia Posts: 40	Did I screw things up by starting my rootstock in DE instead of starting in potting soil and transferring after I graft them? I was just reading an old thread where Bill posted pics and realized he started them all in potting soil first. Also can I get a quick suggestion of a good liquid fertilizer to use for my tomato plants? Thanks!