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Old February 13, 2013   #106
Stvrob
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I would like some opinions on your compact or dwarf rootstock idea. That could be a great way to grow a great many varieties, perhaps just to build up a large stock of seed, or if you just wanted to squeeze more varieties in a small garden.
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Old February 14, 2013   #107
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Just got an email from Harris Seed with an offer on grafted plants to trial with feedback survey at the end of the growing season. This would be a nice opportunity for folks to try grafted plants to see if all this work you guys are going through is worthwhile. http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefron...ombo-pack.aspx
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Old February 14, 2013   #108
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nancyruhl View Post
Just got an email from Harris Seed with an offer on grafted plants to trial with feedback survey at the end of the growing season. This would be a nice opportunity for folks to try grafted plants to see if all this work you guys are going through is worthwhile. http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefron...ombo-pack.aspx
Good offer, too bad they ship them too late for me. Also couldn't find what plant size it's going to be. Anyway, thanks for posting
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Old February 14, 2013   #109
dice
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This fusarium resistance grafting and the bacterial wilt grafting
in Asia (to eggplant rootstock, typically) is interesting. Are any
of the nightshades (tomato, eggplant, pepper, etc) naturally
root-knot nematode immune? Someone should try grafting onto
a non-nightshade that is still a green-stemmed (rather than
woody-stemmed) plant, since that would open up a lot more
possibilities for finding nematode-immune rootstock. (I will
refrain from suggesting kudzu rootstock for obvious reasons.)
Maybe onto an okra rootstock?
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Old February 14, 2013   #110
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Setting them out that late down here would be guaranteeing a poor result with most of those varieties despite the rootstock. It sounds like a good deal for someone further north that wants to give grafted varieties a shot. The price and free shipping sounds really good.
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Old February 14, 2013   #111
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Dice, I don't have experience with nematodes but many of the available rootstock seed have resistance to nematodes. Would that cover the root-knot nematode you have mentioned above?
Marla
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Old February 14, 2013   #112
Redbaron
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dice View Post
This fusarium resistance grafting and the bacterial wilt grafting
in Asia (to eggplant rootstock, typically) is interesting. Are any
of the nightshades (tomato, eggplant, pepper, etc) naturally
root-knot nematode immune? Someone should try grafting onto
a non-nightshade that is still a green-stemmed (rather than
woody-stemmed) plant, since that would open up a lot more
possibilities for finding nematode-immune rootstock. (I will
refrain from suggesting kudzu rootstock for obvious reasons.)
Maybe onto on okra rootstock?
I was considering an experiment with grafting onto Litchi Tomato this year. Unfortunately I ran out of budget before I ran out of projects! So I didn't order seeds. That project I'll have to save for next year. It could be a possible solution though. Litchi Tomatoes are VERY VERY hardy, like a weed, and different enough from tomatoes that they should naturally be resistant to many pathogens. How much of that resistance would be transferred to the grafted tomatoes, I have no idea.
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Old February 14, 2013   #113
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Well I've had some setbacks with my grafting program recently. The 2 of 3 of the first set of grafts were looking pretty good and had been receiving little light in the 2nd healing chamber for four days. I though, hey, why not bring them into the atmosphere, so before work I set them on the clear tote. I called a three hours later and my wife told me they were slanted over. She put them back in the container, but this morning it was clear that they were goners -- rotten scion, like algae or something. To try and recover something, I used the remaining RS stubs in another grafting attempt this morning. Those RS stubs look pretty sad, so I'm not expecting much.

Then on my 2nd set of grafts, I had a disaster. They were all looking pretty good 2 days in. But on the 3rd day morning I checked in on the container, which had been wrapped up and closed, and I found that most of the wall moisture had evaporated. All the grafts had slanted over and looked very sad. I'm not sure how all the moister managed to get out of the box...maybe a the graft gremlin. I lost all six grafts suffice to say.

So this isn't going so well, so far, but I"ll keep at it. I have another 13 or so grafts lined up for tonight. I hope I can keep from any more mass slaughters.

Good luck to the rest of you.
-naysen
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Old February 14, 2013   #114
Stvrob
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naysen,
I hope your not giving up on them too soon. Every graft I did at one point or another looked like a goner at some point.
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Old February 14, 2013   #115
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We have had cold weather move back in and I don't know how it will affect the healing of the grafts on the cold porch. Nights are getting into the low 30s and the porch isn't much warmer than that and I have two sets of grafts in healing chambers on the porch. I'm figuring that it will slow down the healing so I am going to extend the time they stay in the healing chambers and see what happens. I am doing my best to learn the hard way.
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Old February 14, 2013   #116
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Yeah, I gave 'em a chance. I figure they're really goners when the scion has turned to a green mush similar to seaweed algae, or overcooked spinach. I still have one graft hanging in from the first set of three. I hope it can pull through.

One thing I'm coming to realize for my setup, which ought to be ideal (except for the malfunctions), is that it takes more than 7 days to get those guys through the knothole. It's like 2 in darkness, 3 in very low light, and then another 6-8 in low to middle-intensity light. Somewhere along the way, I have to start acclimating them to the lower humidity and additional light source.

I find that most things I try related to gardening don't go perfectly. I'm just a hard-luck case, which is really another way of saying I'm just not very skilled in the art.
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Old February 14, 2013   #117
Stvrob
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I wish I knew what to say naysen. Are they in high humidity chamber for all those 7 days? Ive been pulling them out and sticking them in partial sun on the porch as soon as they look up to it. most of the time they would start wilting again, and I'd put them back under their humidity bubble, but try to get them back in the fresh air a few hours later, or the next day. On the other hand, I guess its a good bit warmer here, and maybe you couldnt get away with that in Sacramento.

Its turned colder here now, and I have all my grafted plants on the porch. I wonder if I should bring them in? You all think low 40's is pushing it? mid 30's tomorrow night.
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Old February 14, 2013   #118
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Hi Naysen,
Just a helpful tip that has worked for me, trim the excess foliage from the scion and let it heal before you cut it from its original roots. Let it heal for at least 24 hours. Two or three days doesn’t seem to hurt either. Good luck!
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Old February 15, 2013   #119
z_willus_d
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Hi Dutch, thanks for the tip. That's a good one. I always trim off the excess, but at the point of grafting. Not a bad idea to do so before hand though.

Rob, I hope your grafts take to the cooling weather. It's heating up here. You know my attempts to acquaint the grafts with the world outside of the bin has been the source of my problems so far, as least it seems so. This time, I'm going to leave them in the chambers for much longer. Hopefully they don't develop rot and fungus and all that. I grafted another 16 this evening. Took 2 hours. I'd say it were fun if I had higher hopes.

On the positive side, I have 12 healthy non-grafted seedlings outside now (in garage at night). I can fall back to those if all these grafts fail me.

--naysen
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Old February 15, 2013   #120
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Well I studied the failed grafts from my first batch and low and behold half failed from damping off. Checked my 2nd set and already 3 are showing that tell tale shrinkage just above the soil level and they have just fallen over though the scion is still healthy. Sprinkled some Captan on the soil but I'm afraid it will be too late for some of them. Will apply it to the soil on the third batch today when I open them to check them. I forgot about damping off in my enthusiasm over this grafting since I started all my seeds in DE this year and had no damping off I didn't see it coming. Usually after potting up I don't have damping off because the plants are larger; but sitting in that moist healing chamber seems to be a problem now. I was so hoping that for once I was going to get through tomato starting without seeing any damping off. Still learning the hard way.
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