Best grafted tomato varieties?

[livinonfaith]

Delerium, I agree with your points about the bonus benefits. Years ago, my tomato "quest" started with a few tomato plants in big green storage tubs on a tiny apartment patio. So your multi-grafted plants really excite me with how much they could expand the varieties an apartment or patio gardener could grow!

I can't help but think, how much more fun would it have been back then if I could have chosen a plant that produced three different colors of cherry tomatoes? Or three completely different kinds of tomatoes? (Maybe a cherry, an all purpose type and a beefsteak?) Just, Wow!

The main consideration about that would be the cost of the plants. That is a lot of work, and I would assume the failure rate would be higher on a triple graft, so you would have to charge more. (Although if one or two grafts failed, you could still sell it as a double or single graft) It would be interesting to see how that all worked out and if a seller could get a decent profit margin.

Also, it seems clear that my grafted plants, while not disease free, are larger and have produced more (and larger) fruits than the non grafted ones. Even with this being the most disease ridden year yet for me and my almost killing them before they even hit the dirt!

While most of mine have finally bitten the dust, (even several of the grafted ones) there are a few that are still hanging on and I expect to get a sporadic harvest almost until frost.

I do plan to do the grafting again next year, even with the extra time and expense involved. The value of it seems to be clear in my garden, at least.

[DavidP]

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

Also, it seems clear that my grafted plants, while not disease free, are larger and have produced more (and larger) fruits than the non grafted ones .

I seemed to get the opposite with larger fruit but fewer in number on the ungrafted plant. That was grown in cages unpruned with Maxifort as rootstock

[livinonfaith]

How interesting, David!

It's clear that people are having quite different results with the grafting. There are so many variables that it is hard to say why. I suspect that in areas where tomatoes naturally grow well, the grafting process may actually be an added stress or growth delay that really doesn't pay off. Do tomatoes usually grow well in your area?

[DavidP]

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

. Do tomatoes usually grow well in your area?

I haven't grown tomatoes in this area for long enough to give a good answer really. I think it is generally thought that it is pretty good. I don't have any problems with foliage diseases really as its very dry. My last garden climate had lots of trouble with late blight, I don't think that exists here. The one big problem seems to be nematodes but haven't had too much trouble as yet.

This post in "z_willus_d's" photo thread for grafted plants has my results so far
http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....1&postcount=70

[z_willus_d]

I forgot how lovely your plants were David. Hey do they look now? Still producing?
-naysen

[DavidP]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

I forgot how lovely your plants were David. Hey do they look now? Still producing?
-naysen

I'm planning on doing an update soon, was going to do it last week but other things intervened. Still producing and mostly look Ok but definitely slowed down. A few of my other plants have now gone brown though. Been hot last week or two.

[RJGlew]

An interesting, formally conducted & presented study on tomato productivity with grafting in 3 USA locations.

http://mbao.org/2012/92Kleinhenz.pdf

Kleinhenz & Natalie Bumgarner
Vegetable Production Systems Laboratory
The Ohio State University- OARDC

[loulac]

Thanks for giving us access to such an interesting study. Unfortunately I couldn’t undertand the following :

What do the letters SE stand for in “kg/plant ± SE” and the letters SC in “Moskvitch SCand “3 RS x 2 densities” ? ?
- Is there anything about resistance to diseases, as announced in the picture page 2 ?
- Does quality depend only on acidity ?

- Any idea of the distance between lines ?

Your help will be welcomed !

[ChilliJez]

Hi Loulac

I think SE is Standard Error - an expression of confidence in the result
SC is scion
RS is rootstock

I think the pdf is rather light on description though it's good to have some data. I agree that there are other factors to consider for a balanced assessment of quality. I noted that the trials used cleft grafting

I've just watched through a youtube video from a link posted earlier by aclum. (Thank you Anne!).
Cary Rivard seems like a knowledgeable helpful guy. He discusses amongst many other things plant spacings in high tunnels and in the field. He was talking of plant spacing 18 inches, 24 inches and 36 inches and had tabulated data for these. (Thats 45cm, 60cm, 90cm.)
Incidentally he pretty much dismisses every type of graft except tube grafts.

I'm interested in your interest! Are you planning on grafting next year? If so have you managed to source any rootstock seeds and grafting clips? Whereabouts in France are you?

In the UK I can only find Aegis and HeMan rootstocks and spring loaded grafting clips. If you know of sources of others, especially silicone clips do let me know.

Thanks, Jeremy

[loulac]

Hi, Jeremy ;

Thank you very much for giving me useful answers to my questions. My interest in grafting is not personal : I don’t have any dIseeases before late October when late blight slowly comes in. My garden is big enough to make room for all the tomatoes I decide to plant, so grafting wouldn’t be worth the trouble. But lots of French tomato growers are desperate in 2013 : they are unable to fight bottom end rot and blight and wonder if grafting could be a solution. As far as I can see it can save 50% of a crop when ungrafted plants are totally destroyed.
You will find clips in Britain at the following addresses :
http://www.heirloomtoms.org/store/in...ref=graft_seed
http://www.sowseeds.co.uk/store/toma...ips-pack-of-6/
http://www.molesseeds.co.uk/cgi-bin/...R=-1&TB=A&SHOP=
http://www.kingsseeds.com/kolist45/0/45973.htm?r=true

I suppose US seed sellers will be happy to send you rootstock seeds, they are glad to send heirloom seeds abroad as long as you pay for them !

A personal touch : I’ve been growing tomatoes for half a century South of Toulouse, France.