They are claiming higher yields now too? What next? Better flavor and more nutrition? They can replace Cialis?

Dan

Kind of hard to believe. With fruit trees Full Standard Rootstock's grow bigger more productive trees than Dwarfing Rootstock's. However all trees on their own roots are Grown on standard Rootstock's. The exception being the very few Natural Genetic Dwarf varieties. The same appears to be tree of all Indeterminate tomato varieties. Of course some tomato varieties do have more resistance than others to early or late blight. However I don't see how the rootstock would change that for the whole plant.

Blight tends to come from both the soil and from too much humidity which is exacerbated do to poor air flow. Proper spacing and trimming the lower branches and fungicides usually take care of the problem well enough. A resistant rootstock my be of some benefit but not enough for me to buy plants rather than growing my own from seed. Then again I guess if I were going to buy plants I would rather buy one on a more resistant rootstock so I guess there is some value in it even if its only for marketing purposes.

The first grafted plants sold were done so for disease resistance (VFN). Now all of a sudden the peddlers are getting in on the action, and claiming new things. Next thing you know, after the expected marketing is played out, the grafted tomatoes will make your kids graduate high school with a GPA high enough to get into an Ivy League school.

Dan

What about the one where they claim potato and tomato on the same plant. What you get is a seed potato with a tomato seed glued to the seed potato. In the end you have one potato plant and one tomato plant. But you don't get potato and tomato on the same plant.

"Mighty Mato" lines of products are working off a nice idea that does work.

If you were going to graft on a "Big Boy" or "Early Girl" type tomato you probably wouldn't see much improvement with the graft, but for a lot of classic heirloom varieties these grafts help. The generally more extensive root system it puts out and the added disease resistance from the rootstock helps it thrive.

They do sell some grafts I wouldn't bother with because I'd be skeptical how much help the grafts provide...like the "Big Beef," "Big Zac," and "Juilet." That said, they're the ones that did the research and they may be more productive than I assume...I don't know anything about their field trials.

I can't wait until they graft a tomato plant onto a peach basket then onto a farm laborer. I'll have a tomato that will pick and preserve itself!

Mike

I am sure there might be some merits to the grafting concept, but I am also one who will never purchase mail-order veggie starter plants no matter what is offered.

Pay more for a grafted plant that is an annual? Sorry, not me.

The secret to disease-free tomatoes is a healthy garden ecosystem not mad scientists creating more frankensteins.

Now if you will excuse me I have to go tend to my Topsy Turvy upside down tomato plant and my Chia pets.

-Tom

It's a more common practice in the greenhouse industry or places where paying a little more for the best yield makes sense because of land rarity/value (Japan is big on grafted annual veggies).

That said, it's not a holy grail...it's more of an insurance policy with a dash of additional productivity thrown in.

It's worthless to most home gardeners (imo), but those with disease issues or small garden spaces might find the extra few bucks worth it.

The Japanese have been skillful grafters of watermelon unto gourd root stock. I tried it a bit but mine died...I have a lot of grafting clips! These can be used for tomatoes also, but remember, the newly grafted plants need to be in a high humidity room for 9 days.

Just saw a rack of Grafted tomatoes at Yamagami's Nursery today (Cupertino, CA.) When I saw they were selling them for $10.00 per plant, I didn't hang around to even look at the varieties. I did see the sign about better disease tolerance - but too pricey for my budget.

Raybo

Since I tried numerous grafted tomato plants I figured I enter some of my findings. I won't argue that there may be some disease resistance benefit, especially in the Southeast where soil borne diseases are more of an issue. I'm in the northeast where those diseases are not a major concern.

First I'll state that grafting is a chalenge. sometimes it appears that the graft was a success when in reality a shoot from the rootstock developed and grew. Since the rootstocks recommended are Beoufort(Sp) or Maxifort (the vatiety I used) and neither produce desirable fruit you can imagine the frustration at the uncertainty of what I was really growing.

Then there is the planting depth issue. You must be extremely carefull to only plant to below the graft or your grafted top may take root and defeat the purpose.

Lastly, you need to "Prune". Many are against the concept of "Suckering" lateral branches. If you graft be prepared to NEED to vigorously sucker the unwanted new vegetative growth from the rootstock. Otherwise you will have loads of strange little yellow wierd flavored fruits that are of no use on stems that you never planned for.

Yeah, you do need to sucker grafted tomatoes -- but the rootstock accounts for only the first inch or two, so I'm finding it isn't a huge deal at all.

Another big issue for gardeners who want to try grafting is the bulk quantities of rootstock that you need to buy. You can find supplies of rootstock and clips in small quantities for home gardeners at betterheirlooms website.

I'm in the southeast, and so am very keen on grafting, especially because I'm growing so many heirloom tomatoes now. Grafting is especially a good idea with heirlooms, because they are really prone to disease here, and they also tend to have pretty wimpy yields.

Color me skeptical, and thinking that this is a marketing ploy. Every tomato I've seen has a terrific root system. If my tomatoes fall over, they root from the stem, and in fact when I plant them, I plant them deep.
I do not think that grafting will necessarily make heirlooms produce more, sometimes even if granny has a bigger engine driving her around, she still isn't going to go any faster.
For those of you who want to pay serious money just to have the latest, go ahead on. I bet the same money will get me ten regular plants and ultimatey, more tomatoes.

If you put $10 of manure down you will get more yield and less disease problems.

This is a money gimmic for the yuppies. more money than they know what to do with. they love playing my tomato is better than your tomato.

Commercials do it for 20 cents a plant. Well worth 20 cents but ten dollars is ridiculous.

It also works better on an industrial basis. they work off tonnage per acre. so they notice a small difference. they also plant tomatoes on the same land every year and need something to fight off the disease.

The home gardner is not going to notice they got 3 ounces more of tomato. But with 43,000 plants per acre that 3 ounces adds up to profit money.

Gardendawgie,

I would like to see your number son 20 cents a plant for grafted plants. The lowest I have ever seen, in research studies, was about a $1.00 per plant.

Grafted plants aren't a gimmic, as much as 75-85% of all tomatoes grown in Asian countries (Korea, Japan, China) are grafted plants.

Lucille, If you have never had a soil bourne disease, then a grafted plant doesn't make sense.

Jay

I'm trying a few of these grafted tomatoes this year to see if they give me better results.I grow tomatoes hydroponically. Last year, I had issues with blossom end rot which is caused by stress to the plants. Heirloom varieties may not be able to tolerate hydroponic growing conditions as well as hybrids developed for greenhouse applications. Grafted tomatoes are placed on rootstocks developed specifically for commercial growers, many of whom use hydroponics. So I bought a few grafted tomatoes and will see how well they do versus non-grafted.

Went with friends to a hydroponic tomato farm the other day.
Got some free tomatoes. When I cut them the chemical smell was nauseating. I could not stand even taking a bite.
I threw them all in the trash.
NOTHING beats naturally grown tomato.