My Florida tomato grafting experiment

pkplatypus · January 1, 2018

So I've tried grafting tomatoes 5 times already with horrible results........ until now! After some trial and error and many many online guides, I found a decent technique. Nothing earth shatteringly different. I found the key elements are the dome chamber - johnnyseeds - to keep good moisture, matching the angles of the cuts as precisely as possible, starting kinda earlier than I thought at about two to three weeks with 2.0 mm grafting clips from johnnyseeds, which seem to be smaller and lighter, and not keeping them in the dark for too long - only about 3 days. I also used grow lights and did the healing indoors where I could control for temperature. I got a 9/24 success rate. It's better than zero![IMG]

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Salsacharley · January 2, 2018

That's good news for you! You will continue to get better results as you keep at it. I haven't tried grafting due to the time it takes to get rolling, but I know that patience is one of my biggest challenges when I try something new.

Fred Hempel · January 2, 2018

The alternative to grafting yourself is to buy grafted plants from one of the few nurseries who graft.

These guys do a great job, and if you need trays of grafted plants, the pricing is great.

nyrfan · January 9, 2018

I grafted about a dozen tomato plants in 2016, using Spirit as the rootstock. All of them survived but they needed a long time to heal & did not out-perform my non-grafted seedlings.

The Spirits grew faster than the scions. So, matching them was an issue & 1/3 ended-up being discarded.

I will try again this year using Beefmaster (which is VFN-resistant) rather than a special stock. Hopefully, this will sidestep the timing/sizing problem, save money & avoid waste.

oprfad · January 9, 2018

hi, new here first post!
going to try grafting this year was wondering about letting rootstock grow and rooting some suckers... then grafting onto them.. would it work? what about using suckers as scions ? I have some rootstock seeds and some heirloom seens and a couple of months to play with this.. midwestern winters are cold...
thanks

jtjmartin · January 10, 2018

You can absolutely use suckers as root stock. Last year I took the grafters' advice on T-ville and re-rooted the tops that I cut off the rootstock. Worked great.

January 1, 2018	#1
pkplatypus Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: north miami beach Posts: 14	My Florida tomato grafting experiment So I've tried grafting tomatoes 5 times already with horrible results........ until now! After some trial and error and many many online guides, I found a decent technique. Nothing earth shatteringly different. I found the key elements are the dome chamber - johnnyseeds - to keep good moisture, matching the angles of the cuts as precisely as possible, starting kinda earlier than I thought at about two to three weeks with 2.0 mm grafting clips from johnnyseeds, which seem to be smaller and lighter, and not keeping them in the dark for too long - only about 3 days. I also used grow lights and did the healing indoors where I could control for temperature. I got a 9/24 success rate. It's better than zero![IMG][/IMG] Last edited by pkplatypus; January 1, 2018 at 07:49 PM. Reason: Pics

January 2, 2018	#2
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	That's good news for you! You will continue to get better results as you keep at it. I haven't tried grafting due to the time it takes to get rolling, but I know that patience is one of my biggest challenges when I try something new.

January 2, 2018	#3
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	The alternative to grafting yourself is to buy grafted plants from one of the few nurseries who graft. These guys do a great job, and if you need trays of grafted plants, the pricing is great.

January 9, 2018	#4
nyrfan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: NJ Posts: 123	I grafted about a dozen tomato plants in 2016, using Spirit as the rootstock. All of them survived but they needed a long time to heal & did not out-perform my non-grafted seedlings. The Spirits grew faster than the scions. So, matching them was an issue & 1/3 ended-up being discarded. I will try again this year using Beefmaster (which is VFN-resistant) rather than a special stock. Hopefully, this will sidestep the timing/sizing problem, save money & avoid waste.

January 9, 2018	#5
oprfad Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: IL Posts: 1	hi, new here first post! going to try grafting this year was wondering about letting rootstock grow and rooting some suckers... then grafting onto them.. would it work? what about using suckers as scions ? I have some rootstock seeds and some heirloom seens and a couple of months to play with this.. midwestern winters are cold... thanks

January 10, 2018	#6
jtjmartin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Williamsburg VA Zone 7b Posts: 1,110	You can absolutely use suckers as root stock. Last year I took the grafters' advice on T-ville and re-rooted the tops that I cut off the rootstock. Worked great.