Grafting and flavour:- does it change it at all.

[michael johnson]

I have grafted lots of tomatoes in the past onto hires root stock, and often wondered if anyone else has an opinion on if or not the root stock changes in any way the final flavour of the tomato to worse rather than better.

Also do you think that any seed saved from the resulting grafted variety would also be changed geneticaly in any way from the original and not come true- I think it might well do so, but I would like to hear others opinions on this as well.

[geol]

Hi Michael,
I did some grafts using the Maxifort root stock this year, and while I’ve noticed that Maxifort vine/leaves have a distinctly pungent aroma, I don’t think I’ve noticed any differences in flavor of the fruits. Side by side comparisons were difficult because of the small number of plants grown(4). My grafted Kimberlys in ground counterpart died, and I only had a container plant for comparison. The grafted plants did tend to be earlier (Brandywine Sudduth by 4 weeks), and more productive than their non-grafted counterparts, with the exception of the Cherokee Purple, which kept up with its partner. As to genetics, there seems to be some debate. The article below references some Japanese studies that may point in that direction regarding vegetative hybridisation.
Lysenkoism vs. Mendelian genetics

Here is Maxifort F1, I think my grafting post is buried on pg.15. How do you like the Hires? Hope this helps, George.

[geol]

More from Lysenko's Agrobiology

[michael johnson]

The links make very good reading- even if it a bit of a job to fully absorb it all, but definatly interesting reading- I might even experiment with a few grafted twin stem tomatoes from selected varieties- so that the juices from the desired stock mingle with the parent plant and see what the resulting seeds sown will produce, 8)