Could it just be luck?

[b54red]

I can't figure out what is going on with my grafting this year. My success rate has gone through the roof this year so far. I'm knocking on wood now. So far this season I have successfully grafted way more plants than I can use and have already given away a bunch of them. I usually attempt far more grafts than I can use because frequently I have trouble with nearly whole batches not taking but this season has been totally surprising. Each batch is usually 24 to 26 that will fit in my healing chambers and it is not unusual to lose half of them; but this season instead of occasionally getting a batch with 90% success rate all but one of them has been at least that high. If this keeps up with the rest of my attempts I will be giving away the bulk of my grafted tomatoes because I don't need them for my own garden use. I am beginning to think the techniques I have been developing over the past few years are finally paying off. I guess learning the hard way, despite all the setbacks and frustration, eventually is paying dividends.

I am using RST-04-106-T, Estamino and Multifort for my rootstock this year and after I cut off the top I root it for later use in my next batch. That way I am getting an average of two grafts out of one seed and sometimes many more. If a rootstock gets too tall or large to be grafted onto I just take off the top and root it and that way I have very little waste of these expensive seed. This year I am also using more of the RST-04-106-T rootstock because of its apparent ability to ward off Bacterial Wilt which usually accounts for a significant loss of plants most years in my garden. I found that Multifort and Estamino did not seem to have much resistance to Bacterial Wilt and it was really frustrating watching some of those big beautiful plants just wilt away in a day or two. I'm hoping it wasn't just luck but last year not a single plant grafted to the RST-04-106-T rootstock fell to Bacterial Wilt. I am still using significant numbers of both Estamino and Mutifort because some varieties just seem to do better when grafted onto them than they did last year on the RST-04-106-T. Maybe this year I will get a better handle on which rootstock varieties do better when paired up with scion varieties in a graft. I am trying to plant one each of my pairings and planting them in the same bed when possible and at the same time so they get a fair test. I will try to keep up with the results and let everyone know when I know.

So far most of the scions I have used in grafting this year have been the large pink or red beefsteak types which I like to plant earlier in the season due to their poor fruit set during the peak heat months of mid to late summer. I am about to start grafting more of the black tomato varieties and others that do well in the intense heat of summer for set out in April, May and June. I'm sure my success rate will drop off some as the heat gets here but I'm hoping the changes I made to my grafting and healing regimen will keep my loses at a much more acceptable rate. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Bill