2017 Grafting thread: Open to all

Originally Posted by gdaddybill

Has anyone tried parafilm or Buddy Tape to wrap tomato grafts. These are stretch and wrap materials. A bit wide perhaps but it should be easy to cut while the paper is still attached. Too many wraps might be a problem--it adheres to itself. Great for grafting fruit trees!

I use Buddy Tape for bud grafting citrus and it is absolutely the best thing for that job. However with both Buddy Tape and Parafilm you need to stretch them quite tightly to get them to stick and the amount of force needed to stretch them would crush the soft tomato stems.

Also these tapes don't provide any support themselves (unless you wrap multiple times around). The beauty of the silicone clips (or bits of tube slit up the length) is that they DO provide mechanical support as long as the stock stem in turgid.

If there were a better way then the industry would use it. Here in New Zealand millions of tomato plants a year are grafted using the silicone clips and in Japan it's billions a year. In North America and most of Europe the clips are available affordably in small quantities and silicone tube is available in all of the developed world (or from China via AliExpress). This is a wheel that doesn't need re-inventing.

[gdaddybill]

I have the clips. Just thought I might try parafilm cut into 1/4 inch pieces. Might clip too. Also plan to go with a straight cut as it's hard to see the line up on angle cut pieces.

[Delerium]

Can't wait to do some grafting later this year. Going to start working on soil for next years garden this week.. Lots of Mushies to keep the soil happy and grafted tomatoes to get that extra Ooomph! Have any of you decided what top varieties you will growing next year? I need some new varieties to try out for next year. Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by gdaddybill

I have the clips. Just thought I might try parafilm cut into 1/4 inch pieces. Might clip too. Also plan to go with a straight cut as it's hard to see the line up on angle cut pieces.

Ok cool. Please report back with the results of the Parafilm and maybe pics if you can as I can't 'see' what you mean and don't know how it would work. I've just been grafting some tomatoes using 1.5mm clips and, even though I'm quite accomplished at bud grafting citrus and peaches / nectarines using Parafilm / Buddy tape I can't for the life of me see how I could use it for tomatoes.

The angled cut gives much more chance of getting a cambium cross or two than a straight cut. Some tomato varieties have, for want of a better term 'thicker bark'. This means their cambium layer could be further in or out from the outside of the stem than the variety you're grafting to. By angling the cut you get a far better chance of a cambium cross. Also you get increased mechanical strength of the join, especially against twisting forces.

I use a cheap head-mounted 5x magnifier (ebay) and either a flashlight or sunlight to check the join through the silicone when I think it's done. I end up adjusting about half of them at this stage.

Good luck!

[rd9057]

There is just too much information here to digest all at once. I will do some more reading and plan to try a little grafting this winter. Thanks for all the info!

[jtjmartin]

I used RST-04-106-T and a few Big Beef as rootstock this year. RST-04-106 faired better and longer which makes me think I may all a good collection of fusarium wilts here in Virginia.

What rootstock do you use? How did it do? Any new ones for 2018 that have broad resistance?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Delerium

Can't wait to do some grafting later this year. Going to start working on soil for next years garden this week.. Lots of Mushies to keep the soil happy and grafted tomatoes to get that extra Ooomph! Have any of you decided what top varieties you will growing next year? I need some new varieties to try out for next year. Any suggestions?

I grew out two old ones that have never before done anything in my garden due to fusarium so I grafted them and they were wonderful. Both Kentucky Wonder and 1884 produced well and made big tasty tomatoes. I will definitely be growing more of them next year if my grafts take.

I use RST-04-106-T for most of my plants because I get great results with most varieties grafted to it. There are a few exception that don't do as well on the RST root stock and those I use Estamino root stock. One massive advantage of the RST root stock for me is I have not had a single case of bacterial wilt on any grafts using it for three years.

Bill

[Gardeneer]

Hmm. It reminds me of my failure.
I tried something on Big Beef and failed. Actually the scion rotted just above the cut point.
Next year I will practice more just for the heck of it. I have had no wilting or anything else due to soil borne disease this season (out of close to 60 plants ) , this being my first season down here.
talk to you in Feb, 2018.

[Father'sDaughter]

My plants are just about done, mostly due to neglect over the last month now that I'm back to working full time and it's dark by the time I get home from the office.

I had 27 plants with 23 grafted onto DRO141TX, 3 onto RST-04-106-T, and one un-grafted.

The un-grafted plant and the three on RST struggled all year and were the first to fall. I'm taking this as my proof that I do have Verticillium as RST is not V resistant, but DRO is.

The rest on the DRO did great until I had to stop paying attention to them.

Last year I did not graft and averaged a pitiful >3/4 of a pound per plant. With grafting this year, I have averaged almost 3 1/4 pounds per plant with a few viable fruit still hanging on a couple of plants.

Next year they are all going onto DRO rootstock.

[Delerium]

Originally Posted by b54red

I grew out two old ones that have never before done anything in my garden due to fusarium so I grafted them and they were wonderful. Both Kentucky Wonder and 1884 produced well and made big tasty tomatoes. I will definitely be growing more of them next year if my grafts take.

I use RST-04-106-T for most of my plants because I get great results with most varieties grafted to it. There are a few exception that don't do as well on the RST root stock and those I use Estamino root stock. One massive advantage of the RST root stock for me is I have not had a single case of bacterial wilt on any grafts using it for three years.

Bill

Hey Bill! Never tried Kentucky wonder but i have grown both 1884 and 1884 Purple.. they are amazing producers. I did get my seeds from Heritage Seeds awhile back and they were awesome tomatoes. I might have to buy some new grafting clips this year the ones I've used for the past 3 years are starting to fall apart. Getting eager to start some plants already but its just to early start. Probably around Nov. I might have to also upgrade my indoor lighting setup with LED's been using cfl's forever.

[jtjmartin]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

My plants are just about done, mostly due to neglect over the last month now that I'm back to working full time and it's dark by the time I get home from the office.

I had 27 plants with 23 grafted onto DRO141TX, 3 onto RST-04-106-T, and one un-grafted.

The un-grafted plant and the three on RST struggled all year and were the first to fall. I'm taking this as my proof that I do have Verticillium as RST is not V resistant, but DRO is.

The rest on the DRO did great until I had to stop paying attention to them.

Last year I did not graft and averaged a pitiful >3/4 of a pound per plant. With grafting this year, I have averaged almost 3 1/4 pounds per plant with a few viable fruit still hanging on a couple of plants.

Next year they are all going onto DRO rootstock.

Huh. I'm sure the level of resistance can vary from rootstock to rootstock but it looks like RST is resistant to everything DRO is plus RST is resistant to fusarium race 3 & bacterial wilt.

Good to know - may try DRO from Johnny's this next year.

[jtjmartin]

Originally Posted by Delerium

Hey Bill! Never tried Kentucky wonder but i have grown both 1884 and 1884 Purple.. they are amazing producers. I did get my seeds from Heritage Seeds awhile back and they were awesome tomatoes. I might have to buy some new grafting clips this year the ones I've used for the past 3 years are starting to fall apart. Getting eager to start some plants already but its just to early start. Probably around Nov. I might have to also upgrade my indoor lighting setup with LED's been using cfl's forever.

Good to see you Delerium. I was thinking about your work on this last road trip.

For an experiment, I'm thinking of growing a large, indoor RST-04-106 rootstock plant. I would then take multiple cuttings from branches and attach scions to them and see if they root. It seems from your work they would.

Thoughts?

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

Huh. I'm sure the level of resistance can vary from rootstock to rootstock but it looks like RST is resistant to everything DRO is plus RST is resistant to fusarium race 3 & bacterial wilt.



Good to know - may try DRO from Johnny's this next year.

Both have F resistance. The main differences are that RST gets you Bacterial Wilt and, I believe RKN resistance, but no V resistance; DRO gives you V resistance but no BW or RKN.

I have no BW or RKN, but the plants grafted to RST all went down early with a the classic signs of V.

The fact that it's a balanced seed stock is a bonus.

The fact that I have enough on hand for at least one more year is a double bonus!

[Delerium]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

Good to see you Delerium. I was thinking about your work on this last road trip.

For an experiment, I'm thinking of growing a large, indoor RST-04-106 rootstock plant. I would then take multiple cuttings from branches and attach scions to them and see if they root. It seems from your work they would.

Thoughts?

Yeah i don't see why not. Suckers grow fairly quickly so you could harvest them for rootstock then graft right away. Can't wait to do some triple varieties again.. I wonder if anyone else has continued where i left off - grafting on to the leaf nodes.

[jtjmartin]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Both have F resistance. The main differences are that RST gets you Bacterial Wilt and, I believe RKN resistance, but no V resistance; DRO gives you V resistance but no BW or RKN.

I have no BW or RKN, but the plants grafted to RST all went down early with a the classic signs of V.

The fact that it's a balanced seed stock is a bonus.

The fact that I have enough on hand for at least one more year is a double bonus!

Wow! I didn't notice that there was no V resistance with RST. Just about all of my RST grafts are still chugging along - I must not have V wilt.