2013 Grow List -- Central Valley, CA

[z_willus_d]

Anne, I'll have to find your grafting thread in the rolls. I'd love to read about your failures (no sadism implied), if only to pick up hints on what stumbling blocks to look out for. Many of the varieties on my list came from trades or give aways from folks here on TV. Such as, say Goose Creek, Ray N.'s favorite, which I quite agree is excellent. Or Work Release Paste, one of Kath's favorites; Van Wert Ohio; etc. etc. It's great to benefit from all the vetting and trialing that others have performed so that when I come around to trying out a variety (and there are what seem like thousands to choose from), I can start off with the winners. For me, there are enough favorites out there to keep me busy for a lifetime. In short, I'd say about two-thirds of my list is comprised of tomatoes that are "favorites" of other TV members, most of which I've vetted myself. The rest are long time personal favorites or new trials, such as the mystery orange for my dad and Madam Jardel's Black.

As for the Green Zebra, I wouldn't really list it as a favorite, and it actually wasn't on my list last year. However, something odd happened through the 2012 season. I found myself craving the medium sized, globular, distinctly flavored Green Zebra tomatoes. I used to take them to work with me for snacking or to side-dress my lunch. I like the acidic, tangy flavor they offer, and I wasn't quite able to reproduce that quality with the other more lauded greens I grew in '12. So it's found a way back on to my list, a minor tomato among giants. I hope it lives up to my memory of it (originally grown at a different site).

Best of luck.
-naysen

[aclum]

Hi Naysen,

LOL about the sadism!! My thread is called "Grafting Problems - need advice." I got alot of useful input. Fingers crossed that I'll be more successful with things in the near future (or "successful period" - as I've had 0% success to date).

I forgot to mention that I got my grafting clips at what I think was a good price from Harris seeds. There are just 100 clips in a pack (as opposed to Johnny's 200). The silcon clips are about the same price (or a bit less than Johnny's) but the spring clips are about half the price of Johnny's. Their service was very good with fast delivery. BTW they also sell a highly rated rootstock with twice as many seeds (100) as Johnny's for about the same price. Livinonfaith mentioned it in "Best Tomato Varieties for Grafting" or something similar and included a very interesting link about the rootstock:

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~clrivard/OFRF_Final_Report.pdf

I'm just sort of goofing off with my grafting experiments, and if I run out of the katana, grandeur, and now, momotaro, seeds I'm using for rootstock, I'm going to try grafting onto ping-tung eggplant.

I'll head on over to the main section and start a new thread with my current varieties.

Anne

[z_willus_d]

Anne, thanks for the advice (albeit a day late) on the clips and RS seed source. I'll definitely look to that site in the future. I'll be following your progress with all kinds of alacrity.
-n

[JamesL]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Alright. I've got half of the tomatoes seeded. That there on the far left are my Maxifort Rootstock, which I have atop my only heat mat. The scions I have sharing the larger pots, since it doesn't matter about the intermixed root systems. (I'll be chopping off their tips.)

I'm all out of Maxifort seeds, so I could only plant enough for a single pass at the grafting, but I know I'll have at least 50% fall-out, so I need to grow many more. It's insane how expensive the RS seeds can be. I purchased a 50-pack for ~$23 (not inc. S & H) from Johnny's Select Seeds. There's got to be a better way to stock the root-stock.

Let's see how they do.
-naysen

Naysen,
Best of luck on the season! I will be interested in reading about your grafting success.
Maxifort - Paramount was pointed out on another thread as having a much better price. $100 seeds for $23 250 seeds for $59.
https://www.paramountseeds.com/SeedV...3/Default.aspx

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by JamesL

Naysen,
Best of luck on the season! I will be interested in reading about your grafting success.
Maxifort - Paramount was pointed out on another thread as having a much better price. $100 seeds for $23 250 seeds for $59.
https://www.paramountseeds.com/SeedV...3/Default.aspx

Maxifort may have a better price, but of a half a dozen or so rootstocks I have tried it also has the lowest germination rate.
Dutch

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Alright. I've got half of the tomatoes seeded. That there on the far left are my Maxifort Rootstock, which I have atop my only heat mat. The scions I have sharing the larger pots, since it doesn't matter about the intermixed root systems. (I'll be chopping off their tips.)

I'm all out of Maxifort seeds, so I could only plant enough for a single pass at the grafting, but I know I'll have at least 50% fall-out, so I need to grow many more. It's insane how expensive the RS seeds can be. I purchased a 50-pack for ~$23 (not inc. S & H) from Johnny's Select Seeds. There's got to be a better way to stock the root-stock.

Let's see how they do.
-naysen

I wanted to try some grafting this year, but finally decided it was an excessive work load without proper planning. Next year, I will have planned it and have enough germination space.

I will be planting some commonly available varieties this year with well known good traits in extra large pots. The larger pots will allow me to better evaluate the root structure of all of them for use as root stock next year. I don't resent the vendors for the prices they charge for rootstock seed, but it always bugs me to be joined at the hip to anyone in order to grow my garden or anything else I do. I prefer to know I have the freedom to do things the way I want to do them without depending on anyone else.

Ted

[z_willus_d]

James, if only I had shown some patients before ordering all my goods yesterday. Thanks for the link. I will definitely be looking to Paramount for future RS requirements.
-naysen

[z_willus_d]

Ted, post some pics of the root analysis. I agree with your on single-source vendor restrictions. Got to keep the SPOFs out of our systems.
-n

[JamesL]

Interesting thesis paper I had read last summer on the use of Maxifort and Cherokee Purple as both a scion and as a rootstock.
"The best rootstock was ‘Maxifort’ which produced the biggest, heaviest fruits of the best quality. ‘Cherokee Purple’ as a scion produced the largest and heaviest fruits, while ‘Crista’ produced the highest quality fruits. ‘Mister Stripey’ was the most prolific in terms of number of fruits per plant."
http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/138/
http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/vi...context=theses

[lakelady]

nice growlist Naysen! I'm hoping you have the very best tomato season ever this year!! Keep us posted on your progress and how well the grafted plants do for you. I am terribly behind this year and haven't even gotten around to making a proper growlist yet. Hoping to redo some raised beds so I can squeeze a few more plants in here and there.

Good luck!

[z_willus_d]

James, thanks for sharing the links. I think I had heard or read a similar report on a different thread here.

Antoniette, get your butt in gear! I was falling behind myself recently, until I realized that with all the grafting work and intrinsic delays there, I'd better get started to meet my early April plant out goals. And I haven't even scratched the surface with all the other veggies that need to be seeded.

Thanks and best of luck to you as well.
-naysen

[rnewste]

Naysen,

Mine are up about 6 inches as of today - so you better get them started ASAP.

Raybo

[z_willus_d]

You saw the pics above Ray. They're started, alright -- just not out of the blocks and racing yet. I've got quite a few sprouts now on day-6, but the Maxifort seed is lagging. Not only does it cost an arm and foot, but the germ rate is low to boot.

I'm holding on for a rush of breaks though.

Keep 'em growing.
-n