Triple Variety Tomato Graft Experiment

[Germinator]

I, too, am late to the grafting party. Question for you experts: (1) which size clips do you use as I have heard there are two sizes and what is minimum you can buy and from where? They can be quite expensive if you're just starting out to see if it can actually be done!! Can you still get "Beaufort" rootstock and if so, where do you get the seeds?

Thanks a bunch……Germinator

[Delerium]

How many plants are you trying to graft? I can send you a few grafting clips (smaller & larger size) if its not to many. I picked my grafting clips off amazon. I've been using aquarium tubing as a cheap way to graft and it works great for me.

[Delerium]

Learning lots of new things with all the grafting i have been playing around with.

[Germinator]

That is so kind of you to offer. I was thinking about trying out about 15 of them this year. I usually grow about 150 non-grafted starts for myself and friends but because of so many pests/diseases where I live, I have not been able to grow very many decent toms in the past. I am still studying your old posts and still learning about the best process to use. Seems like one needs to buy a large amt. of clips (Johnny's Seeds) but I still don't know which size is best? May depend on age/size of starts?

[Delerium]

Yes it all depends on the size of the plants. If your starting from seed the dual size clips work good.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6414-sp...ting-clip.aspx

I find it easier to use cuttings to graft (easier to match sizes imo). No limits to how many grafts you can put on 1 plant which is the best part of the whole grafting adventure for me then i will replace the root stock later with something that has some Disease tolerance if i decide to go that route. Being able to grow multiple varieties grafts allows me to enjoy more choices with less space. If you want I can send you 5 dual size grafting clips if you like for practice before you decide to order online.

Right now i got just about 40+ grafts with all of them being different variety combinations (2-4 varieties per plant) of what i want to grow for next year. Eventually i will replace the root stock with something more Disease tolerant when it comes down to planting time.

[Germinator]

Thanks. I only want to do one cultivar per plant so not sure what kind of clips I will need but I can get things started with rootstock and cultivar. Should be a fun experiment and who knows, it might just work!! I will send you a PM.

Germinator

[beeman]

Originally Posted by Germinator

Thanks. I only want to do one cultivar per plant so not sure what kind of clips I will need but I can get things started with rootstock and cultivar. Should be a fun experiment and who knows, it might just work!! I will send you a PM.
Germinator

I bought some off Harris seeds There you don't have to buy hundreds. I think 100 was the start amount. Double sized clips.
Sold per packet and each holds 100.
http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefron...ng-loaded.aspx
Hope this helps.

[Delerium]

Here is a new variation to the triple variety+ graft. Only 3 varieties here but i could easily add a few more petiole grafts and add some cherry varieties. This was just a test spare graft that was just sitting outdoors in our cold weather and decided to nurse it back to health as it was starting to get purplish from our lower night temps. Varieties used - Hoy, Gold Medal and Dana's Dusky Rose.

[Delerium]

Oh i am so thankful that our Tomato plants survived a week in to freezing temps. Still a few days of 20's then our night temps bounce back up. Excited to have a few tomatoes before spring time next year.

Lots of grafting fun going on in my grow room. Grafted 40 tomato varieties all doing well. Trying the Eggplant / Tomato combo to see if this will work with saving space to grow 2 crops on 1 plant.

[aclum]

Hi Delerium,

Looking good! You've become quite the "grafting fool"!

I thought of a new experiment for you (although it wouldn't surprise me if you're already trying this). Using a disease resistant rootstock, graft on a dwarf variety, and then, once that's large enough, add on your other cultivars....

I plan to try the above myself, but you seem to have much greater success that I do (and use a different technique) so I thought it would be great if you also gave it a try. My idea is that the intermediate dwarf graft might tone down the vigorous growth of the rootstock and make for a more manageable plant, while adding the disease resistance.

(It wouldn't surprise me too much if I've already proposed something similar somewhere - I'm on all this medication which seems to be affecting my memory these days).

I've got some 105's just sprouted a few days ago.... think I'll start a few Tasmanian chocolate or rosella purple seeds now.

BTW, what do you plan to do with all of your grafts?

Great you make it through the cold weather. I didn't get my covered so they're all goners now, but did pick a decent number of greenies that are now ripening inside.

Anne

[Delerium]

I thought of a new experiment for you (although it wouldn't surprise me if you're already trying this). Using a disease resistant rootstock, graft on a dwarf variety, and then, once that's large enough, add on your other cultivars....


Sounds like fun - lets do it. Should be easy enough. I have some seeds of Mountain Merit & Amelia i can try out. I do have a Dwarf that survived our freezing temps that i took a cutting from to duplicate the plant as it seemed to survive almost a week in to the 20's without any protection/covering. Most likely due to the micro climates around the house.

With all the varieties i am growing right now i can easily harvest scions to do a multi grafted version that is disease tolerant.

[aclum]

Hi Delerium,

Sounds good! Yes, it's great just to go out in the garden and get the perfect scions for grafts from what's growing there. And, in your case, the rootstock material too (with the no root grafting). You could almost do special orders for people - given a 4 week lead time or whatever !

Here are a couple of photos I just took of 2 of my 105's. One is my 3-way graft and the other is a plant that had gotten too tall for my chamber, so I cut of most of the top to use for a cutting and left one leaf on the rooted part. What I find REALLY interesting is the sucker growth and new growth along the stems. Lots of opportunities for multiple grafts. Also, I think it's sort of cool how the lower, almost horizontal (to begin with) grafts grew out - really nice separation.

Anne

[Delerium]

Awesome Anne! Looks like you successfully did the petiole graft. So how does the roots of the 105 compare to say other varieties of tomatoes? Next on my list to learn is how to cross pollinate tomatoes so i can have more fun!

[Salsacharley]

Originally Posted by Delerium

Yes it all depends on the size of the plants. If your starting from seed the dual size clips work good.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6414-sp...ting-clip.aspx

I find it easier to use cuttings to graft (easier to match sizes imo). No limits to how many grafts you can put on 1 plant which is the best part of the whole grafting adventure for me then i will replace the root stock later with something that has some Disease tolerance if i decide to go that route. Being able to grow multiple varieties grafts allows me to enjoy more choices with less space. If you want I can send you 5 dual size grafting clips if you like for practice before you decide to order online.

Right now i got just about 40+ grafts with all of them being different variety combinations (2-4 varieties per plant) of what i want to grow for next year. Eventually i will replace the root stock with something more Disease tolerant when it comes down to planting time.

Hi Delerium,

You state that you will replace the root stock with something more disease tolerant when it comes down to planting time....

May I ask, can you graft your already grafted plants to another root stock at that later time? It would seem that the stems would be very large at that point and grafting would be very difficult.

Thanks,

Charley

[Delerium]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

Hi Delerium,

You state that you will replace the root stock with something more disease tolerant when it comes down to planting time....

May I ask, can you graft your already grafted plants to another root stock at that later time? It would seem that the stems would be very large at that point and grafting would be very difficult.

Thanks,

Charley

yes you can but the ones that I have already grafted won't be re-grafted to desease tolerant root stock - but i will show how its done here later as i grow some new plants. I ain't to concerned about making my first batch 2014 plants disease tolerant. But the 2nd wave of grafts will most likely will (as we all know disease starts to hit a little later in to the season). I'd grow the the disease tolerant root stock first and let the plants get large enough to graft the (multi grafted scions) later. Atleast that is the plan. When i graft i don't use any humidity chambers and such. So the recovery time is much faster.