Expert Grafted Tomato Advice

Karma · May 11, 2013

Hi Everyone,

I spoke with a master gardener yesterday who has been doing trials of grafted tomatoes since 2011. His name is Harry Olsen and he has a website called harrysgarden.org and it shows him being interviewed for local television and radio in Salem, Oregon about growing grafted tomatoes.

He was kind enough to speak with me for about 20 minutes about growing grafted tomatoes. He did tests of a number of different varieties growing ungrafted right next to the grafted. He said he got about 10 times the production on his cherry tomatoes and 3 to 4 times on his beefsteaks. He said that grafted tomatoes MUST be pruned because he said the grow so thick, with stems about 2 inches thick and with so many stems, he called it a birds nest. He said he finally pruned one and discovered 30 tomatoes hiding inside his Berkeley Tie Dye Pink! He also said when his non grafted plants had long died, the grafted were still producing fruit well into fall when it was quite cold already.

He said from now on, he will always grow grafted tomatoes. He also grew grafted eggplant and had even better success with that if you can believe it.

He grows in raised beds, not EB's and he has built custom 12" x 12" cages (yes small) and then he then prunes the grafted tomatoes to 4 stems and ties them up the 4 corners of his 8 foot cages. He said they grew out the top and got to be about 12 feet tall. He was very firm that they must be pruned or they are not manageable.

He still grows some non grafted and he does not prune those.

I just wanted to share what he told me since a lot of us are trying grafted tomatoes this year. Mine are finally going to be planted on Tuesday and I will keep everyone posted as to my progress. Check out some of his interviews, they are quite interesting.

Good luck to all!

z_willus_d · May 11, 2013

Thanks for sharing. I'll concur that a vigorous root-stock (like Maxifort) when grafted to a vigorous scion (like most cherries, KBX, Pruden's Purple, etc.) makes for a jungle of a mess of green. I use 18" x 18" square cages that go up ~8' w/ extenders. They're filling up to the point where I can hardly reach in to vibrate blossoms on some. I think there is an art to matching Rootstock to scion so as not to arrive at this kind of vigor on vigor scenario. I do like the idea of training for leaders to the four cage corners. Maybe I'll try to do that next year. I'm also starting to see some loss due to fungus/mold in the dark recesses, even though we're extremely hot and dry here. It's my first year grafting outdoors, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot.
Thanks again.
-naysen

b54red · May 11, 2013

With our very long growing season down here it doesn't matter if it is a grafted plant or not because most indeterminate plants need pruning or you end up with a jungle and horrible disease problems. With our heat and humidity I have found that I get better production even with determinates if I prune them judiciously to open them up a bit.

Bill

May 11, 2013	#1
Karma Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Santa Monica, CA Posts: 64	Expert Grafted Tomato Advice Hi Everyone, I spoke with a master gardener yesterday who has been doing trials of grafted tomatoes since 2011. His name is Harry Olsen and he has a website called harrysgarden.org and it shows him being interviewed for local television and radio in Salem, Oregon about growing grafted tomatoes. He was kind enough to speak with me for about 20 minutes about growing grafted tomatoes. He did tests of a number of different varieties growing ungrafted right next to the grafted. He said he got about 10 times the production on his cherry tomatoes and 3 to 4 times on his beefsteaks. He said that grafted tomatoes MUST be pruned because he said the grow so thick, with stems about 2 inches thick and with so many stems, he called it a birds nest. He said he finally pruned one and discovered 30 tomatoes hiding inside his Berkeley Tie Dye Pink! He also said when his non grafted plants had long died, the grafted were still producing fruit well into fall when it was quite cold already. He said from now on, he will always grow grafted tomatoes. He also grew grafted eggplant and had even better success with that if you can believe it. He grows in raised beds, not EB's and he has built custom 12" x 12" cages (yes small) and then he then prunes the grafted tomatoes to 4 stems and ties them up the 4 corners of his 8 foot cages. He said they grew out the top and got to be about 12 feet tall. He was very firm that they must be pruned or they are not manageable. He still grows some non grafted and he does not prune those. I just wanted to share what he told me since a lot of us are trying grafted tomatoes this year. Mine are finally going to be planted on Tuesday and I will keep everyone posted as to my progress. Check out some of his interviews, they are quite interesting. Good luck to all!

May 11, 2013	#2
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	Thanks for sharing. I'll concur that a vigorous root-stock (like Maxifort) when grafted to a vigorous scion (like most cherries, KBX, Pruden's Purple, etc.) makes for a jungle of a mess of green. I use 18" x 18" square cages that go up ~8' w/ extenders. They're filling up to the point where I can hardly reach in to vibrate blossoms on some. I think there is an art to matching Rootstock to scion so as not to arrive at this kind of vigor on vigor scenario. I do like the idea of training for leaders to the four cage corners. Maybe I'll try to do that next year. I'm also starting to see some loss due to fungus/mold in the dark recesses, even though we're extremely hot and dry here. It's my first year grafting outdoors, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot. Thanks again. -naysen

May 11, 2013	#3
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	With our very long growing season down here it doesn't matter if it is a grafted plant or not because most indeterminate plants need pruning or you end up with a jungle and horrible disease problems. With our heat and humidity I have found that I get better production even with determinates if I prune them judiciously to open them up a bit. Bill