Grafting

[Garf]

I want to try some grafting of tomatoes. First I need to locate some Maxifort seed. Does anyone out there have some Maxifort to spare?

[ReptileAddiction]

I think this would be better in the seed section I think you should ask a mod to move it

[Garf]

I will leave that up to the moderator.

[dustyrivergardens]

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6895-maxifort-f1.aspx
I thought that sounded fun to do I might do that next year. Have fun let us know what your up to.

[DoubleDogFarm]

50 seed for $23.00 Yikes!

I thought about playing around with grafting. I was thinking more in-line with grafting different types of similar tomatoes on to one stem. Red, white and blue cherry tomato.

I would look for similar maturity days and similar plant growth characteristics

I may even try grafting a tomato on top of a potato. I'll probably end up with worst of both worlds. Above and below.

Eric

[applestar]

I'm thinking they must clone/propagate more from cuttings.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Looks like Territorial is sell multi-variety tomatoes.

http://www.territorialseed.com/category/498

Eric

[dustyrivergardens]

Lots of people use hybrid stock usually celebrity and some use egg plant but I think I am going to spend the bucks and try the Maxifort for root stock.

[cynthia_h]

Applestar posted here without any problem. I'm going to put on my moderator hat and say...

Since the OP is interested in grafting tomatoes, I think this thread is in an OK location. Why not let it...ah...grow naturally?

Cynthia H.
/moderator/

[rainbowgardener]

Some catalogs do sell the grafted potato-tomato claiming that you can get both from one plant. I have no idea how well it works. Seems like the potatoes and tomatoes would be competing with each other for nutrients.

[zebraman]

Maxifort is mainly used to boost fruit production in greenhouse grown tomatoes.
http://www.paramountseeds.com/ has a much better price than Johnny's at 100 seeds for $23.60

[zebraman]

http://www.growingformarket.com/article ... d-Tomatoes

[DoubleDogFarm]

I was reading something this weekend about a guy who grafted his tomatoes and potatoes together. He says he figured it was a "dual-purpose" plant and allowed him to utilize space in his garden more efficiently. But my thought was, wouldn't that cut down on the amount of energy the plant was able to devote to each product and leave you with either smaller potatoes and tomatoes or fewer of them? Or does it not work like that because they are only sharing a root system and not really the foliage? If the latter is true, then I suppose if the soil was rich enough to support the plants it wouldn't matter. But I have a feeling this is better in theory than in practice.

Any thoughts?

Jeff,

I hope you don't mind that I moved your post.

Eric

[baldwinshere]

Hi

As i've done some tomato grafting ive got a few hints that might help you if your not already aware of them (you may be)

If your growing both the root and main stock from seed ensure your start them off at the same time as the stems need to be nearly the same thickness.
I'd look into buying pre-grown rootstock, its just easier

Its a tricky attaching tomato stems together and be careful not to crush the stems to much. Also them plastic butterfly clips are great at holding the graft together as you can't really bind tomato grafts together the tissue is to soft.

Also Tomatos on Potatos are becoming more and more common and are just as easy to do, great if your tight on space. the Potato can grow in a large pot and can bet uplifted once the tomatos are finished.

Hope some of the helps

[applestar]

OK, now I'm curious -- what are recommended tomato-potato varieties for grafting? What traits do you look for?
- early maturing or late maturing potatoes? Tomatoes?
- from the way you described, determinate tomato variety should be better?
- are potato leaf Tomtoes more likely to succeed than regular leaf?
- I would suppose disease resistance

At what caliper do you graft potatoes and tomatoes? Potatoes plants shoots from seed potatoes would be way thicker than seedlings.