[QUOTE=natekurz;429431]I've got a handful of tomato grafts growing this year on Black Beauty Eggplant (Solanum melongena) and Gbogname (S. Macrocarpon). While there are several potentially confounding factors (timing, soil, graft quality), performance on both has been extremely poor. Flavor doesn't seem to be adversely affected, but the plants on both are stunted and the fruits are small and scarce. It hasn't been a very encouraging experiment. By contrast, the couple dozen grafts I have on the commercial rootstock Multifort (S. lycopersicum × S. habrochaites) are generally doing better than the same varieties on their own roots.[/QUOTE]

Much obliged for you sharing your experiment, Nate.

I did a potato/tomato fiasco a few years back and was rather disapointed in both sides of the spectrum.

Here are a few more Solanaceae I discovered on a certain seed company's list (omitting company so no one thinks I'm trying to sneak in an advert for someone):

I am listing these because they are exotic and perhaps unknown to you, and also edible:

SOLANUM MURICATUM
SOLANUM QUITOENSE

those look interesting!

[QUOTE=snugglekitten;429963]Here are a few more Solanaceae I discovered on a certain seed company's list (omitting company so no one thinks I'm trying to sneak in an advert for someone):

I am listing these because they are exotic and perhaps unknown to you, and also edible:

SOLANUM MURICATUM
SOLANUM QUITOENSE[/QUOTE]

Not unknown to me . First, I knew that Baker Creek had some not well known Solanums from reading the catalog and same for Tradewinds website, but I Googled them anyway to see all seed sources that might have them.


[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum[/url]

In the above link the two you mention are noted under food crops,pepino and Narajilla. I know the latter is mostly tropical in nature but had to Google pepino/

What traits of those two might contribute to new tomato varieties?

Lots of places for S.muricatum seeds

[url]https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=solanum+muricatum+seeds[/url]

And lots ofplaces for the other one as well.

[url]https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=solanum+quitoense+seeds[/url]

No adverts here b'c anyone can Google them.

Trade Winds and BakerCreek are the best known for carrying seeds like that.

Last year I was sent seeds for Naranjilla ( sp) by the same person who sent me tomato seeds for Loka, a variety from Accra, Ghana, and no way could I grow those seeds here and get anything productive unless I had a nice greenhouse.:)

Which is why I asked how these two species might be advantageous in a breeding program.Should be interesting to do, and no problem if you don't wish to anser, for I was mainly curious about the tropical nature of both having genes that might be of use in tomatoes, which did originate in the temperate high plains of mainly Chile and Peru, not in the lower terrain of tropical jungles.

Carolyn

[QUOTE=carolyn137;430022]Not unknown to me . First, I knew that Baker Creek had some not well known Solanums from reading the catalog and same for Tradewinds website, but I Googled them anyway to see all seed sources that might have them.


[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum[/url]

In the above link the two you mention are noted under food crops,pepino and Narajilla. I know the latter is mostly tropical in nature but had to Google pepino/

What traits of those two might contribute to new tomato varieties?

Lots of places for S.muricatum seeds

[url]https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=solanum+muricatum+seeds[/url]

And lots ofplaces for the other one as well.

[url]https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=solanum+quitoense+seeds[/url]

No adverts here b'c anyone can Google them.

Trade Winds and BakerCreek are the best known for carrying seeds like that.

Last year I was sent seeds for Naranjilla ( sp) by the same person who sent me tomato seeds for Loka, a variety from Accra, Ghana, and no way could I grow those seeds here and get anything productive unless I had a nice greenhouse.:)

Which is why I asked how these two species might be advantageous in a breeding program.Should be interesting to do, and no problem if you don't wish to anser, for I was mainly curious about the tropical nature of both having genes that might be of use in tomatoes, which did originate in the temperate high plains of mainly Chile and Peru, not in the lower terrain of tropical jungles.

Carolyn[/QUOTE]

Hi Carolyn,

I am posting for grafting purposes, not breeding, and its not a scientific basis I have for assuming they will be useful, just a hunch -

When grafting a potato-tomato together I got a tomato that had a dull-"potatoey" taste, and I also read that a tomato with a tobacco plant will have a small nicotine content, therefore perhaps grafting with a sweet solanum could create a sweeter tomato.

I mean, it may just be worth a shot, people are grafting with lots of different solonaceae but there are SO many, I doubt all have been done before, and something worthwhile may come up, who knows.

Personally I don't want to graft with any poisonous plants, even if they happen to have traits that could be beneficial.

Plus I know what you mean about upstate NY - I live in a somewhat similar area, colder continental climate, so perhaps I won't be the person to successfully pull this off, but I still think grafting is a fun hobby, and as I already said - its more of a fun thing than anything serious data collection or trials.

I do want to breed more with wild tomatoes to introduce increased disease resistence, having done only a little without real trials for these traits, but my grafting experiments are mostly just to satisfy my (strange perhaps) curiousity.

The naranjilla is supposed to be REALLY sweet, so worse comes to worse, I grow a few and have a great, exotic fruit to taste.

I don't have any real evidence to assume that grafting with a sweet solanum will create a sweeter tomato, but doing a few trials wouldn't hurt me either.

i got my devil plant solanum capsicoides and will be grafting with tomatoes n eggplants and will try capsicums in the spring its autumn in melbourne

has anyone done this ?

I have grafted 6 plants of 5 different tomato varieties onto S.dulcamara rootstocks grown from seed. 5 out of 6 grafts took.The season is ending soon here but will be enough time to evaluate how the grafted plants perform.

Here are some of the grafted plants,they've grown a bit stince they've been taken out of the healing chamber:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/nv7dfED.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=snugglekitten;427963]Potatoes are toxic when consumed raw.
[/QUOTE]

This isn't quite correct. Potatoes give indigestion when eaten raw as uncooked starch isn't easily digested. The tubers generally don't have a large amount of the toxic alkaloids.

[URL]http://www.livestrong.com/article/523041-the-risks-of-eating-raw-potatoes/[/URL]