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Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter
Wow, that is a brilliant idea if you're able to keep the plant going year-round and aren't planning on a large number of plants! Not to mention all the money you could save by not having to buy so much rootstock seed every year.
A question -- is there a reason you can't use your rooted cuttings to top graft with? You mentioned having to wait to get the new rootstock seed to be able to try top grafting, so I'm just curious about the reason why.
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I do it when I have large enough tops from my root stock to root; but it is trickier because you only have a short time from the time roots take hold til the stem gets large or more woody. The older stems don't take grafts as well but they will take often enough for it to be worth doing. I used a few yesterday when I ran out of root stock seedlings.
another problem with continually rooting root stock is the plant will eventually develop diseases and pests like aphids. It is easier to use the young seedlings from seed as they are more consistent in size and more tender thus taking grafts better.
I bought 500 RST-04-106-T seeds for a little more than a 100 dollars since I had good luck with germinating the old seed from last year. At 20 cents a seed the cost is not so prohibitive and I can afford to plant more to assure a decent stand each time. I'm sure as the use of root stock for grafting increases the cost of seeds will eventually come down as they already have. Buying very small quantities is still ridiculously expensive with some vendors I have noticed when browsing seed sites.
Bill