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Old October 7, 2019   #57
b54red
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtjmartin View Post
Rick:

Bill (B54red) has taught me on this forum just about everything I know about grafting. It has changed tomato gardening for me in VA dramatically - though my main nemesis is bacterial wilt.

A good summary of Bill's method is at #13 at
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...light=grafting

I use RST-04-106 almost exclusively. After a quick look I don't see that it has a resistance to RKN.

I'm sure Bill will reply at some point with greater wisdom & knowledge! Otherwise, feel free to ask specific questions.

Jeff
Thanks Jeff. RST-106 is resistant to RKN and also fusarium 3 races, and Bacterial Wilt. This year it was exceptionally dry and hot yet I still have a few plants alive and still producing set out the first week in April grafted onto 106. I have had more plants than usual fall to fusarium very late in the season but we are only talking about maybe 10% of the tomatoes set out in spring. The root stock is resistant not impervious to fusarium and RKN. I have had a few plants show some RKN symptoms over the years on this root stock but the symptoms have been minor and showed up very late in the year.

If you are looking for the best production with good resistance to all 3 races of fusarium, RKN and Bacterial Wilt then I would go with the root stock from NE Seeds called RST-04-106-T. You can get somewhat larger plants and also fruits from some of the other root stock I have tried but the number and earliness of setting fruit seems better with 106 and it is the only one I have tried that has really good resistance to Bacterial Wilt which is a real life saver some years. I have been using the root stock for years and have yet to have a single plant hit with BW though every other root stock I have used did not show any resistance that I could tell.

For the gardener in the deep south I haven't found another root stock that compares with RST-04-106-T. I have found a few varieties that perform better with other root stock both in size and production but other than those few combos I have had better results with 106.

Fusarium is killed back by hard winters even down here. The trouble is we don't usually have much in the way of a winter most of the time. Last year was particularly mild and followed by a very hot spring and summer and so far fall even grafting with a great resistant root stock hasn't completely protected me from the fusarium. I am surprised that with these very dry hot conditions that I haven't pulled up a single tomato plant so far that has any RKN showing. That mild winter did give those whiteflies from far south of here the time to move up and infect my fall tomato plants with TYLCV. I am hoping for a good cold winter this year even if it will mess up my winter growing of cole crops and lettuce.

Bill
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