Triple Variety Tomato Graft Experiment - Page 15

Delerium · April 4, 2014

Went out today to prune suckers and.. couldn't help myself but make 2 more Frankenstein grafts - this time i didn't use the aquarium tubing. Last year The stems just grew right over the wire when i didn't remove the wire.

Starting to spot tomatoes in the Garden. Amazon Chocolate and Cowlicks Brandywine looks like few of the first to set.

efisakov · April 4, 2014

Time to count days until your first tomato! Good luck.

aclum · April 4, 2014

Hi Delerium,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but......

IT LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE WIRE WORMS

Seriously, that's really cool about the vertical grafts. Thanks for explaining it in some detail

. You give me way too much credit in supposing I might have figured out the details of your vertical grafting. Heck, I couldn't even get the sex of your new puppy right

.

As I've said before, it really is amazing all the innovations you've made in the realm of tomato grafting in the past year. I'm curious to see how your experiments with the dwarfs work out. All the dwarf combo grafts that I'd started have succumbed to whatever as yet undiagnosed misfortune has been gradually "taking down" my plants

. I've been starting new seeds and hope I can do the dwarf experiments in another month or two. Also want to try some of the vertical grafts when I have more material to work with.

Keep us posted with any new developments!

Anne

Virtex · April 4, 2014

Any benefits of grafting 3 plants using vertical grafting, if you don't use rootstock? Have you noticed it grows better then just planting the rooted suckers next to each other? Not sure if you have the answer, but just wondering if you notice any growth differences. The reason I ask is I use an earthtainer and was wondering if I make one of these grafts if it would preform better then planting 2-4 separate plants in the earthtainer. Sounds like a fun experiment. The more I think about it the more I want to try.

I created a 3 variety graft this year using the leaf graft method and that worked well so far.

Thanks for any info,

- Scott

Delerium · April 4, 2014

Any benefits of grafting 3 plants using vertical grafting, if you don't use rootstock?

Well the only real benefit is that its a shared root system (you could either plant 6 varieties in 1 earthtainer with 2 plants or plant 3 varieties using 1 plant in 1 earthtainer). Great for someone who doesn't have space to plant 3 varieties but can still get 3 varieties without the need for that extra space. I don't really know if the shared root system has any Disease tolerant benefits. Will it produce more? I don't see why not. Each vine should produce tomatoes just like any other plant. But this boils down to the same debate that comes up a lot when your growing tomatoes (to prune or not to prune). Single stem pruned plants will generally give you less yield but nice big tomatoes where as non pruned plants will yield more but size of tomatoes will vary. Now if you single stem each variety like you do your normal single stem plants I'd imagine you could get pretty decent production (and it would be like a non pruned plant *for yield* but pruned to single stem for each variety to keep the plant neat/organized)

You would benefit by doing this with earthtainers for sure as you will have more varieties to plant without sacrificing planting space. I don't see why you shouldn't at least try a few grafts (with 3 varieties or 5 varieties *3 vertical grafts plus 2 petiole grafts* would be very easy to do). Basically my plan is to see which plants are producing the best in my garden with my current grafts and continue to combine those winning varieties for my Fall Crop or even carry it over for my winter garden like i did earlier this year.

efisakov · April 5, 2014

Soon you would not need seeds, just use cuttings.

Delerium · April 5, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by efisakov

Soon you would not need seeds, just use cuttings.

Well at least you can really extend your season and make backups really fast on good varieties. But Love growing from seeds and I am a shopaholic when it comes to buying seeds. I have 3 seed binders. As much as its tempting to continue clones

setting up the lights and planning all the varieties i want to grow from seed never gets old.

Anyways, here is some pictures of Today's Harvest. Cabbages are coming in.. And i managed to take 2 Dwarf Snow suckers to root and grow some new clones to continue the grafting experiments

Delerium · April 7, 2014

All my grafted tomato plants are coming along great. Plenty of big blossoms with fruit set. Now the waiting begins... We are slowly shifting over from our Cole crops to Summer Veggies and I have started germinating seeds to start grafting Cukes, Luffa, Bitter Gourd, Watermelon & Cantaloupe.

Pic 1 and 2 - Tomato Grafts in Macro Bins - Day 46 (Fruit Set and Lots of Flowers)
Pic 3 - Time to graft Summer Veggies
Pic 4 - Regular Leaf / Potato Leaf Graft
Pic 5 & 6 - More Tomato Grafts in Raised Beds.. Including a few Dwarf Grafts
Pic 7 - Purple Cauliflower (first time growing these)
Pic 8 - Seed Savers Exchange flower seeds from Heirloom Expo
Pic 9 - More Mushrooms showing up again (Agricus Bisporus)
Pic 10 - More Oysters (The flushes are getting smaller probably substrate is now exhausted)

Delerium · April 7, 2014

Pic 11 & 12 - Cabbages - turned out pretty good.

RootLoops · April 7, 2014

are the cabbage leaves edible? those that aren't in a head?

Delerium · April 7, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by RootLoops

are the cabbage leaves edible? those that aren't in a head?

Yeah you can eat them. Usually good for making some Mallum or something stir fried.

RootLoops · April 7, 2014

i was eying them for either fried cabbage or stuffed cabbage. do they do well in the heat? if not i probably shouldn't waste my time outdoors with them it's gonna get real hot pretty soon sorry for the tangent!

Delerium · April 7, 2014

Wow.. did we pull a Giant Beet. Weighed at 3 lbs +. Kinda Cool. First time for everything.

Delerium · April 7, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by RootLoops

i was eying them for either fried cabbage or stuffed cabbage. do they do well in the heat? if not i probably shouldn't waste my time outdoors with them it's gonna get real hot pretty soon sorry for the tangent!

Well you should plant your cabbage when temps are cooler probably in the 40-50F range. We are just starting to hit 80's which is a bit to hot for cabbages. So whatever the DTM is.. plan for temps when it will head around the 70F range. I still have a Giant Purple Cabbage that's just started heading so i am keeping my fingers crossed hoping that it won't bolt on me.

efisakov · April 8, 2014

Looking good. Did you try okra? I grew few last year. If picked early, you can just eat it raw. It never made to my kitchen.

April 4, 2014	#212
efisakov Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NJ, zone 7 Posts: 3,162	Time to count days until your first tomato! Good luck. __________________ Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!”

April 4, 2014	#215
Delerium Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: California Posts: 942	Any benefits of grafting 3 plants using vertical grafting, if you don't use rootstock? Well the only real benefit is that its a shared root system (you could either plant 6 varieties in 1 earthtainer with 2 plants or plant 3 varieties using 1 plant in 1 earthtainer). Great for someone who doesn't have space to plant 3 varieties but can still get 3 varieties without the need for that extra space. I don't really know if the shared root system has any Disease tolerant benefits. Will it produce more? I don't see why not. Each vine should produce tomatoes just like any other plant. But this boils down to the same debate that comes up a lot when your growing tomatoes (to prune or not to prune). Single stem pruned plants will generally give you less yield but nice big tomatoes where as non pruned plants will yield more but size of tomatoes will vary. Now if you single stem each variety like you do your normal single stem plants I'd imagine you could get pretty decent production (and it would be like a non pruned plant for yield but pruned to single stem for each variety to keep the plant neat/organized) You would benefit by doing this with earthtainers for sure as you will have more varieties to plant without sacrificing planting space. I don't see why you shouldn't at least try a few grafts (with 3 varieties or 5 varieties 3 vertical grafts plus 2 petiole grafts would be very easy to do). Basically my plan is to see which plants are producing the best in my garden with my current grafts and continue to combine those winning varieties for my Fall Crop or even carry it over for my winter garden like i did earlier this year. Last edited by Delerium; April 4, 2014 at 06:55 PM.

April 5, 2014	#216
efisakov Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NJ, zone 7 Posts: 3,162	Soon you would not need seeds, just use cuttings. __________________ Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!”

April 8, 2014	#225
efisakov Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NJ, zone 7 Posts: 3,162	Looking good. Did you try okra? I grew few last year. If picked early, you can just eat it raw. It never made to my kitchen. __________________ Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!”

April 4, 2014	#213
aclum Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Merced, CA Posts: 832	Hi Delerium, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but...... IT LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE WIRE WORMS Seriously, that's really cool about the vertical grafts. Thanks for explaining it in some detail . You give me way too much credit in supposing I might have figured out the details of your vertical grafting. Heck, I couldn't even get the sex of your new puppy right . As I've said before, it really is amazing all the innovations you've made in the realm of tomato grafting in the past year. I'm curious to see how your experiments with the dwarfs work out. All the dwarf combo grafts that I'd started have succumbed to whatever as yet undiagnosed misfortune has been gradually "taking down" my plants . I've been starting new seeds and hope I can do the dwarf experiments in another month or two. Also want to try some of the vertical grafts when I have more material to work with. Keep us posted with any new developments! Anne

April 4, 2014	#214
Virtex Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: California Posts: 121	Any benefits of grafting 3 plants using vertical grafting, if you don't use rootstock? Have you noticed it grows better then just planting the rooted suckers next to each other? Not sure if you have the answer, but just wondering if you notice any growth differences. The reason I ask is I use an earthtainer and was wondering if I make one of these grafts if it would preform better then planting 2-4 separate plants in the earthtainer. Sounds like a fun experiment. The more I think about it the more I want to try. I created a 3 variety graft this year using the leaf graft method and that worked well so far. Thanks for any info, - Scott

April 7, 2014	#220
RootLoops Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: rienzi, ms Posts: 470	are the cabbage leaves edible? those that aren't in a head?

April 7, 2014	#222
RootLoops Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: rienzi, ms Posts: 470	i was eying them for either fried cabbage or stuffed cabbage. do they do well in the heat? if not i probably shouldn't waste my time outdoors with them it's gonna get real hot pretty soon sorry for the tangent!