Best grafted tomato varieties?

[Mlm1]

I got a chance to catch up on the thread. Thanks to everyone for the great articles.

Anne, your garden looks wonderful. We have had some beautiful weather this spring and I bet your plants are growing like weeds.

There are a lot of nice looking grafts pictured in the thread. Congratulations to everyone on their successes. It will be fun to follow everyone's plants this year. I will start my grafts today and will try to post as I go.

Marla

[livinonfaith]

Originally Posted by bbjm

I honestly think I grafted what looks like a stem and a side branch. I somehow managed to trim off the growing tip when preparing the scion. The stem now terminates right at, but undeniably above the branch. I assume while working with the scion on its side I mistook the stem for the growing tip.

Assuming the graft "takes," Do any of you have an opinion on whether it will ever grow normally? Or at all?

If you trimmed off the top, but still left the center stem and a side branch (so that there is a 'v' between the stem and the branch, you might have a chance for a sucker to grow.

If it is just a leaf on a branch, and there isn't a "v" where a sucker could grow, then it will always just be a leaf.

[z_willus_d]

Marla, wishing you the best with your grafting procedures today. At today's count, I've managed 20 successful grafts. I've improved my success rate. I think the three largest contributors are:
(1) Choosing larger (~3mm) thickness RS/Scion pairs;
(2) working harder on matching the cuts up so that a good mate is made;
(3) giving the healing grafts some indirect light through the healing process after the first two days in "darkness."

Ok, here are a few more:
(4) try and let in fresh air to the healing chamber at least once a day;
(5) do your best not to vibrate or move the healing chamber (yes this contradicts (4);
(6) use chamomile tea spray to help with damping off;
(7) clean and wipe down the healing chambers (I'm using dilute bleach) before each new batch of grafts;
(8) don't ever spray the grafted seedlings directly, only the side-walls and lid of the healing chamber;
(9) Have a secondary (or tertiary) healing chamber where grafts that aren't doing so well (say still wilting after a week) can be kept. Place this healing chamber under a weak artificial light so the plants have a chance to grab some energy. I've had one or two "goners" come back after that treatment.
(10) when attaching the graft clip, make sure it doesn't overlap a non-uniform spot of the plant stems, e.g. a sport where a branch was cut off, a curve in the trunk, etc. That means you have to plan ahead;
(11) Remove the RS and scion pair from any water source (hold-off watering) 24 hours ahead of the graft surgery;
(12) If possible, cut off any excess foliage from the scion (what would be removed at the time of grafting) 1 or 2 days before the graft operation. Give it a chance to heal before the dismemberment stress.
(13) Don't get too daring when first acclimating seemingly perk and ready graft patients to the unforgiving world, sans hospital protection. Never leave the untried seedlings unmonitored for more than 10-30 minutes. They'll change from perky, to wilty/flagging, to downright seaweed fast as Mercury. Put another way, ease the all environmental changes on the patients slow and gradual like.

Best to all.
-naysen

[b54red]

I got out this afternoon and planted 22 of my grafted plants. Ten of them had Floralina rootstock. Seven had Tasti-Lee rootstock. Three of them had Ball's Beefsteak as rootstock and Two had Big Beef rootstock. Of the hybrids I used for rootstock the Floralina was more successful in taking the scion graft than any of the others. I have not planted any of my fluke rootstock grafts yet. I will probably dedicate a whole bed to them with only single or at most double stems so I can really give them a good trial by planting closer and see how the fluke tomato does as a rootstock. I just have to get another bed ready now.

Good luck with your grafting Marla.

Good points Naysen but I use Captan instead of the tea because damping off is such a problem down here. So far it is the only thing that has helped with the damping off in the chambers. I think grafting in warmer weather will help; but I haven't gotten to try that yet.

Bill

[Mlm1]

I have completed my first 48 grafts. I will post some pictures and try to mention anything I think might be important.
The first shot is of the plants waiting to get matched up. The rootstock is on the left and I have sorted them by size. I label my rootstock with colored label (yellow for Maxifort, orange for Multifort, blue for Beaufort) and I never use those colors for anything else so I don't even have to write on them. On the right is a flat of scions I want to graft (each labeled with a white tag) and in the center is a flat with matched pairs. I always place the scion in front of it's matched rootstock. I can get 16 pairs in a flat.
The second picture is of a flat of matched pairs ready for the knife.
Third is after cutting the rootstock. I have my plants at eye level, and always with the rootstock on the right and the scion on the left. I cut the rootstock top off and throw it in the garbage (so that I don't try and graft it on to something by mistake).
Forth picture I have cut the scion, trimmed some leaves, attached it to the rootstock with the large clip and moved the white labeled tag into the pot with the orange tag. Both tags stay with the plant for the rest of it's life so I can tell at a glance it is a Multifort graft and the white tag tells me which heirloom. Of note, Multifort seems a little floppy at the soil line-I hope that isn't a problem down the road. Also, I am using larger plants and larger clips this year since I have had the best luck with the larger plants. I like being able to see through the silicon clips which I can't do with the spring loaded but I much prefer the larger size of the spring loaded clips.
Fifth picture is of completed grafts and the sixth is looking into the chamber.
Last picture is of four bins of 12 grafts each sharing the heating pad with the last of my seedlings. This is the first year I have put the bins on the heating pad. The articles that many of you have been posting suggest keeping the temperature around 80 so I think the heating pad will keep the temperature fluctuations to a minimum and it doesn't seem to be getting over 80 so I'll see how it works.
I'll see how this batch does before starting the next set in case I need to alter anything.

Marla

[aclum]

Great post, Naysen! Lots of good advice. Glad to hear your success rate's going up.

Thanks for the comments on the garden, Marla. The tomatoes haven't been exactly growing like weeds but they're all looking really good and I've been getting quite a few blossoms and suckers on the plants (including on the non-grafted KBX). The weather has been perfect although we seem to be getting some of our typical windy days now. Hope you grafting is going well!

I may just do a few more tomato grafts, them I'm starting my squash for rootstock for grafting my cukes and melons! I had gone ahead and started 15 kabochka seeds and then discovered that this was the wrong type of squash for grafting so I had to go ahead and order a different type from Kitazawa. Should be getting the seeds tomorrow! Not sure what I'm going to do with 15 kabochka seedlings in March!

Anne

[rwsacto]

Tomato grafting recipe: (or how to double cull your seedlings)

grow two, perfectly good, tomato seedlings,
cut the head off one, the feet off the other and discard,
jam the remaining parts together, end to end, and secure with an itty bitty clip,
cook at 80 degrees and 100% humidity until completely wilted,
record results, discard, rinse and repeat.

So I thought I would try to join the Joy Luck Grafting Club with three goals:
faster ripening on early tomatoes,
more production through the season, and/or
sustained vigor through the late fall.

For rootstock, I started with 20 Maxifort (MXF) seeds and 15 Matt's Wild Cherry (MWC-deepest roots in my garden last year) seeds and staggered planting over 3 weeks in February. These were the most wimpy, difficult seeds to germinate. I ended up with 6 MXF and 3 MWC out of 35 suitable for grafting. Most of the scion starts overtook the rootstock starts. (My overall seedling success rate is about 85%)

For the first round I got 2 out of 8 tube grafts to take, both on MXF. I tried regrafting by cutting the rootstock again and all refailed.

Gave up starting rootstock and purchased 2 Big Beef starts and tried 2 approach grafts. Now, everything is larger (6 mm) than my little 2 mm clips, so I improvised with split drinking straws and small spring hair clips. Both approach grafts failed.

Then I purchased 8 Celebrity starts. This time I got 3 out of 4 tube grafts to take (1 with MXF) and 2 out of 2 cleft grafts. I thought I had an approach graft take until I realized I severed the rootstock instead of the scion! The regraft from the failed tube graft refailed.

Two more celebrity cleft grafts are in the oven. I use cleft grafts when stem diameters don't match. I'll try a few more soon if some of the MXF tops root successfully.

Most successful scions? Black & Red Boar and Chinese. Least? All the rest!

In addition to all the great suggestions in this thread, I had better success with tube grafts by holding the end of the scion next the rootstock and cutting both simultaneously.

My healing chamber is a 1020 tray and high humidity dome on a seed mat in the garage (40-60 deg ambient) In the tray is a jar of water with an aquarium heater set at 80 deg. I also put a wet folded capillary mat at one end to increase humidity. Towel on top to block light for two days, then a desk lamp with a medium CFL over one end to bring em back to life.

Thanks to all for sharing,

Happy cooking, Oops, I mean grafting.

Rick

[z_willus_d]

Hi Marla, thanks for posting how it's supposed to be done. Your system is a benchmark for the rest of us. I will not be surprised to learn you hit 100% success with those grafts in your pic #5.

Rick, I'm glad to see you've joined in on the grafting mania. I can tell from your post that you're struggling like I to bring the whole operation under control. I know you'll get there given the three P's - Perseverance, Persistence, and Prayer!

One thing I failed to mention in my post above is how valuable it's been to have kept my decapitated scion plants. I've set them outside in this fine weather of ours, and they've for the most part all flourished. A dead stub might go on to produce 2, 3, 5 or more perfect suckers. That's five more chances to get that failed graft to take. Surprisingly enough, I've had far better success with the semi hardened-off suckers I've plucked from failed scion donors than I've had with the original donor tops. I'm not sure what to attribute that to yet, but it's an effect not lost upon me. As far as I know, there's no long term downside to using a sucker for scion vs. the root/mother scion branch. Couple that with recycled Root-stock tops, and you get a lot of 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances...

Good luck.
-naysen

[Mlm1]

Thanks Naysen for the high praise but we'll see and thanks for the informative posts.

Rick, that is a great recipe - too funny. Now that there is a third Sacramenton chopping up their plants makes me wonder if there is something in our air - maybe our drinking water.

Happy cutting, jamming and cooking to everyone.

Marla

[livinonfaith]

Obviously everyone is learning a lot from this process! I love to see how everyone else is doing this, especially since mine are a bit hit or miss.

On this second set of ten grafts, I ended up with some of the weirdest, most unwieldy looking things you've ever seen! I need to post some pictures so that all of you can get a good laugh!

The problem is that my seedlings have been inside all of this time with only light from a window to help them grow. The rootstock got thicker, but the scions have stayed thin and just gotten taller and taller.

When matching them up, I had to go really high on the rootstock, sometimes up past two leaf sets, to get a stem small enough to match the bottom of my scions. So most of the finished products are 2mm thick by eight inches tall with a tiny leaf at the top!

Surprisingly, today is the third day and they are still all standing straight up, most without any support. They all did okay with the chamber open for a little while at lunch. I do expect that they will wilt tomorrow when I open it for a longer. Time to break out the skewers and some twine.

Some of them were not even big enough for the 2mm clips, so I sliced a thin piece of stem and wedged it in to make it more stable. We'll see how that works as the piece of stem deteriorates. Hopefully, it won't rot the graft and it will stay long enough to keep the grafts from shifting out of alignment.

The six survivors of my first attempt are finally in the greenhouse, and I'm hoping that they are over the hump and ready to be potted up!

If I can get at least four out of the latest set to survive, I'll feel pretty good about this first attempt!

[Stvrob]

Livinonfaith:
Some of my best grafts were made above the second set of true leaves of the rootstock. I've had good success with leaving all or most of the rootstock foliage on during the grafting and leaving it on until the graft is healed and the scion is actively growing again.

[b54red]

I also had a lot of good grafts high up on the plant. I found out that when I set them outside they needed a little support they were so tall so I bought a cheap pack of wooden skewers about twice the diameter of a toothpick and about 10 inces long. I stuck them down in the cups next to the graft and gently tied them to the grafts with some surveyors tape. I left the skewers in when I transplanted them into the garden as support. I'm glad I did as we had a thunderstorm come through last night with very very strong winds.

[bughunter99]

I'm still waiting for the Maxiforts to sprout. The scion candidates have been up for up to five days now. Urg

-Stacy

[livinonfaith]

Good advice from all!

Unfortunately, I cut all of the leaves off of the rootstock, which is crazy because I left the cotyledons on my last ones.

b54red, I have skewers just like that already set beside the chamber. Thought I would go ahead and tie them up when I open it tomorrow.

Stacy, I feel your pain! Same thing happened to me. Try putting the scions in a cooler area and the rootstock in a warmer one. That certainly seemed to help with my first set.

[Mlm1]

Stacy, can you start some more scion seed? If you have enough I would start some now and start a few more in another 5 to 7 days. Maxifort seed has slow and erratic germination so it is nice to have scions of different ages to find matching pairs.

Marla