Best grafted tomato varieties?

[z_willus_d]

Hi Charles, thanks for taking a moment to commiserate a moment with me. I've tried a Monterey-based Spinosad product in the past (to inconclusive results), and I included in in my most recent foliar spray (day before yesterday). That spray included GoGnats (miticide), Actinovate, Monerey's Take Down (Raybo's favorite), 100% cold-pressed Neem w/ dish soap to match, the Spinosad and a bit of the expensive Azamax. I'm hitting the plants with a little bit of everything hoping to knock the thips down. I realize that I'm probably risking damage to the plants, though I've been careful to only mix in minimum concentrations of the various products and spray right around dusk. I can't see why any of the products would be counteractive/agents to one another. You're right, for me it's a 1-2 hours operation for each spraying depending on if I wish to also perform a soil drench. I get a lot of mosquito bites (itching them right now) being outside in the gloaming so much lately. I must be supporting the entire area's blood sucker population. What's that one about if He takes care of the birds, how much more so you and I? Change "birds" to "mosquitos", and I'm the divine providence in that case, my blood mana from heaven...

Anyway, good luck on the grafting. You should get started earlier if it's your first try at it.
-naysen

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Mlm1

Here are some pictures from last years garden. I've posted them before but I think it is a nice reminder why grafting can be worth the trouble. This is a section of my yard that became infected with fusarium 4 years ago. That year every plant in the garden looked like the dead plant in this picture. Three years ago I started grafting and the grafts did beautifully. Last year I had seed for a variety called RAF (stands for 'Resistente A Fusarium'). So, since it was supposed to have some resistance to fusarium I decided to try it (ungrafted) in the fusarium infected garden with the grafts. As you can tell it wasn't resistant to the fusarium in my garden but it gave me a nice photo opportunity. So there are about 18 grafted plants and one ungrafted plant in this fusarium infected soil.

Marla

Now Marla that dead looking tomato in the middle looks very familiar to me. I see about 100 or more that look just like that every year and many that die way before getting that large. I have high hopes for the grafting. I don't think my results could possibly be that good because even hybrids with high resistance frequently will get fusarium. The thing is most of them take longer to get sick and remain productive for far longer after they get the first symptoms than do non resistant tomato varieties.

Bill

[z_willus_d]

Since I've been a bit of a downer, pest-poster on this thread of late, I thought I'd post a few pics of the plants that are doing well-ish. It might be interesting to some to see the comparison between grafted and ungrafted of the same variety at this point.

Pic1: Madame Jardell's Black (ungrafted)
Pic2: Madame Jardell's Black (grafted, planted 1 week after Pic1)
Pic3: Madame Jardell's Black Fruit (ungrafted)
Pic4: Madame Jardell's Black Fruit (ungrafted)
Pic5: Green Zebra (ungrafted)
Pic6: Green Zebra (grafted, planted 1 week after Pic5)
Pic7: Green Zebra Fruit (ungrafted)
Pic8: Oldest Grafted plants (from right-to-left: Wes, Goose Creek, Green Zebra)
Pic9: Fruit from the grafted Wes shown in Pic8
Pic10: An enormous grafted Pruden's Purple with only one fruit set. Last year PP was my heaviest beefsteak fruit set plant, go figure?
Pics11/12: Show how small a graft union can be and still support the scion (CP plant)
Pics13/14: Show the same CP plant with mite damage. It's a sad coincidence that my first CP (the one I sent to Steve for analysis) was also overcome by mites, and now here we see another. Note the copper tone to the stem and leaves. I'm not sure if it's possible for this plant to recover. I've covered it in neem and the Monterey Take Down, Azamax, Spinosad, etc. No idea if the mites are still at work, or if their damage is irreparable.

--naysen

[b54red]

Why don't you try using an insect growth regulator and see if it will help stop the mites?
I have had some success with it on spider mites in the past and expect to use it again as soon as they appear.

Bill

[z_willus_d]

I'm not sure specifically what you mean, Bill. I am using Neem, Spinosad, Azamax, BT, Take Down Garden Spray, and GoGnat (Cedar oil). That's all organic, but according to some of the reading I've been doing, I'm not likely to have much success. I found the information at this link quite helpful.
-naysen
http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/kbase/...e/a_lycope.htm

[b54red]

An insect growth regulator messes with the ability of the mites to successfully reproduce off spring that can thrive.

http://www.epestsupply.com/product/7.../#.UYnu-so7aaQ

This is the one I use; but there are others that may be better. I am able to get this one locally so I use it when spider mites become a problem.

I don't know if it will work on the russet mite but it is fairly inexpensive and would be worth a try.

Bill

[Delerium]

Potting up a healed No roots tomato graft.

[Mlm1]

Originally Posted by Delerium

Potting up a healed No roots tomato graft.

That is pretty nifty. A person could get multiple grafts from one rootstock plant. I'm putting it on my list of things to try next year.

Marla

[JamesL]

Originally Posted by Delerium

Potting up a healed No roots tomato graft.

Nice job! What was the timeframe to get to this point? No humidity chamber used, correct?

[rnewste]

Have you considered doing a soil drench on the rootstock after grafting, with Azos to help the new roots develop?



Raybo

[JamesL]

Raybo,
That is probably a good idea regardless of the methodology used.

[Delerium]

Yes no humidity dome but it takes longer to recover. What i have started doing is if the grafts don't wilt after its being grafted i won't use the humidity dome to recover i will just let it stay in a shaded spot. However, if the graft does wilt then i will use a partial humidity dome to help the graft a bit. When I did the water test to see the time frame for roots - it was on average 7 days days roughly on several different grafts that i did on the same day.

From graft to this stage it took about 3 weeks - i may have posted a picture of this graft on this thread which will probably give a better idea on the date. I wasn't really paying attention to dates as i got garden chores have taken over. As i pluck suckers off my plants i make new grafts. Figure i could use them for Fall crop when other plants start to give up when the heat takes over.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by eatmoreyeah

Naysen,

I have to deal with thrips year round. Right now, they're lounging in my onions, tomatoes, blackberries, roses, petunias, impatiens, gardenias and magnolias. I've come to terms that I'll never be able to rid them from my garden patch, flower beds or trees. However the last few years I've had great success with Spinosad. I know the cannabis community also use it, with good results. You just have to be persistent with your spray scheldule. Depending on insect pressure I apply Spinosad two, to three times in a 10-14 day span. This usually knocks them down relatively well. I also switch it up and apply Neem so that they don't build up resistance. The spraying is very time consuming, not to mention where I'm located I also have to be spray fungicides religiously in order to keep the fungal diseases at bay. It's a price I'm willing to pay, like many others on this site that have a passion for gardening.

Back to the thread at hand, I've been following it from the onset, and can't wait to try my hand at grafting for the upcoming fall season. A lot of great information in this thread. Good luck to everyone with their grafts this season.

Charles

The mites shouldn't build up a resistance to a biological control such a spinosad. That issue is found in synthetic chemical control. Does anyone use silver reflective mulch for their tomatoes? this is supposed to help. Read #12 in the pdf... interesting

http://msucares.com/insects/vegetable/organic.pdf



If you plan to try your hand at grafting get started now and practice. I have been doing this for several months now and am still struggling to get a decnt number to take and look as if the graft won't snap off in the first wind. Now I am on to my second no roots try. The first one was another epic failure. I tried again today *sigh* I hope it works, even if I don't get many in the garden and producing by the end of summer. I thought this would be so much easier than it actually is. The cutting and clipping was exceedingly easy. The healing...no so easy. Good luck.

[Delerium]

Here is another no roots graft. One of the reasons i really like DE is being able to play with the roots before I transplant them .

[Delerium]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Have you considered doing a soil drench on the rootstock after grafting, with Azos to help the new roots develop?



Raybo

No Ray. Don't have much experience with Azo's. What are the benefits?