[mike0001]

looking at a few seeds catalogues and they all list grafted tomato plants


how and why do they do this.... stronger root system is mentioned

anyone give me some more info ?




edit for search clarity

[New shoot]

We get grafted veg in at work (garden centre) and they are grafted onto stronger root stocks so that the fruiting section of the plant gets much more water and nutrients than a conventional one.  Its the way commercial growers grow their toms, cukes and various other greenhouse crops.

I grew a grafted aubergine and a tomato last year to try them.  The toms were very productive, but I thought they were a bit insipid in flavour.  They were cherry toms and were a bit 'supermarket' OK but not great ones.  The aubergine was very successful and I will buy another plant this year 

Grafted veg does need a lot of watering and feeding.  I noticed the difference between the grafted toms and my conventional seed grown ones last year 

[Jamrock]

We get grafted veg in at work (garden centre) and they are grafted onto stronger root stocks so that the fruiting section of the plant gets much more water and nutrients than a conventional one.  Its the way commercial growers grow their toms, cukes and various other greenhouse crops.

Of the minute proportion of tomatoes we buy that are grown in the UK, the majority are grown using hydroponics in precisely controlled temperatures. I would suggest that these rootstocks are designed with that in mind and so not ideal for home-growing, hence the lack of flavour.

Unless a rootstock is found which can guarantee blight resistance I don't think grafted tomatoes will catch on in the long run for the home-grower

[New shoot]

Good point Jamrock 

Our supplier (Suttons) do seem to be concentrating on the main supermarket varieties.  Maybe if someone expands the range and does some more interesting varities, they may catch on.

I've had a go at hydroponics before and it is no more difficult than growing in soil tbh.  I just found the solutions expensive and didn't think the cost was outweighed by any massive difference in crop or flavour 

[Jamrock]

Yes unless you are growing on a large scale a hydroponic system is unlikely to be cost-effective. It's not designed to improve taste atall, just to guarantee a successful ( in the commercial growers mind which means yield) crop, which to be fair it does

Don't think you can beat the taste or smell of a ripe tomato grown in the soil, still warm from the sun

[New shoot]

Don't think you can beat the taste or smell of a ripe tomato grown in the soil, still warm from the sun

Slurp - me neither 

[solway cropper]

It seems to me it's just another way to strip gardeners of their hard-earned cash. As others say, these things are really aimed more at the commercial grower and they obviously work. But half the fun, to me, is sowing a seed, nurturing the plant to maturity and harvesting those gorgeous fresh fruit. I don't need maximized yields of perfectly uniform tomatoes...that's for supermarkets.

[sunshineband]

I do think that it is a way of trying to provide more of that 'quick fix' gardening that we see all to often on TV -- not great time delay there between sowing and cropping cases 

and tomatoes can be very prolific on their own roots of course, and have many more varieties to choose from that from grafted plants.

But for aubergines (my personal bete noir) I can see that it might be a way for folk like me to be able to grow a crop at all 

[gremlin]

"Aubergine Bete Noir"

Yes,  I've tried that variety too.  

It would be a great name though.

[JayG]

French cucumber "Bete Mort" is an annual favourite of mine - I wonder if you can get cukes grafted onto something like a privet rootstock!     

[gremlin]

I wonder if you can get cukes grafted onto something like a privet rootstock!     

Bindweed rootstock?  The cuke that cannot die.

[New shoot]

There are grafted cukes in the range we get at work - whether they are grafted onto bindweed or privet I really couldn't say 

Have not tried one myself but they are always the first thing to go and customers come in asking for them, so can't be all bad 

I always grew aubergine bete noir until I tried the grafted plant last year.  Can't honestly say they tasted any different from shop bought ones, but the wonder of actually producing a crop was worth it ............  I really must get out more 

[wighty]

I've also bought (acquired) grafted tomatoes to grow in the greenhouse and then grown ordinary ones outside.  I don't know why, just something I've always done.  I've also been round the greenhouses here on the Island when they had the tomato open day and the ones there were in compost that they make themselves.  Arreton Valley is just full of row upon row of tomato greenhouses.

[Auntiemogs]

There are some interesting videos on YouTube about how to graft toms and I was going to give it a go but really couldn't be bothered with all the faff.    I think you can buy seeds for the bottom half (whatever it's called) from places like Moles Seeds.....

[Jamrock]

There are some interesting videos on YouTube about how to graft toms and I was going to give it a go but really couldn't be bothered with all the faff.    I think you can buy seeds for the bottom half (whatever it's called) from places like Moles Seeds.....

It's called a rootstock and to have to grow them yourself AND then graft your tomato plant onto it really is a lot of work for an output that may not be much better than a standard tomato plant. Buying grafted plants is not for me but I can understand why people do it. The above practice I really don't think is worthwhile unless you have an awful lot of time and space on your hands