Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: chrissie B on April 22, 2009, 10:21
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just heard of these on a gardening programme and im thinking they may be the answer to all my soil problems , so if there is anyone whos had these i would be glad of their experience x x
chrissie b
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It was mentioned on a Scottish Gardening programme last week (The Beechgrove Garden) www.beechgrove.co.uk
Hopefully this address works. If you can get onto their website some info is listed on the fact sheet for last Wednesday (15th April). Dont know if they mentioned the supplier though.
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We have some on order from Dobies, but they're not due for delivery until the end of this month or the start of May. No experience growing any kind of tomatoes at all, but will keep you informed of progress. We're novices in every respect, so were attracted to the idea of carefully nurtured and 'engineered' plants to start us off nice and easily. £9.95 for three plants which can apparently produce large crops didn't seem bad value to me, especially as I'm so ham fisted at germinating seeds ... :D
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Just bumping this topic, as I remember my Granda always worked with grafted toms ... I would be interested in trying them if I thought there was a huge difference in results ... anyone share their experiences please?
TIA
:)
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No one care to share their experience of grafted tomatoes?
Cheers
;)
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Have to say I think almost £10 for just 3 plants seems like a lot, especially as I get tomatoes self seeding all over the garden from the tomatoes that have gone through my ducks digestive system. There really are very cheap and easy to grow from seed.
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Thanks, I was just wondering how much better the grafted ones performed ... they are too expensive to justify even a fairly large improvement in performance ... I'll prob just stick to sowing seeds
Cheers
:)
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Obviously with no response, no one else has tried them. I'd never even heard of them before. Out of curiosity I might consider trying to graft one of my own. But as Kate says, so many germinate on their own from last year's crops (I use only open pollinated heritage seed).
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I have tried the grafted toms from Dobies. All I can say is they were fantastic for crop and for taste. The collection gave beefsteak, plum, general and sweet mini toms. My mistake was not anticipating the weight of the plants and the support that would be required. Subsequently a couple of plants did 'slump' down their canes. This year the will be growing up strings.
It does seem like a lot of money. We are a family of four and love salads. I made tomato soup, pasata, ketchup (thanks Val for the recipe), chutney and gave away loads too.
I would recommend trying them.
Patrick
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Just to unsettle me ::) ( ;)) I've spent a good part of today making out a seed order ... It amazes me how many varrities folks are able to grow ... my greenhouse is about 8'x12' I have staging for 50'ish strawberry plants along one side ... two grape vines at the back and coming forward under the roof ... just about room for 4 tomato plants and a couple of peppers along with seedlings coming along.
How do folks grow so many tomatoes in their greenhouses?
Cheers
:)
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We don't waste the space growing strawberries inside!
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Hi Spud
One of our suppliers at work is offering grafted veg for the first time this year - tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and aubergines I think.
http://www.newforestonline.biz/nfha/
They are wholesale but may be worth an email to see if they do supply any centres in Ireland. They reckon they are the dog's wotsits but then they were trying to convince me to buy some ;) Grafted veg are used a lot by commercial growers so I guess there must be something in it.
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Thanks I'll have a look.
Cheers
:)
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Toms are pretty easy to graft, I've even grafted one onto a potato plant (don't, it's not worth the plant food it slurps up for a few spuds and an undersized tomato crop).... Marshalls (IIRC?) used to sell a rootstock tomato seed, thou I think its main purpose was to get bush toms to grow as vines.....
chrisc