You can buy grafted tomato plants @ Hirts.com.

Yardenman said:

Sorry I missed your question. They are Territorial Seeds TM870/S Supernatural® Tomato - Supernatural Tomato Seeds $11.95

Sadly, in the press of other work, I stupidly kept putting off doing the grafting. I'm still going to do it, but mostly to see if I can get the graft to work. My 2 previous tries (2015 and 2016) failed. And if they do work, I have a spot for 3 more tomatoes.

The rootstock packet had 20 seeds and I planted 10, so I can also try it again next year when the seedlings are smaller.

I'm not really suited to something as delicate as home-grafting (I have hand tremors due to DDT exposure as a teenager). And the only commercially-grafted tomatoes I find come in single-variety packs of a dozen or so each which are far more than I can use.

Did you try again?
Has anybody done any actual grafting at home?
I am trying now and have posted on the thread "observations of a grafted tomato" a few early on pics.
The comparison on the first page here is interesting but not sure if its not apples and oranges as only true test is to start scion and non-grafted side by side and follow thru. (Carolyn gave me idea thru her posts).
I see the grafted to be at a big disadvantage as they have to first survive the graft and then must be planted with the graft above the soil (I plan to plant the non-grafted normally-in a trench).....if I can get some grafts to take I hope to see what happens.
Jim

I'm going to revive this old thread. I've been trying to graft tomatoes and had variable success. First, I don't have a great record when it comes to graft survival. The few grafted tomatoes that I have produced typically come in the year late and don't get the best planting locations. A couple of grafted tomatoes that were planted at reasonable times produced a lot of foliage and very few if any fruit. But I keep trying because we have soil viruses that decimate the ungrafted tomatoes by late August. I keep trying, hoping that a grafted tomato will produce into September or October.

As noted, I've been grafting tomatoes for a few years and generally have had poor success - until this year; well, sort of. I started my rootstocks and scions at the same time using Jiffy peat pods. I had highly variable germination rates and near total damp off failures. I think I'm finally done with Jiffy peat pods except for hardy plants like melons.

I replanted, but that put me far behind my original schedule. Here in California's Central Valley we can plant tomatoes outdoors as early as March. In my replant I used normal potting soil and the germination success rate was much better. I was busy with other tasks and didn't get to the grafting as soon as I would have liked, but finally got around to it. I grafted a variety of scions to the root stocks using silicon clips and the inclined cut graft method. One important thing I did was that I made sure that the graft was oriented so that the inclined cut was "clamped together" by the silicone clip. You can kind of see what I mean if you zoom in on the photo below and look for color differences between the scion and root stock.

After grafting, I put the tomatoes in a large cooler that truth be told, is better suited to cooling off beer that healing tomato grafts. I've found that the cooler is perfect as a healing chamber. Give the grafts a spray of water, close the lid, and not worry about temperature or humidity variations. After a few days, I start exposing the grafts to indoor light, slowly increasing it based on how the plants react. After a week, much to my surprise, I had 100 percent success. I moved the grafted tomatoes out of the cooler into the greenhouse, which is shaded and does not get direct sunlight this time of year. I kept an eye on them and if they wilted I brought them into the house out of the sun and heat. Three days later they are all doing well.

My problem now is that I've got ten grafted tomatoes that don't have a good place to be planted. My normal tomato areas have already been planted (in March) and now I have to wait for my onions and potatoes to come out before I can plant the grafted tomatoes. I could also plant one or two in a grow bag and leave them in the greenhouse. That might be a good experiment.

It is late, but probably not too late to plant the tomatoes. We'll see how they come out. I'll provide an update in a few months.

Joannabanana said: It's not a new concept. Apple trees and roses have been grafted for decades. The reason is the more vigorous root system helps the variety uptake nutrients better and is more vigorous.

They graft orange an greatfruit trees to, they won't stand up in the Florida sand so they are grafted to pine tree roots.....or used to be. They may have found another altenative now.

I did try grafting one year with out success…….but the use of a cooler as the healing chamber sounds like a good idea.

The 2022 grafted tomato experiment has just about come to an end. Unfortunately, like many parts of the country, we had an unusually hot summer. We set an all-time record high temperature in Sacramento. It is generally pretty hot here without setting all-time records so I'd describe the summer as "sweaty."

In general, the grafted tomatoes did pretty well in growing the plants despite their late start and less than optimum planting location. I had grafted different heirloom varieties on the rootstocks and noted one variety did not perform as well as the others. That variety was "Mexico." Although those plants grew well, there was some unidentified malady that made the stems turn a somewhat dark color and some branches to die back. The plants didn't die, but they didn't thrive as well as the others. Interestingly, the two Mexico scions were grafted to two different rootstocks, so it appears to be the scion variety rather than the rootstock variety. I'll skip that variety next year.

Even with the hot summer, the grafted tomatoes grew into nice tomato plants, but set very few tomatoes. The Master Gardeners informed me that tomato pollen goes sterile above 90 degrees, and speculated that was likely the problem. When temperatures finally dropped below triple digits, the tomatoes started setting fruit. But the plants had been through the wringer and were not doing well as October approached.

I examined the plants and if it looked like the plant didn't have a chance of producing an edible tomato before cool fall temperatures arrived I pulled the plant rather than continue irrigating. (We are encouraged to minimize water use with our extended drought.) At this point (November 2) I only have one tomato plant left. It has some pretty nice tomatoes on it and I'm hoping they develop enough that I'll be able to pick them and ripen them in the house if needed.

I also grew many of the same heirloom varieties without a grafted rootstock. It is hard to make a direct comparison because of several variables (planting date, soil quality, cage used, etc.) but I believe the grafted tomatoes were healthier overall than the nongrafted tomatoes. I also experimented with planting two tomatoes in the same hole and that had mixed success. It worked fine for cherry tomatoes, not as well for larger sized tomatoes.

So the grafted tomato experiment was a mixed bag. I greatly improved my grafting technique this year, I will get the rootstocks and scions started earlier next year, I'll avoid the Mexico variety, and I'll keep slugging away at it. I'm going to give the grafted tomatoes another try. Next year is just around the corner. We already got our first seed catalog! Which is horrifying and exciting.

I had not even looked at this thread for 4 years and 6 months, it is still interesting that some have the - let's give it a try attitude.

I'm trying to get an earlier start on the tomato grafting this year. Yesterday (Feb 7) I got the rootstock and scion seeds planted. I'm also trying a new (to me) rootstock variety. If you are interested in giving it a try, here is a link to the grafting process. They also supply the seeds you'll need if you want to give it a try.
https://www.botanicalinterests...

Making progress on the 2023 tomato grafts. With the crazy weather we've had on the west coast this year, the tomatoes are a little behind. But the good thing about tomatoes is when it warms up, they catch up fast. I've completed the grafting for the year and it looks like almost all (knock on wood) of the grafts were successful. They are still in the healing cooler but I think I'll be able to acclimate them to sunshine soon.

In past years I haven't been able to plant the grafted tomatoes with the ungrafted tomatoes so this I should get a better direct comparison this year. I'm hoping to be able to plant the tomatoes in about two weeks, a little late, but not too bad. No shortage of water here now so things are looking good!

Well, the 2023 grafted tomato project was another limited success story. The plants went in too late again and the crop was disappointing. This year (2024) I've got a earlier start and have gone all in on propagating my root stocks and scion tomatoes. Expecting my usual poor germination rates, I planted plenty of root stock seeds - maybe too many. I germinated the seeds using a heat mat and because it is still January, decided to go with an LED grow light. That effort has resulted in excellent germination rates, I've got 30 root stocks up and growing. With the grow light the root stocks are growing nicely, the scion tomatoes were just planted yesterday and they are warming on another heat mat. Ever hopeful, I think this might be the year.

Terra-Mole ~ Keep us posted!

Here are a couple of photos of my 2024 tomato grafting attempt. The tomatoes were grafted last week and they have been healing in my beer cooler/tomato graft healing chamber. So far, so good. They seem to be healing pretty well, with only a couple of tomatoes showing some wilting. I'll continue healing them for about another week at which time they should be pretty close to fully healed. I'll slowly be increasing the amount of light until they are like any other tomato. I'm hoping that this will be the year of a direct head to head comparison of grafted tomatoes with a heirloom scion vrs. a direct planted heirloom of the same variety.

Looking really good, Terra!

Weedwhacker said: Looking really good, Terra!

"This might be the year..." is what baseball fans think at the season opener. But for me, this should be the year that I get a fair evaluation of the potential benefits of grafting tomatoes. I've got 18 tomatoes planted, with 6 of them grafted varieties. I planted the grafted and the non-grafted tomatoes at the same time, in the same location, and in close proximity to each other. Hoping for the best.