Please keep us posted on the success of your grafted tomatoes.
The heirloom varieties that I’ve been using haven’t had any problems, and they always yield more than we can use, but I’m very interested in how this goes for you.
If I could cut back from forty tomato plants to thirty or even twenty that would free up a lot of space in the garden for other stuff.
I got the little grafting clips earlier this spring and ordered some ‘Big Beef’ and ‘Tropic’ seeds to plant and practice with. The hybrid grafting rootstock is pricey for my level of gardening competence just now. Big Beef seeds are comparitively cheap and Tropic is open pollinated.
The reason to graft in these parts is to get a rootstock that’s resistant to nematodes and/or fusarium and verticillium. I’m not aware of too many heirlooms with resistance to all those. The resulting grafted plant is still susceptible to foliar diseases. They’re also supposed to be higher bearing.
I found a seed place online that sells seeds to the original wild type tomato plants of various types that I think were involved in the hybrid rootstock development. Maybe later this summer, if we have the funds, I’ll buy a few packs of those and do a little project.
And then you'd take your free time and wind up down at the pool hall dancing and stuff. Best to keep you busy. Can you tell I've been dealing with kids? ;)
I also am interested in how Painter's grafts work out.
Let us know.
/johnny