Many of you are well underway in planting your summer edible garden…or maybe have even finished by now. Either way, if you are like me, I always manage to discover yet a new variety of something that bears bringing home and planting. If you too are looking for something new and different to plant this season, or to put on your list for next year’s garden, you may want to consider grafted tomatoes.
Grafted tomatoes have been popular in other countries for many years; however, they have only been introduced to the American home grower over the past few years. Grafted tomatoes are grown by taking a hardy, disease resistant and more productive rootstock from one plant and physically grafting another variety onto it, i.e. heirloom tomato. The root balls of grafted tomatoes are frequently 2-3 times wider and deeper than standard varieties; often spanning 4-10 feet. This strong root system enables nutrients and water to be taken up and utilized by the plant more readily and promotes a higher resistance to drought and varied temperatures, which in turn facilitates a longer growing season. The biggest advantage often heard from the home grower is that this variety of tomatoes produces a yield of up to 3 or 4 times that of a standard.
Being a Master Gardener of 14 years and an avid tomato grower for even longer, I tested this out for myself last year. Oh my….what a difference a plant can make!! I planted 6 grafted tomatoes along with my traditional standard varieties and indeed discovered a profound difference as suggested above. I had such an enormous and continuous harvesting of fruit until heavy frosts in fall that I ended up buying a second food dehydrator just to keep my preservation production going. Along with drying tomatoes, I also roasted, stewed, and made sauces for sharing with family and friends!
Here are a few important tips to remember when planting grafted tomatoes:
1. Plant at the same depth as when purchased in the pot. It is very important not to bury the graft portion of the stem, as the top portion will self-root causing you to lose the grafting benefits.
2. Keep all lower stems and outer leaves trimmed to prevent lying on the ground, as this too will self-root.
3. At time of planting, don’t forget to add compost, fertilizer and lime.
4. Have a very sturdy cage, frame or trellis surrounding plants to help stabilize the bountiful fruit. Remember they will potentially grow 2-4 times the size of standard plants.
In my opinion, grafted tomatoes are definitely worth the extra expense at the time of purchase. It is reasonable to say that as these varieties become more popular and in demand, the price may fall accordingly.
Next year I look forward to trying the newer varieties of grafted eggplants and peppers!
For more information on grafting tomatoes, click here.
