Grafted vs. Ungrafted Tomato Report

Gardeners will start seeing more grafted vegetables on the market next season.

When I plant my tomato garden in former June , I was n’t sure what kind of tomato time of year it would be . The wintertime and early springiness lacked any mensurable hastiness and the cool nighttime - time temperatures delayed planting by several workweek .

It seemed like consummate timing to conduct aside - by - side trialof transplant and ungrafted love apple .

Harris Seedsinvited me to participate in another round of home garden trials and the company place three varieties of tomato plants to develop in my garden . There were grafted and ungrafted San Marzano , Pink Brandywine and Cherokee Purple .

Summary of Results

The San Marzanograftedtomato plant produced more tomatoes than the ungrafted works .

The Pink Brandywineungraftedtomato produced more than the graft plant .

Cherokee Purple was not planted . I decide to forgo the Cherokee Purple for two reasons : this form typically take about two calendar week longer to ripen than Black Krim and I wanted to try myBlack Krim experimentinstead .

Here ’s how the time of year spread :

Right after planting the garden , the weather condition short turned very hot – as in several twenty-four hour period of 100 - degree temperatures . This unwished-for development watch all area gardeners off safeguard . Those unseasonably warm days affected the tomato industrial plant and it took a few days of cooler weather for them to go back .

There was also a week of non - stop drench rain to compete with in September . And an former October wipe out freeze .

In spite of those frustrating atmospheric condition challenge , the tomato plant growing continued .

The first ripe San Marzano tomato plant were ready to pick ( on both works ) August 24 . By the conclusion of the season , the grafted tomato plant grew 28 more love apple than the ungrafted plant . This include the big basket of green tomatoes that I had to in haste pick when I heard the prediction for overnight freezing temperature . The grafted plant grow 107 love apple ; ungrafted 79 .

The first ripe Pink Brandywine tomato came from the ungrafted works on September 1 and it was huge , weighing in at exactly 1 pound . The first transplant Brandywine was ready two years afterward and weighed 12 ounces . All the Brandywine tomato were big .

The ungrafted Pink Brandywine performed better than the grafted plant , producing 11 more tomato . The ungrafted plant uprise 29 tomato ; grafted 18 . This was by far , the best total Brandywine craw I ’ve produce .

Because of the mixed results in my modest trial , I ’m uncertain about the reappearance on investing for grafted plant . It seems like it would be worth it to plant smaller , short - season tomatoes for gardener who struggle against the elements .

What do you intend ?

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The results of my tomato trials may help Harris Seeds decide which varieties to include in its 2014 gardening catalog.Photo/Illustration: Jodi Torpey

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