Grafting a Cancelmo Family Heirloom

[Coachwalts]

Hello. My name is Walt Swokla and I garden in CT, zone 5b. I’m looking for advice about grafting a more robust rootstock onto our family Heirloom Tomato. I’ve been growing the Heirloom for about a decade, but it’s always struggled during hardening off. I’ve tried many different hardening off protocols, but many of my plants inevitably lose a bit of growing time to the stress. Since I donate the vast majority of the seedlings that I grow, I’m always interested in passing along a more stable plant. If someone knowledgeable about this process could kindly provide me with some direction, I would be most appreciative.

[Mark_Thompson]

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-lib ... fting.html


viewtopic.php?t=4186

viewtopic.php?t=2785

[MissS]

Hello and welcome to the Junction @Coachwalts. It's great to have you here!

I did a little research on your Cancelmo Family Heirloom tomato and noticed that it is an oxheart. Oxhearts usually have thin wispy foliage. I am wondering if it is this foliage that is making you think that your plants are having a hard time. This foliage on oxhearts tends to be quite droopy while the plants are young which makes the plants look rather sickly and in need of water. You always feel like you need to "do something" for them to make them look strong and sturdy like their beefsteak counterparts. The fact is, the plants are just fine. This is just the way that oxhearts are so just turn your cheek and don't look back until it's time to harvest.

Another thought on your topic is, is that when your graft a plant, you set your plants back about two weeks while they are healing from the grafting process. I don't think that you will gain any growing time using this method. I think that the answer here lies in your hardening off process and just need to figure out what works best on this variety.

[Coachwalts]

Thanks so much, Patti. This type of hardening off stress was something my Grandmother noticed when she brought the seeds over from Abruzzi, never all of the plants, but maybe a third of them. The wispy foliage is certainly a given, but the affected plants act as though they were heat stressed, very limp foliage. If the stem becomes limp as well, the prognosis is usually poor. These plants also exhibit a poorly developed root system (compared to normal seedlings), hence my thoughts about the prospect of grafting. Your advice is very sensible and I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thank you again