▷ Grafted tomatoes: what they are and what makes them special

If grafted tomatoes seem new to you, let’s go to Vievis, to the company “Seed” greenhouse present in the area. We were there at the end of August and we could not be surprised: due to the cool climate in our greenhouses, the tomato harvest had already come to an end, the leaves were quivering showing signs of disease, and in the “Sēkluva” greenhouse the tomato leaves were dry, healthy, the tomato bunches were falling from the weight of the fruits. We spoke to Rasa Davidavičiene, who takes care of the vegetables here, and asked her to tell us what makes grafted tomatoes so special. Click to watch:

What are grafted tomatoes?

Probably everyone knows about grafted fruit trees, and tomatoes are somewhat new. So how are they created? The principle of grafting is the same as for trees:

The rootstock is the bottom part that determines how strong the roots will be.
The graft is the upper part, which determines the taste, color and aroma of the fruit.

Which variety is grafted as a graft, tomatoes of that variety will grow. So if it is said that the grafted tomato is of the ‘Silvano’ variety, it means that the roots come from another plant specially grown for that, and the upper part is a graft of the ‘Silvano’ variety.

What’s special about grafted tomatoes?

For the rootstock, a special tomato hybrid is used, characterized by a powerful root system, much more serious than that of ordinary tomatoes. Once, while digging outside the greenhouse, Rasa discovered what looked like ropes. When he began to tear them up, he reached up to the grafted tomatoes: thus he made sure that the roots of the grafted tomatoes spread out a lot.

The plant receives more nutrients because the roots absorb nutrients from a larger area. Rasa only applied fertilizer when planting tomatoes – this is what I do (look what I put in the holes here). No more additional fertilization, but the bountiful harvest showed no signs of nutrient deficiency.
The harvest is impressive: we usually grow seed tomatoes with one or two stems. Rasa grows them on four stems and they don’t seem to be missing anything: the bunches are abundantly covered with
Less watering is required. The roots are better supplied with moisture. It is especially relevant when you have to leave for a longer period of time.
It tolerates temperature variations better. Grafted tomatoes grown in dew have withstood the heat this season, perhaps a little less fruit set, but there have been no major losses. Growing tomatoes from seed will not produce a whole bunch in hot summers, especially if the varieties are not hardy. The same thing happened to me – my review of this year’s greenhouse can be found here.
Resistance: Grafted tomatoes are much more resistant to disease. I already talked about this at the beginning of the article: the fruits of the tomatoes grafted at the end of August were healthy, the stems were strong, and the leaves were green, without spots.

What is rootstock

So what is the magic rootstock? Rasa says the rootstock is a specially developed tomato hybrid with a very strong root system.

Unable to resist curiosity, Rasa tried to grow an ordinary bush from a rootstock seed. The bush became really powerful, strong and even bore fruit. The fruits resembled yellow-green cherry tomatoes. He was surprised that the smell of tomato leaves and the taste of the fruit did not at all resemble the characteristics of a normal tomato – they say, you would definitely not confuse it with a tomato.

How much space to allocate

When choosing to grow grafted tomatoes, you need to provide them with sufficient space in the greenhouse. Rasa says that when growing with four stems, you need at least 1.5 square meters per seedling, about the same amount as 3 regular tomato bushes.

After ensuring sufficient area for grafted tomatoes:

You will get a more abundant harvest, the fruits will have enough light and space.
The root system will have space to expand not only in depth, but also in width – the bush will receive more nutrients.
Caring for tomato bushes will be easier: when spaces are larger, access is easier.

I also asked Rasa about plugins, if there is a large selection of them. It turns out that any tomato variety that can be grown like a regular tomato can be used for grafting.