Stop dreaming about higher yields and sturdier tomatoes. You have the result in your own hands by simply grafting your tomato plants. How exactly the masterpiece succeeds, we explain step by step.

What exactly is a grafting of tomatoes?

In the gardening trade, grafting serves to combine advantageous properties of plants. As a rule, the tomato varieties with the tastiest fruits yield poor harvests, are prone to disease and have poor lodging. Other strains make up for the inferior taste with high yields and resilience. A selected variety is thus grafted onto a resistant rootstock.

Delayed sowing of the noble variety and rootstock

It is advisable to sow the weaker cultivar a few days earlier than the vigorous rootstock. This ensures that both plants have a corresponding stem diameter at the desired time. Here's how to do it:

  • Sow the noble variety at the end of February/beginning of March
  • about 10 days later the underlay follows
  • on the warm window sill or in the greenhouse in a nutrient-poor substrate, sieve a maximum of 0.5 centimeters
  • the germination temperature is 18-24 degrees Celsius

It takes 10 to 14 days to germinate. During this time, keep the seed constantly moist and warm.

Finishing requires a sure instinct

Once the cultivar and rootstock have reached a height of 10 centimetres, tackle the next refinement step. In addition to the tomato plants, you will need a sharp, disinfected knife and grafting clips or sticks. This is how it goes on:

  • an hour before starting work, water the plants
  • Cut off the root shoot just 2-3 millimeters above the first pair of leaves (germ leaves).
  • do the same with the noble variety
  • put a ceramic pin in the head shoot of the cultivar and fix it on the stalk of the rootstock
  • optionally make the connection using a clip

This part of the refinement has been successful when both central shoots are exactly on top of each other. Ideally, the pin should be half in the connected shoots.

Post-processing care

The grafted tomato plants are then placed in a bright and warm place, without direct sunlight. A mini greenhouse is now ideal. A hood made of perforated transparent film also creates the desired warm, humid microclimate at 22-25 degrees Celsius. After a week, the young tomato plants begin to acclimate to normal conditions.

There is no reason to worry if the stressed plants give the impression of being limp for a short time. With the right care and warm temperatures, they will still grow together and recover.

tips and tricks

The F1 hybrid 'Vigomax' has made a good name for itself among hobby gardeners as a grafting base. Vigomax is resistant to numerous diseases such as powdery mildew or green collar. In addition, it delivers a lush harvest of crunchy, juicy tomatoes from July.

Category:

Vegetable garden