Our Most Surgical Endeavor Yet: Tomato Grafting!
All photos and video taken by Chelsea Dimyan
@chelsea_photography_design
Plant Surgery: An Age-Old Practice
“Best of both worlds” make and award-winning ‘mater
We’re studying plans and purchasing supplies, making phone calls and lots of decisions. It’s finally time we take the leap and invest in the 3,000 year old process of grafting. Yes, you read that right- 3,000 YEARS. Starting in ancient Greece and Asia with fruit trees, grafting is a farming technique that fuses two plants together so they can become one, much stronger, plant. However, it wasn’t until 500 AD that farmers started to use the technique on vegetables (apparently fruit grafting was enough to keep them occupied for a century and a half).
What’s the point?
Farmers and growers around the globe choose to graft for a number of different reasons. Grafting can increase vegetative propagation (more food, less plants!), elongate the growing season (you mean tomatoes into the fall too?), and provide natural pest and bacteria resistance (leaves without holes is always the goal). What this means for you, beloved customers, is bigger, tastier, fresher, organic tomatoes from May through October.
How’s it done?
Naturally we try to take the “best of both worlds” into our hands. We combine your favorite tomato varieties (called the ‘scion’) with high quality ‘rootstock’ varieties. Rootstock varieties are tomato plants that grow particularly strong roots or have especially prolific fruit production.
Now, don’t be fooled, the process is not as simple as “awesome tomato plant + sturdy rootstock variety = award winning ‘mater.” In fact, it’s common to lose up to 20% of the grafted plants during the sensitive and detailed grafting process. This is because we’re doing surgery on a plant.
Farmer Sam and Farmer Adrienne grafting tomatoes outside the greenhouse
Gloves on, scalpel ready.
Surgery? Maybe not that extreme, though it is possible our team may be wearing white coats and goggles while grafting to fit the role. To graft, a thin 45 degree angle is cut through the scion variety, so only the top, leafy part of the plant is left. At the same time, a similar size angle is cut through the rootstock variety in the opposite direction so that only the roots and a small visible stem remain. The rootstock and scion are then fastened together by a small plastic clip and placed into a completely dark ‘healing chamber’ for 3 days. Over the next week, gradual light and moisture are allowed to enter the healing chamber until the 2 plants have completely fused. Then voilà! A tomato seedling combined with the ideal selection of scion and rootstock is ready to grow a colorful abundance.
Scions, Rootstocks, & Magic. Oh My!
Tell me more!
At Spade & Plow we know that in everything we do, quality rewards come from patience, hard work and attention to detail. Little adjustments (in both heating mats and attitudes) make big differences and there’s always room for growth- ideally LOTS of growth. As you join us in our grafting journey, please share any thoughts, feedback, or culinary pursuits on the first-ever Spade & Plow organic grafted tomatoes.