Re: Tomato roots
In response to Connie and Margaret who asked why I grow tomatoes on grafted
rootstock....
The idea is that plants which are very disease resistant are poor fruit
producers, but you can graft a sensitive plant on top of the strong root
system and get the best of both worlds. Grafted tomatoes were developed by
comercial tomato growers looking for a way to avoid replacing their
greenhouse soil. Originally they used a ancient tomato plant found in the
Amazon jungle with a massive root system, but I don't know if this is still
the case.
The main reason that I use grafted plants is that they give me a head start
in the extremely competative tomato growing environment I live in. My wife
and I came to Ross (population 350) three seasons ago. As new gardeners we
were amazed to find people wandering in and passing comment on my tomatoes
in our greenhouse. Right after the policeman's wife did if I decided to get
help using the Internet. By a process of elimination I ended up here in
this group. I kicked butt last season, but this year I was sent to Florida
for 10 days right at the critical planting time. So I've had to shift my
tomatoes which caused a lot of root damage. I'm in danger of the old-timers
around here finding out that I fluked it last year.
Regards Ian Gill
