I am doing a "Grafted Tomato Challenge" Here's my results mid-season
Variety: Red Brandywine
I started plant No 1 started from seed (own root) and bought plant No 2 (grafted).
Planting location: side-by-side in a self watering system inside a hobby greenhouse
Started with (transplanted) the same size plants
Results: The Grafted No 2 has a slightly larger main stock, but the main stocks are very close in size.
The Grafted No 2 is at least 3 times the overall plant size with much larger side branching
Grafted No 2 has over 30 tomatoes on it
and was the first to form tomatoes
Own-Root No 1 has finally formed 2 tomatoes, several weeks after Grafted No 2 had started. No 1 plant will not have vine ripened tomatoes for at least 4 weeks. No 2 Grafted should have vine ripened tomatoes starting next week
Although both plants have an abundant amount of flowers, the Own-Root No 1 is slow to form fruit and lots of blossom drop
Nearly all the flowers are forming fruit on the Grafted No 2 plant.
The Winner is : Grafted Red Brandywine
For the extra price of the grafted vs own-root
, I vote Grafted is totally worth it. I'm not saying all the tomatoes should be grafted, but it is nice to have that option for some special varieties
Here's a couple of photos. No1 Own-Root on the left and Grafted No 2 on the right. All the tomatoes you see are from No 2
