Recently, I was visiting my sister at Wrightsville Beach and we were invited to a tomato tasting party. Because I love tomatoes, I was looking forward to attending this summer party. When we arrived, people mingled on the wonderful porch overlooking the water. We were encouraged to taste the appetizers which were five difference tomatoes; Celebrity, Red Duce, Dark Star, Cherokee Purple, and German Johnson.
Celebrity, Red Duce, and Dark Star are all hybrid tomatoes that are grown mainly for the grocery store trade since they travel well. Cherokee Purple and German Johnson, both heirloom tomatoes have thin skins and are more fragile and are usually just offered by local farmers. After sampling all five tomatoes, I have to say my favorite was Cherokee Purple with the wonderful distinct flavor.
Just before dinner, we gathered around and a guest, Rich Keegan, told us about the interesting qualities of tomatoes. He explained the difference between two kinds; determinate (hybrid) and indetermined (heirloom). Rich told us how he always picks his tomatoes just after they started coloring up. He brings them indoors to protect them from environmental issues like worms, bugs, squirrels, racoons, and hail. He said that you have to wait until the tomato starts to show good color before picking or the sugars will not develop like they should. Green tomatoes will not color up no matter how long you keep them, he said. We were asked what we thought makes a tomato ripen after being picked: sun or heat? I assumed both but Rich said heat.
As people asked questions, one of our two host couples, Cal Lewis, owner of Lewis Farms, mentioned that soilborne pathogens were a major problem with growing tomatoes. There are several soil diseases that affect different areas growing the tomatoes. Southern bacterial rot which is prevalent in our area where as Florida has to deal with Fusarium crown and root rot.
These soilborne diseases used to be controlled with chemicals. Cal said that when certain chemicals were banned, farmers and researchers needed to come up with different methods for growing tomatoes. Clemson University and the USDA worked together to come up with a new method which was to graft annual tomato plants.
When Cal mentioned to our group that grafting tomato plants could be the way of the future, I was amazed. Since tomatoes and water melons are particularly susceptible to these problems, work was done to see if grafting these plants would work and then to figure out which root stock to use. I had heard of grafting trees like Japanese maples and deciduous magnolia trees, both being woody stock. I had never heard or thought that grafting an annual like tomatoes was possible, practical, or cost efficient.
Grafting is not a new thing. Grafting has been around for a long time with things like grapes, apples, citrus plants. This method of grafting annuals was something that intrigued and fascinated me. To graft a plant of any kind, you have to have two plants. The root stock plant and the type of plant that you want to grow.
The grafted plants have many benefits. The number one thing is the hardiness and resistance to diseases. And grafted tomatoes have proven to be more prolific, producing a much larger crop. You can also pick these tomatoes earlier in the season on a grafted plant.
The downside of this is it's an expensive process because you have to have two plants. With annuals, a person takes a razor blade and cuts off the top of the root stock. Then after choosing which tomato variety to use, you cut off the bottom of that tomato plant. Then you graft the root stock to the tomato stock and hope that it is done well enough that the grafted plant lives. A tomato plant might cost 30 cents when grown from seed but the price is more than quadrupled if it is a grafted plant because of growing two plants and the manpower to put them together. Plus, you have to factor in the success rate.
After this informative discussion, we were invited into the house for a buffet where you made your own bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. The buffet started off with piles of delicious slices of white bread, followed by a choice of either Dukes or Hellman’s mayonnaise because being in the South, people have a distinct preference for one or the other. Then there was crisp green lettuce followed by stacks of mouth-watering, crispy bacon that Cal’s wife had cooked. This was all followed by delicious platters of the different tomatoes.
The night was not complete until we all got to take the best home-made peach ice cream that was made by Lee, our other host. What a great way to learn about tomatoes and to top it off with mouth-watering peach ice cream made with delicious South Carolina peaches. Betty Montgomery is a master gardener and author of “Hydrangeas: How To Grow, Cultivate & Enjoy,” and “A Four-Season Southern Garden.” She can be reached at bmontgomery40@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Could grafting tomato plants be the way of the future?
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