• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Shop
    • Gardening Humor
    • Children’s Books
    • New – The Halloween Hare
  • Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • The Gardenangelists Podcast
  • Gardening Humor
  • Children’s
  • All Books

May Dreams Gardens

Grafted Tomatoes: The Truth Grows in My Garden

July 29, 2013 By Carol Michel 11 Comments

San Marzano tomatoes

I’m growing San Marzano tomatoes in my garden this season.  San Marzano tomatoes are supposed to be the “gold standard” of paste-type tomatoes, with thick walls and very few seeds.

I did some research on them and found out that they have their own website, history, and following.  I discovered there are also imposters out there that claim to be San Marzano tomatoes, but they are mere shadows of what a true San Marzano tomato is like.

But my story is not about the history and cult-like following of San Marzano tomatoes.  My story is about grafted tomatoes.

It all started early in the spring, possibly late last winter.  (Imagine now a fading out of your screen as we return to seed catalog season).

I was browsing through seed catalogs and decided that I would grow San Marzano tomatoes because even though I’ve never made my own tomato paste or sauce, I thought perhaps I would this year.  I had probably just come inside after a round of snow shoveling so might have thought that some spaghetti made with homemade sauce would hit the spot.  Yes, I would make tomato sauce!

About that same time, up pops an email from the editor of Indiana Gardening asking me if I would write an article about grafted tomatoes.  I replied that I would and then she connected me with some people at Burpee who sent me some grafted tomatoes to grow in my garden.

I finished the article about the same time as I received the grafted tomatoes which arrived late in May in one gallon containers.  Two of the tomatoes were San Marzano. Good, I thought, now I can grow a seed raised and a grafted tomato of the same variety side be side. I’ll find out the truth. I’ll see if there is enough difference to justify the higher cost of grafted tomatoes.

Earlier today, I went out to the garden after an absence of nearly a week and this is what I found.

The San Marzano tomato plant that I grew from seed looked like this:

Seed grown San Marzano tomato plant

The San Marzano tomato plant that was grafted looked like this:

Grafted San Marzano tomato plant

Which tomato plant would you like to grow in your garden?

Clearly, we’d all like to grow the tomato plant that is not diseased, blighted and ready for the trash.

I don’t know if it is a dirty, little secret, but  many of heirloom varieties of tomato plants are not disease resistant and often produce only a few tomatoes before they wither away from some kind of wilt/blight/horrible plant disease.  No one really likes to talk about it because growing heirloom tomato plants is cool. It’s popular.  We are convinced the heirloom varieties taste a lot better than newer hybrids. Often they do taste better.  But they don’t always grow better.

Unless, it seems, if they are grafted.  The truth of that is growing in my garden

So what is this tomato grafting business all about?  Simply put, a scion from a heirloom tomato plant (the top part of the seedling) is carefully grafted on to the root stock of a nearly wild tomato. The wild root stock has better, stronger roots and is more disease resistant and passes this disease resistance  on to the plant  itself.   It’s the same principle as grafting an apple tree or rose but a little trickier because it is done with tomato seedlings.  In other words, leave it up to the professionals to graft tomatoes.

The difference between grafted and not grafted tomato plants in my garden, for this one variety, is striking. After seeing it, one wonders why a gardener would even bother with seed grown tomato plants.

Well, I’ll still grow some tomatoes myself from seeds because grafted tomatoes are just being introduced into the retail markets in the United States in the last few years so not every heirloom variety is available as a grafted tomato.   But I am now more than willing to pay extra for grafted tomatoes for those heirloom varieties that I know tend to succumb to disease.

Did I also mention that grafted tomato plants produce more fruit than those grown from seeds? I am going to have to seriously consider actually making some tomato sauce or paste now. I’ve got all these San Marzano tomatoes…
 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: vegetables

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cindy, MCOK says

    July 29, 2013 at 3:24 am

    Holy moly, that is some difference!

    Reply
  2. Marian S says

    July 29, 2013 at 11:21 am

    Carol…this is a very interesting post and I'm glad to get some first-hand info on this topic from someone I know and trust. Since my garden is shady, I can't grow fruiting crops, and have no way to try the grafted tomatoes. Thanks!

    Reply
  3. Covegirl says

    July 29, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    This is very interesting. I have never grown grafted tomatoes. I need to think about this for the future!

    Reply
  4. Gaia Gardener: says

    July 29, 2013 at 5:17 pm

    Very interesting post. I haven't been interested in grafted tomatoes before, but if they were to use the right heirloom varieties (Brandywine comes to mind, since I've never been able to get more than one tomato off a Brandywine vine) I'd probably give it a try….

    Reply
  5. SoCal Gardener says

    July 29, 2013 at 6:11 pm

    GardenLife offered 40 varieties of grafted heirloom plants this year. Other mail order companies like Jung's and Territorial Seed Company also had good selections. People reported harvesting 50-60 Brandywines per plant.

    Reply
  6. Dusty River Gardens says

    July 30, 2013 at 3:08 am

    San Marzano is a favorite tomato of mine also I have never tried a grafted tomato plant but I will next year like you and see how it does on some Giant tomatoes that I grow. nice article enjoyed very much…

    Reply
  7. greggo says

    July 30, 2013 at 4:17 am

    Yes very interesting. I wonder which varieties for root stock they use? I too would like to try brandywine.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous says

    July 30, 2013 at 12:06 pm

    What an interesting post this is! I'll have to give these grafted tomatoes a try next growing season. Thanks for sharing, Carol.

    Reply
  9. CommonWeeder says

    July 30, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    I rememember when I first saw grafted tomatoes in Seattle, but I thought they must be only for difficult climates, but this is very interesting. I'll have to give the idea more thought. I have to say I haven't really had any trouble with heirlooms grown from seed though.

    Reply
  10. Donna says

    July 31, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    Nice to see yours did well. All mine from Burpee developed early blight and are now pulled. My hybrid organic grown from seed tomatoes from Johnny's seed are growing like a tree with bushels of tomatoes. I guess it is perhaps where you live. I was hoping for a miracle for growing heirlooms with the grafted tomatoes.

    Reply
  11. PetalTalk says

    August 2, 2013 at 1:56 pm

    Hi Carol,

    I'm glad you had good luck with grafted tomatoes. I tried them for the first time last year and found they're like "super plants!" This year I'm growing one with two different grape tomatoes 'Sun Gold' and 'Sweet Million' grafted to one root and another called 'Pineapple' from Territorial Seed. I'll never go back to other types as they're much harder to grow in my shady garden.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Categories

  • Blog (3,053)
  • Internal (2)

Blog Tags

annuals Blogging books bulbs dr. hortfreud embrace fairies fall family flowers fruits garden bloggers bloom day garden bloggers book club garden design gardeners gardening gardening geek gardens hoes holidays hortense hoelove houseplants humor indoor gardening insects lawn letters to gardening friends perennials rabbits reviews Secrets seeds shrubs spring tools trees vegetable garden vegetable gardening vegetables weather weeding weeds when a gardener wildflower wednesday winter

The Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Footer

Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Connect

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • maydreams icon

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Books
  • May Dreams Gardens
  • Podcast

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Newsletter Archive

Copyright © 2023 · CarolJMichel.com · Sitemap · Privacy Policy

Book purchase links are affiliate links and Carol earns a small commission if you make a purchase.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT