Look for Multifort. It is a bit less vigorous than Maxifort, which is actually an advantage given that Maxifort is too vigorous. Multifort is also a tad more disease tolerant.

DRO141TX - less aggressive so easier to balance fruit productivity with leaf growth.

Dave

Annapolis Seeds,NS

Estamino is available from several suppliers. It is comparable to slightly better than Colossus in most required traits.

I tried to graft tomatoes last year and failed completely, even with a warm humidity chamber. I tried to go at it cheap, using Big Beef rootstock (I had enough seeds and figured "why not")?

But I also waited too long to do the grafts. So I think I'm going to try the Big Beef rootstock again and do the grafting earlier. I plant enough so that I have plenty of ungrafted seedlings. Its just something I'm playing around with right now. If I can get any grafts to work, I'll try the more expensive rootstocks next year.

Just for learning the technique, I may try grafting some back onto the original roots. I used 60 and 45 degree cuts last year. I may try a few V cuts this year.

I just need to see if I can get the grafts to work, first. It seems more an art than a science.

Amazing. I thought a flat cut was the WORST way to go! Live and learn.

I have a humidity stand and it was warm upstairs where I had it, but I didn't use extra heat. I'll try that.

And I think, (from your description) that I left the grafted seedlings in the dark too long.

Thanks for all the advice!

I first cut off the root stock crown a bit above and the the scion a bit below where I am actually going to make the final cut. Then I shave off some leaves and cotyledon so the rootstock and scion is easy to work with. After that, hold the scion stem right next to the rootstock stem and cut both at 45 degree with a single cut of shaving blade. That way, the cut angle will be the same. I think the key with top graft is that the plants have to be really small, like stems of 2 to 3 mm. That's smaller than what people realize. If the plants gets bigger, or the stem sizes don't match up perfectly, best to do an approach graft or cleft graft.

Drop dead simple method for perfect degree cuts. Cut off foliage of root stock then cut off scion where meets soil.Lay side by side and math size of stems. Push both stems together and make one cut. + exact match on angle of cuts. Saw on YT Purdue U grafting methods.Never try to make 2 different cuts!!