How to Graft Cherokee Purple Tomatoes to Celebrity Tomatoes Home Guides

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"Cherokee Purple" tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum "Cherokee Purple") are a favorite of home gardeners for their uniquely flavored, red-purple fruits. Like so many heirloom varieties of tomatoes, however, "Cherokee Purple" lacks resistance to many soil-borne pathogens. Agricultural scientists are experimenting with grafting as a means of solving this problem, combining old-fashioned favorites such as "Cherokee Purple" with highly disease-resistant hybrid varieties such as "Celebrity" (L. esculentum "Celebrity"). Grafting "Cherokee Purple" tomato plants to the roots of "Celebrity" tomatoes results in a plant that produces the highly desired maroon fruits, but requires less care in the home garden. While grafting a tomato requires a lot of finesse, the process itself is fairly simple.

1 Select tomato plants that are about 4 inches tall for both the scion and rootstock of your grafted tomato. Ensure that your "Cherokee Purple" tomato's stem is similar in diameter to that of the "Celebrity" tomato.

2 Spray your knife thoroughly with disinfectant spray, and allow it to dry as you wash your hands carefully and don disposable gloves -- sanitation is crucial to success with tomato grafting. Make a 45-degree cut across the stem of the "Celebrity" tomato, above the lowest leaves. Cut the "Cherokee Purple" tomato at a 45-degree angle so the two will marry without overhang.

3 Slide the silicone tube grafting clip over the cut stem of the "Celebrity" tomato, ensuring that it fits snugly. Slide the top of the "Cherokee Purple" tomato into the top of the clip, snugging the two cut sides together, adjusting the clip if necessary.

4 Cut two pieces of wire long enough to loop over the grafted plant and form a framework. Push these into the pot to form two intersecting hoops set 90 degrees from one another, as far from the plant as possible. Water the pot thoroughly before placing it inside a large clear plastic bag. Put the pot on a seed starting mat set at 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover the pot and any additional newly grafted plants with a shade cloth.

5 Check the graft frequently without touching the plant for two to four days, opening the bag at least twice daily to allow fresh air to enter. It will quickly become apparent if your graft took -- the top half of a failed graft will wilt, turn brown and dry up within a few days due to lack of water and nutrients, whereas successful grafts will remain green even if they do temporarily wilt slightly. Allow any partially wilted plants to return to a normal appearance before you begin exposing the grafted plants to normal conditions.

6 Slowly introduce more outside air, and expose the plants to more light over the next one to two weeks. If the plant shows any sign of stress, reduce the time it is being exposed and ramp additional exposure up more gradually until you can remove the plastic bag entirely. Remove the pot from the seed starting mat when you permanently remove the plastic bag.

7 Water grafted tomatoes from the bottom only to prevent damage to the graft once inside the greenhouse or other indoor environment. Harden these plants off gradually for final placement in the garden, at least a week after their move from the plastic bag. Plant your grafted tomatoes so the grafts are well above the soil line. Remove any suckers that emerge from the rootstock for best results.

Things Needed Sharp knife

Disposable gloves

Disinfectant spray

Silicone grafting clips

Wire cutters

14-gauge wire

Large clear plastic bag

Seed starting mat

Shade cloth

Warnings Do not allow your grafted tomatoes to dry out until they are fully healed. Grafting failures more often occur because of lack of hydration.

Tips The best time of day to graft tomatoes is in the early morning or evening, when their rate of transpiration slows. Grafts take best on plants that have developed only two to four true leaves.

Photo Credits Ryan McVay/Photodisc/Getty Images