Rootstock Tomatoes

Grafting tomatoes onto a vigorous rootstock gives you stronger plants, more resistance to soilborne disease, and higher yields, especially in high tunnels and greenhouses where crops are grown in the same soil year after year. Estamino, Maxifort, and DRO141TX are hybrid rootstocks with resistance to corky root rot, Fusarium crown and root rot, and nematodes, among others. Graft a favorite heirloom onto one and you get the heirloom flavor with much tougher roots. Start rootstock seed a few days before the scion so the stems match in size at grafting.