Notes from the Field. Grafted tomato and pepper study

By David Loewen, M.S. Student and Research Assistant
Harvest season is well underway, and as the boxes of tomatoes and peppers stack up weekly in the cooler, so does the data. With the growing popularity of grafted tomatoes (and more recently, grafted peppers) we have installed grafting trials at seven different locations across the eastern half of the state this summer. Besides a handful of trials at OHREC, we also have trials at the John C. Pair Horticulture Center in Haysville (under the care of Dr. Jason Griffin), at the Willow Lake Student farm outside of Manhattan (managed by the KSU Horticulture Farm Club) and at four on-farm locations which are being managed for us by commercial growers who were generous enough to reserve us space on their farms and assist in data collection. While the majority of our tomato and pepper grafting trials take place in high tunnels, we do have several outdoor trials as well.
Most of our grafted tomato trials focus on comparing the performance of a wide variety of rootstocks, grafted onto only a couple of scions (the top or fruiting part of the plant). Typically we utilize “BHN 589”, a common hybrid commercial variety, or “Cherokee Purple”, a popular heirloom. However, this season we are in the second year of a scion trial as well, We are testing ten different scion varieties all grafted onto “Maxifort”, a typically high-performing rootstock, in order to evaluate their compatibility and identify superior scion varieties for use in a high tunnel growing system with an eye toward boosting production.
This year one of our tomato rootstock trials is also a part of our cover-crop project, which is replicated both inside of the high tunnels and in the open field. This project examines the benefits of taking all or part of a high tunnel out of production for a season and growing a cover crop to reinvigorate the soil.
We are also in our second year of pepper grafting trials, where we are evaluating the performance of several pepper rootstocks and as two tomato rootstocks when grafted onto “Karisma” (a green bell pepper) scion. Since the rabbits at OHREC have been really hard on our bell pepper transplants, we are very thankful to have three additional trial locations for our pepper project.
If you are reading this you have already found our web site, but if you want to learn more about any of these projects, or just want to see it all for yourself, you should consider visiting us in person on our field day, July 29, from 8AM to 2PM.
I’ll see you then,
- David
Harvest season is well underway, and as the boxes of tomatoes and peppers stack up weekly in the cooler, so does the data. With the growing popularity of grafted tomatoes (and more recently, grafted peppers) we have installed grafting trials at seven different locations across the eastern half of the state this summer. Besides a handful of trials at OHREC, we also have trials at the John C. Pair Horticulture Center in Haysville (under the care of Dr. Jason Griffin), at the Willow Lake Student farm outside of Manhattan (managed by the KSU Horticulture Farm Club) and at four on-farm locations which are being managed for us by commercial growers who were generous enough to reserve us space on their farms and assist in data collection. While the majority of our tomato and pepper grafting trials take place in high tunnels, we do have several outdoor trials as well.
Most of our grafted tomato trials focus on comparing the performance of a wide variety of rootstocks, grafted onto only a couple of scions (the top or fruiting part of the plant). Typically we utilize “BHN 589”, a common hybrid commercial variety, or “Cherokee Purple”, a popular heirloom. However, this season we are in the second year of a scion trial as well, We are testing ten different scion varieties all grafted onto “Maxifort”, a typically high-performing rootstock, in order to evaluate their compatibility and identify superior scion varieties for use in a high tunnel growing system with an eye toward boosting production.
This year one of our tomato rootstock trials is also a part of our cover-crop project, which is replicated both inside of the high tunnels and in the open field. This project examines the benefits of taking all or part of a high tunnel out of production for a season and growing a cover crop to reinvigorate the soil.
We are also in our second year of pepper grafting trials, where we are evaluating the performance of several pepper rootstocks and as two tomato rootstocks when grafted onto “Karisma” (a green bell pepper) scion. Since the rabbits at OHREC have been really hard on our bell pepper transplants, we are very thankful to have three additional trial locations for our pepper project.
If you are reading this you have already found our web site, but if you want to learn more about any of these projects, or just want to see it all for yourself, you should consider visiting us in person on our field day, July 29, from 8AM to 2PM.
I’ll see you then,
- David