grafted plants

[charlesModerator]

 I just received an email from Suttons offering grafted plants, ‘super productive’. But my experience is that extra vigour does not necessarily result in more crop, that the grafting process makes for a fortnight’s delay in maturity of tomatoes, and that the incredibly high price (of 3 plants for £8 in this instance) makes it a deal worth avoiding.

Does anybody have experience of growing grafted plants where they have produced enough extra value to justify their cost?

[TesiParticipant]

Digging up an old post as I’ve just come across grafting.

One of my neighbours on the allotment was telling me about the grafted cucumber, aubergine and tomato plants he’s bought (at quite a cost I think).
I hadn’t come across grafted plants, apart from trees….and to be honest while my neighbour was talking to me I had this image of a “Frankenstein looking plant taking over his polytunnel” image in my head.
I did read up on grafting after that and it seems to be done to improve plants with regards to crop size, taste and robustness.

But can all these things not be done with selective breeding through open pollinated seeds and plants?

It does worry me that we tinker so much with plants, wanting bigger, better and more at the cost of loosing old heirloom varieties.

What are people’s thoughts on this?

[Author]

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