Tomatoes Resist Flooding if Grafted To Eggplant.

The Asian Vegetable Research Center (AVRDC) in Taiwan is interested in improving tomato harvests during the hot, humid part of the year when supply is short and prices are high. A special problem can be flooding during tropical storms.

They had noticed that eggplants which grew next to tomatoes survived a flood that killed the tomatoes. Simple experiments showed that they could easily graft tomato onto the eggplant rootstock. (They were not able to graft pepper to eggplant). This led to trials in 1993 in which a tomato variety selected for its ability to produce in hot weather was grafted to eggplants. (Their choice was Taichung ASVEG # 4)

“Flooding, which occurred after the first harvest of tomato, caused death of ungrafted plants whereas all tomato:eggplant grafts survived to produce more fruit. Early flooding (at 32 days and 40 days after transplanting) did not diminish growth and yield of the control…. This agrees with our observation in other species that early flooding does not necessarily result in plant mortality. Young root systems probably recover following flooding due to their superficial distribution near the soil surface which dries out first when flooding ceases.”

The eggplant should be sown first and the tomato seed planted as the growing point of the eggplant appears above the cotyledons (2-3 weeks later). If necessary, tomato scions (budwood) can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, but must be wrapped with newspaper and covered in a plastic bag. (The same is not true for eggplant scions). Tomato scions were made when the plant reached the three true-leaf stage by cutting at an angle of 30°.

Simple rubber tubing, of the type used for bicycle valves, was used to hold the scion onto the stock. The tubing was cut at the same 30° angle. Then the rubber tubing plus scion were slipped onto the cut surface of the eggplant. Lining the angle of the cut of the scion with the angle of the cut on the tubing helps to correctly position the scion/rootstock surfaces. They can graft 150-200 seedlings per hour. To reduce grafting costs, they are experimenting with pinching the tops to form two stems so they can plant farther apart.

The plants were kept at 85% relative humidity. The tubing was cut 3-7 days after grafting so as not to restrict stem growth. At the same time plants were removed from the high humidity conditions and hardened off before transplanting.