Grafting tomato plant on tobacco

[drinkthekoolaid]

I might have to try this just for kicks...

Source

Grafting tomato plant on tobacco plant and its effect on tomato plant yield and nicotine content

Aysegul E Yasinok, Feride I Sahin, Fusun Eyidogan, Mustafa Kuru, Mehmet Haberal
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 89 (7), 1122-1128, 2009

BACKGROUND: Two different tomato scions, cv. Elazig and cv. Sweet (cherry) (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were self‐grafted and grafted onto tobacco root stock (Nicotiana tobacum L.). Then, grafted tomato plants were evaluated in terms of flower and fruit yield. Tobacco‐grafted tomato plant fruits were also evaluated for nicotine content.

RESULTS: Tobacco grafting had a positive effect on the tomato plant cultivation performance; the onset of flowering was almost 15 days earlier and the tomato flower and fruit yields increased in both tomato cultivars. Tobacco grafting resulted in 5.0% and 30.1% increase in total fruit weight for cv. Sweet and cv. Elazig, respectively. Because the level of nicotine was within acceptable ranges, tobacco‐grafted tomato fruits were considered to be safe for consumption. Self‐grafted tomato cultivars also had flowering time onsets almost 11 days earlier. However, self‐grafting caused 6.0% and 7.6% less total fruit yield per cv. Sweet and cv. Elazig, respectively.

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our results show that tomato–tobacco grafting is a novel and promising technique for improvement of not only tomato plant performance and yield, but also that it can be employed to various tomato varieties. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry

 

[Ben Brand]

What will they call those plans? TOMACCO like Homer Simpson!!!

 

[skychaser]

Very interesting find. Along with tobacco, I grow 100's of pounds of tomatoes every year and have toyed with this idea myself. The earlier flowering and increased yields make this particularly interesting to me. It's too bad they don't define what "the level of nicotine was within acceptable ranges" means with some numbers to go with that statement. Was it 1%? Or .1 or .01 or .001? Makes a big difference. Some lettuces produce opium, but it's about .003% if I recall correctly. It's so low you'll never become a lettuce junkie. I'm sure the Feds have a limit on how much nicotine a "product" could contain without being called a "nicotine delivery system" or some such crap language so they can regulate and tax it.

What will they call those plans? TOMACCO like Homer Simpson!!!

I read somewhere that Matt Groening (the simpson's creator) actually grew tomacco. He grafted a tomato onto a tobacco rootstalk. It produced perfect looking tomatoes, but he never ate any because he had no idea how much nicotine they might contain.

The tomacco episode was one the Simpson's classics. Makes me chuckle just thinking about it.
Homer: "My plants aren't growing." Marge: "Maybe they need more fertilizer?" Homer: "I'm doing the best I can Marge, but I'm only one man!"
Now that's going organic.

 

[drinkthekoolaid]

The nic level details are in the attached doc.
It was giving me a hard time tryng to copy that part out.

"Tomato fruits also naturally contain a low level of nicotine (2.4–6.0 µgkg−1)18–21 and are safe for consumption. While only 30–40% of the nicotine is transferred to the systemic circulation after oral consumption"

 

[davek14]

What will they call those plans? TOMACCO like Homer Simpson!!!

Tastes like crap, but you want another one right away.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Grafted some last year. I screwed up when I took them outside to plant. I did not harden them and they fried and died in the field. If you do try this you have to plant your tobacco 2-3 months before your tomato plants so the stems will be close to the same diameter.

 

[skychaser]

If you do try this you have to plant your tobacco 2-3 months before your tomato plants so the stems will be close to the same diameter.

I was thinking that myself. Thanks for confirming it.

And thanks for the pdf link DK. I missed that on the website link. I will give that a read later tonight.

 

[Moth]

self‐grafted and grafted onto tobacco root stock

Can anyone explain the difference?

I can find a definition of self grafting to mean plants that have naturally grafted - example being apple trees planted to close together, their branches rubbing together and naturally grafting where bark has worn away. So two trees sharing branches...

I couldn't see anything in the grafting section of the PDF explaining the difference - it sounded like a normal graft?

I also noticed the study said

"Due to its low level of nicotine content
(0.3%, w/w), Samsun tobacco (Nicotiana tobaccum L.) cultivar was
chosen as rootstock in grafting experiment"

How does this compare to the nicotine content of the tobacco you plan to use as a graft base?

Them tomacco could be very more-ish...

 

[deluxestogie]

Can anyone explain the difference?

The self-grafted tomatoes are a control. Cut the stalk and then graft it back together. That serves as a control to minimize the grafting process itself as a contributor to the outcome. The comparison showed that if you self-graft a tomato, it blossoms earlier than un-grafted tomatoes, but produced less fruit.

So the grafting process itself, regardless of whether or not it is an allograft or a self-graft, seems to trigger earlier blossoming. Only with the allograft to tobacco root did the total weight of the fruit increase.

Bob

 

[Moth]

Gotcha. Seems obvious now...

 

[Moth]

Unrelated to tobacco, however this Vineyard grafting tool was strangely satisfying to watch