North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Scott Weber and Muffy Barrett" <bluestem_farm@juno.com>]

I'll give a sort of an answer to two of your questions.  A squeeze grip 
grafter would definately be safer, but may not be better.  The inexpensive 
one that I bought is VERY hard to squeeze, and I never thought that it does a 
good job, so I don't use it.  

Grafting tomatoes is a good idea (caveat--I've never done it myself).  They 
are supposed to heal much more quickly than fruit trees, and it would give 
the kids the experience (thrill!) without the long term commitment.  The 
stems are so soft on tomatoes that it also seems  it should be easier to make 
the cuts safely (no need to force the blade through).   Specific rootstock 
tomato seeds are outrageously expensive.  I was looking at them this winter, 
and thought that if I want to try grafting tomatoes, I'll use a basic 
disease-resistant hybrid for a rootstock and see how it goes.   
Good luck!
Muffy Barrett


---------- Original Message ----------


Would using one of the squeeze grip grafting tools be safer and work better 
than knives?

Is top working easy to reach branches a possibility or do people think that 
is too difficult compared to bench grafting?

I was also thinking that it would be a possibility to let each child bench 
graft their own tree, but I wonder about the post-grafting tree care and if 
coming home with an apple tree is more of a burden than a gift. Are there any 
small plants that can be grafted? Does anyone have experience grafting 
tomatoes? I know the rootstock seed is very expensive.

Now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering if softwood or hardwood cutting 
plant propigation would be a better class activity.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

-Sherlock
Vermont
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