Grafting tomatoes on disease resistant rootstocks for small-scale organic production

Objectives

1) Evaluate disease resistance of commercial rootstock cultivars under organic production in naturally-infested soils. 2) Trial grafted transplant propagation at a small-scale organic farm greenhouse facility. 3) Observe crop productivity and nutrient uptake of grafted heirloom tomatoes in organic field production. 4) Assess the performance of a variety of rootstock/scion combinations in organic field production. 5) Develop cost and benefits analysis on small-scale on-farm grafting transplant production. 6) Develop and disseminate research-based knowledge regarding grafting that can be used by organic growers to successfully and profitably adopt this emerging technology into current growing practices.