Posts Tagged: growers

Grafting Tomatoes

Call me old-fashioned, but the way I view tomatoes, any plant that survives a Vacaville summer and any fruit that clings to its vine long enough for me to pick is a hot commodity. However, after reading a March 7, 2013 article in USA TODAY, I discovered that change was taking root in the industry. With consumers looking for bigger and better, good-tasting, longer-producing tomatoes, breeders and growers are working overtime to combine the taste of heirlooms with the hardiness and production of hybrids. Disease and insect resistant, vigorous tomato rootstock is now the hot commodity. 

Of course, there’s a hefty price tag for a super tomato plant promising a double or triple yield. About $8 each. Plus some vines reach over a dozen feet or more. John Bagnasco, radio host of GardenLife, says, "Tomato grafting is the biggest thing to happen in gardening, probably in 20 years." With gigantic vines like that, I guess so.

For information on how and why tomato grafters do it, you can peruse online the above mentioned article by Chuck Raasch entitled “Graft and production: Super tomatoes pay off on the table.” Here’s the link:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/09/grafted-tomatoes-become-super-producers/1903799/

Tomato graft. (Photo of tomato grafting © www.new-ag.info)

Challenging Year for Almond Growers, Beekeepers

UC Davis Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty for 32 years, says this looks...

Honey bee and almond blossom

A HONEY BEE targets almond blossoms, a sign that spring can't be far behind. However, 2009 will be a challenging year for both almond growers and beekeepers, according to UC Davis apiculturist Eric Mussen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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