Subject: Tomatatos? Potmatoes?

From: Bryce Grevemeyer <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Apr 1995 17:42:53 GMT

The Baron Von Frankinstein strikes again!

I have heard of a technique of grafting tomato plants on 
the roots of potato plants.

It seems that the two are close enough genetically, that 
you can actually get away with it.  You end up with a plant 
that will produce both tomatoes and potatoes.

Has anybody else heard of it, or tried it?  

Do you end up with a low yielding tomato plant and a low 
yielding potato plant?

EMWTK

Bryce Grevemeyer	Phone:	(313) 845-5589
Ford ETC C370      	FAX:	(313) 845-3799
17000 Rotunda Drive	EMail:	[email-masked]
Dearborn, Michigan 48121-6010

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From: Don Martinson <[email-masked]>
Date: 6 Apr 1995 01:18:47 GMT

> the roots of potato plants.

I've heard of the technique, but never tried it.  It's generally done
by a process called inarching, whereby the two plants are started
side by side, then a portion of the side of the stem on each plant is 
removed and the stems are placed together and wrapped, the stems
eventually growing together while both are still growing on their
own roots.  Somehow, I have a hunch that there is no great benefit,
otherwise, some enterprising  plant grower would be trying to market
this thing (I believe that botanically, such a plant is called a 
chimera).

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Apr 95 20:55:08 -0500

> Has anybody else heard of it, or tried it?  
Yup, and yup.  I believe Lysenko also tried to (sexually) breed
similar plants, using cabbage and turnips.
> Do you end up with a low yielding tomato plant and a low 

Yup.  There's only so much photosynthate to go around.  Dividing
it into two sinks does very little good to either party.

BTW, some people have tried to graft tomatoes onto jimsonweed
rootstock.  The result is highly poisonous tomatoes.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Apr 95 20:55:08 -0500

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Apr 95 20:55:08 -0500

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Apr 95 20:55:08 -0500

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Apr 95 20:55:08 -0500

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From: [email-masked] (David Lyle Robinson)
Date: 10 Apr 95 18:02:58 GMT

> the roots of potato plants.

I tried this a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, it was in a neglected
part of the garden and rarely got watered.  The tomatoes that resulted
were very few, and they had a rather bland taste.  I'd like to try it
again and grow the same tomato version next to it as a comparison.
If I remember correctly, I ended up with less than ten tomatoes and
4 potatoes.  It was a very interesting experiment!

-David Robinson

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From: [email-masked] (Andrea Via)
Date: 7 Apr 1995 16:23:04 GMT

[email-masked] wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>, Don Martinson <[email-masked]> writes:
: > Bryce Grevemeyer <[email-masked]> wrote:
: >> I have heard of a technique of grafting tomato plants on 
: >> the roots of potato plants.
: > 
: > I've heard of the technique, but never tried it.  It's generally done
: > by a process called inarching, whereby the two plants are started
: > side by side, then a portion of the side of the stem on each plant is 
: > removed and the stems are placed together and wrapped, the stems
: > eventually growing together while both are still growing on their
: > own roots.  Somehow, I have a hunch that there is no great benefit,
: > otherwise, some enterprising  plant grower would be trying to market
: > this thing (I believe that botanically, such a plant is called a 
: > chimera).

: You're absolutely right, Don.  This would be a "graft chimera".

: Kay Klier  [email-masked]

:Actually, there are some plant growers that market such a plant.  I've 
:never tried any though.

: Andrea