Hairy giants

Last weeks on-line NZ Gardener published some advice I had written a couple of years ago, about growing your own Supertom tomatoes. I learned the trick from an old chap who was revelling in the discovery that he could by-pass the expensive 'buy one from a garden centre' option by growing and grafting his own. I have since had a lot of feed back from the story and was interested to see it surface again.
Here's the article and a link to the on-line Gardener, which you can sign up for, free, and receive every week, if you so desire.

Q. Could you please tell me how or where I could get some seed of the tomatoes that are used for grafting to make Supertoms? I am keen to try to graft my own next year. I hope you or some of your readers may be able to help me. Bill Harrison, Geraldine
A. Here's some advice from Homegrown Tomatoes (though you'll have to wait to try this until next year, as you need to grow the plants on for a season to get the seed). Supertoms have been a big hit since their introduction. These grafted plants promise huge crops – and deliver them by the bucketful. If you’ve ever bought one of these extra-vigorous wonder tomatoes you’ll have noticed evidence of tampering on the lower stem. They’ve been grafted, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Grafting isn’t about genetic modification or other scientific tricks – it’s simply strapping the head of a top-fruiting type to the vigorous roots of a workhorse. Grafted tomatoes don’t come cheap, but canny gardeners can grow their own grafted plants. This is a two-year process but it’s well worth giving it a go. You need to start by buying a Supertom. Then – and this is the hard part – lop off its head. Chop off the ‘Moneymaker’ or ‘Kakanui 2000’ and let the rootstock grow into a wild, hairy looking beast. At the end of the season, let its small, hard, hairy fruit ripen and save the seeds. Sow these next year and – voila! – you have your own rampant rootstock on which to graft your favourite varieties. To graft two tomatoes, slice off a little section of the outer layer of the stem of both, then bind gently with tape. The two plants quickly become one as the wounds heal together. Once this has been achieved, cut the top off the wild tomato, leaving only the desirable fruiter to grow. It’s no great art and a lot of fun. Robert Guyton