The Best Tomato Grafting Clips

Size Matters

• Grafting clips are designed to fall off as the plant stems get larger. The smallest 1.2 mm grafting clips are designed for stems from 1/16 to 1/8 inch in diameter. Slightly larger 1.8 to 2 mm clips are designed for stems 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter. The largest 2.8 mm clips are designed for stems larger than 1/4 inch wide.

Littlest Clips

• Tube grafting, also called top grafting or slant grafting, uses small plants and the smallest size clips. Plant rootstock seeds three to five days before the scion seeds. Cotyledon, or embryonic leaves appear first, followed by true leaves, those that look like the leaves on an adult tomato plant. When the rootstock stems are from 1.5 to 2 millimeters wide and have three to five true leaves, cut both scion and rootstock stems at a slant and press them to together, holding them in place with 1.2 mm grafting clips. The name “tube” grafting comes from the half-tube design of the clamps of grafting clips that resemble tubes when they came together.

In The Middle

• Sow the rootstock seeds five to seven days before you plant the scion plants. When the rootstock and scions both have four or five true leaves, cut the stems of both at a right angle, leaving two to three leaves on each stem. Cut a wedge on the tip of the scion and a cleft into the tip of the rootstock. Fit the scion wedge into the rootstock cleft and hold them together with a 1.8 to 2 mm grafting clip.

The Big Deal

• In more complicated tongue grafting, you grow the rootstock and scion plant side by side until they are 14 to 21 days old. You then cut a groove on the side of a rootstock and a matching “tongue” on the side of the scion. Fit the tongue into the groove and join the plants with a 2.8 mm grafting clip.Three or four days later, crush the scion stem just below the graft to begin weaning it from its roots. Use a clean razor to sever the scion below the graft after another three or four days. This grafting method has a high rate of success for home growers without greenhouses and controlled environments available to commercial growers.