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Post by hortusbrambonii on Oct 1, 2013 7:36:55 GMT -5
The tomato-plant growing on potato-roots: funky, and certainly a better idea than grafting a potato-plant on tomato-roots... Quite a grafmanship if you ask me. Some will see the antichrist or monsanto in this though I suspect... Read here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24281192
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Post by blackox on Oct 1, 2013 8:01:15 GMT -5
Funny that you put this on here. Yesterday my mom found this and thought it was another genetic mash-up down by monsanto. I explained to her that you can graft an apple onto a rootstock of pear. And that greenhouse growers graft weaker varieties of tomatoes onto other tomato root stocks all of the time, so why not put a tomato on top of a potato? So the top produces tomatoes while the bottom produces potatoes? I wonder if the potato comes out tasting like tomato or vise-versa? I might just have to try this out. I don't think that the tomato top would produce viable seed though.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 1, 2013 8:33:12 GMT -5
Why on earth not. A graft isn't the same thing as a cross. The plant systems get linked up but the cells don't mix the cells on the tomato side of the graft are all tomato the potato side all potato. One very rare occasions you can get shoots that are Chimeras (where there are cells from both sides mixed up in the tissue (Laburnocystis is a famous example) but that is rare and even THAT is two discrete cell lines. The tomatoes will produce viable seeds same as any others, but they will be pure tomato genetically, with normal tomato roots. The tubers will produce normal potatoes. As for taste, that depends on what is going where. Normally each part more or less keeps what it makes so there is no cross taste. This is why the famous drug "trick" of trying to graft hop plants onto the roots of marijuana to make "hidden" dope doesn't actually work. The graft will take just fine (I heard it's actually quite and easy one to do) but the cannabidols do NOT move from the roots into the vines. You'll get nice healthy hops but it will be just hops with only the normal hoppish things in it. That being said there ARE a few cases of things that DO manage to make it through and can accumulate and alter the fruit. One of the most famous examples of that were some experiments done in the 50's where the grafted tomato plants onto the roots of Jimsonweed (Datura stratimonium) in an effort to make the tomatoes more cold tolerant. The grafts took, but as the plants matured the alkaloids being made by the roots began being transported into the tomato side, resulting in tomatoes with levels of them high enough to make the tomatoes poisonous/hallucinogenic if eaten raw. So as far as I know that experiment was terminated (though given the number of people who knowingly use jimsonweed to get high, I would not be surprised if someone out there, someone is doing the grafts with the INTENT of making hallucinogenic tomatoes.
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Post by steev on Oct 1, 2013 10:32:11 GMT -5
So this could lead to pre-catsupped fries?
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Post by rowan on Oct 1, 2013 14:50:58 GMT -5
This is all over the forums and facebook at the moment. I am wondering what is new as these were being experimented with and shown in magazines when I was a teen, decades ago. They didn't take off then, due to poor productivity I think so I wonder what has changed.
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Post by ferdzy on Oct 1, 2013 18:40:35 GMT -5
Rowan, yes. I was wondering where a plant gets the energy to produce a pile of potatoes AND bunches of tomatoes. Sure, you would get some of each, but I doubt you'd be that far ahead.
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Post by DarJones on Oct 1, 2013 20:07:51 GMT -5
Burbank sold pomatoes 100 years or more ago. Nothing new here. They didn't work then no more than this will really work today. It is a marketing gimmick at $25 per pop.
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Post by steev on Oct 1, 2013 21:24:10 GMT -5
So it's really not a new thingy, just a new crop of hopeful entrepreneurs. Say, anybody want to get in on the third generation of hula-hoops?
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Post by blackox on Oct 2, 2013 6:58:00 GMT -5
I really don't see why somebody would get any really advantage out of these unless they are really low on space. Why graft tomatoes and potatoes together when you could just use a little extra room to plant them separate? It is just a market gimmick like fusionpower said. Steev, are those the hula hoops that have blinking lights on them and also glow in the dark? I'll take one!
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Post by nicollas on Oct 9, 2013 1:26:13 GMT -5
One should graft potato tops on tomato roots to produce billions of TPS
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Post by canadamike on Oct 27, 2013 18:39:58 GMT -5
One should graft potato tops on tomato roots to produce billions of TPS That is, actually a sure way to get lots of flowers from potato plants.... As for the graft of tomatoes on potatoes, it is a very very easy one to make as opposed to what they say, but I doubt very very much that such a number of potatoes could be produced as in the picture, it did not work for me anyway. The plant either spends energy underground or above ground to flower... I guess they tricked the picture or simply waited for the potato plant to produce tubers before doing the graft.
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Post by canadamike on Oct 27, 2013 22:10:18 GMT -5
One should graft potato tops on tomato roots to produce billions of TPS That is, actually a sure way to get lots of flowers from potato plants.... As for the graft of tomatoes on potatoes, it is a very very easy one to make as opposed to what they say, but I doubt very very much that such a number of potatoes could be produced as in the picture, it did not work for me anyway. The plant either spends energy underground or above ground to flower... I guess they tricked the picture or simply waited for the potato plant to produce tubers before doing the graft.
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Post by tatermater on Oct 28, 2013 0:49:49 GMT -5
If all goes well, I should have good R&D on the alternative TomTato™ sometime this winter or spring using my materials. I hope to have thousands of combinations of root stalk and scion lines to verify if this can be done effectively. My doubts are there but even measured improvement over what T&M has may be worth a shot. My uniqueness as a potato and tomato breeder will give credence to my TaterMater namesake. Too bad I don't own the trademark of Tater Mater!
I've explained the weaknesses of the TomTato™ with production officials and the strengths of my solutions. I can't go into more details until a prototype is where it can be documented fully...pictures..youtubes...etc. I have my educated suggestion of a single potato line and tomato line to cover what needs to be done. I will be in on the first grafts with seed hopefully already sown now.
Tom Wagner
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