📌 Thread Summary: Grafting Eggplants onto Tomato Rootstock
- The Problem: Eggplants are highly susceptible to soil-borne fungal diseases like Verticillium and Fusarium wilt, which cause the plants to droop and die prematurely.
- The Solution: Grafting an eggplant scion onto a vigorous tomato rootstock. Tomatoes generally have much stronger, more disease-resistant root systems.
- The Results: Complete immunity to wilt, massively oversized bushes, and a harvest that extends deep into the late fall (October/November). The root mass of a grafted eggplant is remarkably larger than a non-grafted one.
- Pro Tips:– Timing: Expect a 5–7 day stall in growth due to grafting shock. You must sow your eggplant seeds about a week earlier than usual to compensate.
– Method: The “tongue approach graft” is highly recommended.
– Rootstock Choice: Any tomato variety with a known massive, vigorous root system will work. Some growers prefer using cheap bulk F1 Hybrid seeds (like Bobcat F1) for guaranteed disease resistance, while others save money by using robust OP (Open Pollinated) tomato varieties.
I want to graft all my eggplants this year. Based on my experience last season, the plants completely stall for a while after grafting. Between repotting together with the rootstock and the trauma to the stem—that stress takes 5-7 days to recover from, at best. I usually sow my eggplants in the first days of February, but now I’m planning to sow around the 25th of January to make up for that lost time.
Marina, hello. Could you explain what exactly grafting eggplants achieves?
I’m interested too, could you give us some more details? Have you posted your results anywhere?
On 1/9/2021, Siverka said:
Could you explain what exactly grafting eggplants achieves?
I tested the graft on the Aragorn variety. I grew 1 grafted and 1 non-grafted right next to each other. Not only is the eggplant completely immune to wilt when grown on tomato roots, but the difference in bush vigor and overall yield was massive. And keep in mind, I used the smallest, scrawniest leftover eggplant seedling for the graft—basically a runt I just felt bad throwing away.
On 1/9/2021, Aleksan9ra said:
I’m interested too, could you give us some more details? Have you posted your results anywhere?
I loved the result. The only thing I realized is that an eggplant graft takes much longer to heal/take hold than a cucumber graft. I have a photo here from October 24th (I was amazed myself)—it was the only plant left that still had over 10 fruits on it with perfectly healthy foliage. I finally pulled it out with great effort on November 11th. I ripped off half the roots in the process, but even from what’s left, you can see just how massive the root system was!
Marina, that is an incredibly interesting technique! What variety of tomato did you use as the rootstock?
One of our local growers here has been successfully grafting eggplants onto “Bobcat F1” tomatoes for a long time now.
On 1/9/2021, Siverka said:
What variety of tomato did you use as the rootstock?
I just used a leftover, scrawny tomato seedling for the rootstock too. This past season, I started paying very close attention to the root systems of all my tomatoes when I was pulling them out of the greenhouse in the fall. My top pick for future rootstock is the Solobre variety. It’s a powerful, beautiful plant with exactly the kind of root mass you want. I used the tongue approach graft method.
On 1/9/2021, galka68 said:
eggplants onto “Bobcat F1”
But Bobcat is an F1 hybrid. I don’t really see the point in wasting expensive hybrid seeds just for rootstock when a strong OP (Open Pollinated) variety works just as wonderfully.
On 1/9/2021, Marin@M said:
But Bobcat is an F1 hybrid. I don’t really see the point in wasting expensive hybrid seeds…
Well, I buy bulk hybrid seeds by the 5-gram professional packs, or sometimes get them for free, so for me, it’s not a problem at all! )))
