Backyard Farming Forum
Bringing food production home

No problem with growing toms and some others but cannot say the same about the eggplants, unless grafted.
The commercially available ones are grafted onto a tomato (annual) rootstock.

Heard about eggplants grafted onto a Devils apple (Solanum capsicoides) but cannot get any here so trying other options.

Had success with Naranjilla (Solanum quitonense), will cut off the suckers when big enough for cuttings
but a try with a yellow Tamarillo (Solanum betaceum) doesn’t look good.

Also got a kangaroo apple bush that is fruiting now so if I get it propagated will try that one as well next year.

Have never attempted grafting until recently.

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SS barrels, Blue Barrel propagator
Entre la branche et la racine, il y a eu le temps... Proverbe chinois

Cool - I've been meaning to try grafting tomato or eggplant for that matter onto a bush tobacco plant (not sure what the real name is, but they are weeds here and you wouldn't be smoking them).

Hey - is that rootstock that real thorny fracker that is also a weed. We have them all over the place here.

Well there you go - the wild tobacco I speak of is also a solanum http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/4790_7421.htm Of course the advantage of this one is that it does not have the spikes.

The spikey plant I speak of in my earlier post is not the same solanum as you speak of Steve S, because it doesn't get any fruit and certainly wouldn't be getting sold by fruit nurseries. I suspect however that it too is a solanum. Bastard plant it is.

I wouldn't bother with grafted toms but for the eggplants it does make a big difference here, in Melb.
tobacco bush mentioned as rootstock
Grafted eggplants

and seed raised eggplants
that orange fluff on the leaves comes from neighbour's gum and Lily pily tree flowers

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SS barrels, Blue Barrel propagator
Entre la branche et la racine, il y a eu le temps... Proverbe chinois

I've got heaps of bush tobacco plants around my place, so I must give that a go. How funny would that be to graft a bit of eggplant onto every bush tobbaco that crops up, I'd have enough to make a trick load of souvlaki .

Steve - got any grafting tips?

not really, only what I found on the internet, never done till now,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and there's much more to find

I'm using grafting tape (plumber's teflon tape is also good) and plastic bottles with the bottom cut off to cover the grafted plants
holding the to parts together and trying to wrap the tape around them isn't easy, the top part (scion) tends to slip up,
so I pinch them together in the upper part with a clothes peg when starting to wrap.

_________________
SS barrels, Blue Barrel propagator
Entre la branche et la racine, il y a eu le temps... Proverbe chinois

So Steve - what are your views on the concerns of some people that the fruit could be poisonous due to the wild tobacco plant being poisonous. I don't imagine there is any truth to it, because I first heard of toms being grafted onto this plant years ago and you would doubt it would be a common practice if it caused issues.

tomacco

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To think before you act is a wise option. But not as funny.

Tobato?

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Granny Smith

Loved that episode - absolute genius !

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My Websites: http://www.chillies-down-under.com
http://www.bbq-down-under.com

http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/17771/potato.html

All of the potato plant is poisonous, even the tubers to some extend, rendered edible by cooking.
In the plant, the roots draw water and nutrients from the soil for the plant to process by photosynthesis.
The extend of the rootstock's effect on the grafted plant may not be significant but may vary from one variety to other.

How much the Wild Tobacco rootstock will affect the grafted eggplants I don't know.
All of the Kangaroo apple bush is poisonous but the berries are edibles when fully ripe.
Devil's Fig" (Solanum torvum) is used in Thai Cuisine

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SS barrels, Blue Barrel propagator
Entre la branche et la racine, il y a eu le temps... Proverbe chinois

I wouldn't worry about poisoning from grafting,you are only using the vigorous root stock.
Eggplant is pretty closely related to tobacco , (9 kg) of eggplant contains about the same amount of nicotine as a cigarette.

And it would take a hello of a long time to smoke that many eggplants

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My Websites: http://www.chillies-down-under.com
http://www.bbq-down-under.com

Eggplant seems to be the only plant that goes beserk in my garden - that and chillies!