Author: Maria Maribel Rodriquez
Institution: New Mexico State University
Date: August 2010
Grafting to control soilborne diseases and nematodes is common in many horticultural crops. Vegetable grafting has become standard procedure for many greenhouse operations, and is gaining importance in field production. The grafting of Capsicum annuum L. seedlings (Early Jalapeno,' Keystone,' and NuMex Joe E. Parker' ) by hand onto Celebrity' tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) seedlings was evaluated. The apical wedge graft and tube graft were both successful. The success of grafting was not significantly affected by the size of the grafting tube clips. Both sizes of clips for the tube graft gave similar results, 58% and 54% survival for the 1.2 mm and 2.0 mm tube clips, respectively. However, the apical wedge graft had the highest percentage of success, with a survival rate of 100%. In conclusion, grafting of C. annuum onto tomato is feasible, and may provide a mechanism for control of soilborne diseases and nematodes that adversely affect C. annuum cultivars.