Tomato Test

Have you heard of the Mighty 'Mato grafted tomato? According to mightymato.com, grafted tomatoes produce earlier, more, larger and healthier tomatoes. Sounds great doesn't it. I thought so too, so I decided I would test the claims and grow a Mighty 'Mato plant and compare its attributes to a seed grown plant of the same variety. Before I go further, I must say that I have no affiliation with the Mighty 'Mato company or any of their other affiliates. 

The variety I chose to try was 'Rose'. I have grown this heirloom variety many times so I am familiar with its qualities. I purchased a Log House Plants Mighty 'Mato grafted 'Rose' tomato plant from my local nursery. I planted it with my other tomato plants and next to a standard 'Rose' tomato plant that I grew from seed in my greenhouse. I also planted a seed grown 'Rose' tomato in a large pot. Here are the results of the test so far.

 



 

 

 

 



Mighty 'Mato Grafted 'Rose' tomato on the left and seed grown 'Rose' tomato on the right
 

 



Seed grown 'Rose' tomato in a pot

 

 



Mighty 'Mato

Plant Height- 67 inches
No. of Set Fruits- 10
Diameter of Largest Fruit- 11 3/4 inches

Seed Grown, Garden

Plant Height- 85 inches
No. of Set Fruits- 12
Diameter of Largest Fruit- 14 1/4 inches

Seed Grown, Pot

Plant Height- 72 inches
No. of Set Fruits- 25
Diameter of Largest Fruit- 12 inches

At 10 times the cost of a seed grown plant, the Mighty 'Mato does not appear to be a good value. It is has, so far, produced fewer and smaller tomatoes than the seed grown plants, and the seed grown plants are beginning to ripen whereas the Mighty 'Mato has yet to show any color.


Update 10/18/13: The Mighty 'Mato under performed in all but one area. I ended up with fewer and smaller tomatoes than the other two plants. The flavor of the tomatoes was comparable to the regular tomatoes. The place where it excelled was in disease resistance. The tomatoes got late blight this year and the Mighty 'Mato was the last plant to show signs of the disease.