In article .com,
"Mark" wrote:

1.You can generally only successfully graft plants of similar family
groups. IE, pears and apples, or apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines,



What does it mean "generally". Do you mean there are exceptions to this
rule?
Can you, please, give me example of exceptions?

I stated that due to updates in technology. ;-)
Gene splicing.

If you have access and/or ability to do gene splicing, just about
anything is possible. It's kind of a scary area actually!



2. For the original poster: where did you ever get this crazy idea?
I have to admit the crazy idea is mine, even I am almost sure somebody
else had this idea before me.
If you ask why, I can explain. Think about this. To grow 20 tomato
plants you rpbably need an area about 10 square feet. Maybe 15, maybe
5. But the tree has a lot of branches and the trunk probably grows from
2-3 square feet area.
If you can plant couple of tomato plants on every branch, you would be
able to produce a lot of tomates from smal acreage. Correct?

I know it sound crazy, I know that, you do not have to persuade me, but
my question is not about is it crazy or not. My question is about is it
possible or not?

No. You cannot use standard grafting methods to graft tomato vines onto
a eucalyptus. I'd have to look up the family that Eucalyptus is in to
find compatible trees/plants. As a general rule, only plants in related
families can be grafted successfully.

Kinda like crossbreeding in the animal world. If you decide to have sex
with a goat, she will not "take" and produce a half-human, half-goat
offspring. The same works in the plant world. They have to be somewhat
related to be compatible. Hope that helps a bit?

Now if you can do gene splicing, you may be able to combine tomato and
eucalyptus genes, then all bets are off. But, what would you end up with?


Probably, the first guy that wanted to make people fly was asked same
question, Are you crazy? Maybe even have been placed in mental asylum.
Or burned. Still there were enough crazies trying to understanf why
not. And the end result is that airplane came out. And nobody considers
it crazy anymore. And doesn laugh. Is not that right?

Go back to school and get into plant gene research, then go to work for
Monsanto. ;-) Curiosity is not a sin.


So, maybe if the people answering would be the ones specializing in
genetics they may be less sarcastic?

Seriously, take a good botany course and study plant taxonomy.
At this point in time (barring bizarre lab experiments with special
equipment), us mundane folks can only do grafting with plants in related
families using standard grafting methods.

Do go pick up a good book on plant propagation. Rodale's is a good place
to look for a start. :-)

Some of our best and brightest scientists are nuts, so I'm going to cut
you some slack. lol Plus, I've had a LOT of basic science courses in
college including two semesters of botany....
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson