Abstract
Heirloom tomatoes are in high demand in local food markets and bring in a premium price. However, heirloom tomatoes often are disease prone and can produce inconsistent yields, reducing their reliability and efficiency for many growers. The trial compared heirloom tomato variety Cherokee purple to Cherokee purple grafted to Maxifort. Maxifort is a rootstock that has good disease resistance and high vigor. Non-grafted tomatoes yielded higher overall than the grafted tomatoes. Grafted tomatoes showed good yield potential before frost. The cool growing season caused late and low yields for all tomatoes on the participating farm in 2009.