I hate reading where researchers reached conclusions not backed up by the data.
Maxifort is a very vigorous rootstock, roughly 4 times as vigorous as Cherokee Purple in same conditions. It has one overwhelming problem. It is too vigorous for most growing conditions. Under normal conditions here in the southeast, Cherokee Purple grafted on Maxifort produces a plant that absorbs too much water from numerous summer rain storms. The result is a bunch of cracked fruit. Hires Rootstock by comparison is far less vigorous and provides excellent nematode tolerance. I’ve used Hires very successfully.
There are conditions where Maxifort is outstanding. Just not here where I live, nor would I expect it to work very well in any form of aquaponics.
You object to the data in the tables?
I object to the conclusions. Flat stating that grafted Cherokee Purple produces excessive split and cracked fruits ignores that they used a rootstock known for producing split and cracked fruits.
Said another way, commercial tomatoes have been bred for thick skins that are resistant to cracking and splitting. Cherokee Purple is a heirloom variety with medium skin. Put Cherokee Purple - or any of the thousands of other heirloom varieties with thin skin - on Maxifort and you will always get cracking in a wet climate.
I used to grow Maxifort from the parent seed meaning I had both of the parent lines to produce Maxifort rootstock. One of the parents produces a percentage of pale green stem seedlings. You have to cull the pale green and keep only those darker green with purple markings. Make the cross male on female and the result is an extremely vigorous rootstock. I’ve grown several other rootstocks over the years with a few that perform better in my climate.
It is biased research with a conflict caused by test conditions. If they had compared with Estamino rootstock, I would have a lot more confidence the results were unbiased.
Thank you, very helpful.