Late last week as I was staking the tomato plants and doing a little pruning, I noticed that one of the San Marzano paste plants was particularly vigorous, much more so than its nearly 20 siblings. And so I thought I’d take some of those pruned stems inside and see if they couldn’t be propagated.
I’d read snippets here and there about using cuttings to propagate tomato plants, but never paid much attention. After all, starting from seeds is so easy. But there are times when starting with cuttings may be the best approach. Here are just a few of them:
Saves time. Instead of
beginning with a tiny seed that needs to germinate (7-14 days) and then grow
into a plant ready for going into the garden (6-8 weeks), a cutting is ready
for transplanting in 2-3 weeks. And it
will start producing fruit 1.5-2 months earlier than plants grown from seed.
Saves money. If you happen to start with a commercially grown plant, say, because you didn’t start any from seed, or the plants you had in the garden got killed off by a late frost, you can prune off several suckers to propagate into individual plants. Instead of a large tomato plant costing up to $20, you can get 6-7 clones or more from that one parent.
Fresh tomatoes through the winter. Using a sucker to clone a particularly productive tomato plant in the fall and then growing it inside throughout the winter will provide you with fresh tomatoes when there either aren’t any in the stores or they are just too expensive. For best results, choose a more compact variety.
Share with neighbors. You can quickly propagate a plant to share with neighbors who suddenly realize they should be growing a garden. You spread goodwill for just a few minutes of time and the cost of some soil.
HOW TO PROPAGATE TOMATOES FROM CUTTINGS
So how exactly are tomato cuttings propagated?
It’s really easy.
- Choose a sucker (the side shoots that develop at the point where a branch joins the main stem) that is 4-10” long (experts vary on what is the ideal length of the cutting), being sure that there is a growing tip and at least two leaves.
- Prune off the lower leaves and make a fresh cut on the stem at a 45° angle to maximize surface area, and then immediately place the cut end in water. (While suckers can be directly rooted in the soil, starting them in water lets you monitor the growth.)
- Within a few days you should see tiny roots begin forming on the cut end as well as through the "hairs" all along the part of the stem that is in the water.
- When the roots are a couple of inches long, carefully transplant into a container or into the garden. If transplanting into the garden, be sure to provide a little shade for the first week or so until the plant is completely hardened off.
Links to related posts:
How to Grow Tomatoes from Seed
How to Pasteurize Potting Soil
References:
https://www.tomatobible.com/propagate-tomato-plants-from-cuttings/
https://rosevinecottagegirls.com/rooting-tomato-cuttings/
https://www.oakhillhomestead.com/2019/04/the-best-way-to-root-tomato-cuttings.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmded7Qove0&list=PLlJ_Vl9TEZt2ANalirFTrmNHH_KFDIJRi
5 june 2024
I've read regular water and then also sugar water >>> ??????
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen anything about sugar water. I'm rooting some right now in regular tap water--though I will add that mine is from a well, so no chlorine or other stuff that municipal water systems don't filter out.
DeleteI use rooting powder or crushed Aspirin or sometimes a few willow twigs in the water to encourage root growth.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, I start mine in good potting soil for direct transplanting.
Never had much success planting water roots into the potting soil myself. Fragile. Suggestions welcome as to do better.
I didn't come across anything suggesting the use of rooting hormone for tomatoes--it could definitely be out there, I just didn't see it. The aspirin and willow twigs are an interesting idea. I've tried planting directly into soil without success, but it was a few years back when I wasn't as experienced a gardener.
DeleteThe willow twig comment makes me wonder whether using a thin willow branch as a stake for these tomato cuttings would give them any advantage. I'm going to try it out.
Delete