Late crop tomato plants from cuttings

[hendi_alex]

I planted seeds for late crop tomatoes about three weeks ago. All of the seedlings died from dampening off. This week I decided to try and start fresh plants for the fall from some cuttings. I selected sweet cluster for several reasons. First they are a large salad to small slicing sized tomato. The plant is very vigorous and prolific, and tends to set fruit even in hot weather. Finally, the delicious fruit matures pretty quickly, so should be ready in time for fall harvest.

I have one sweet cluster plant that is not growing too well because of bad location in poor soil. The top approximate one foot of this plant was clipped and then cuttings were made by stripping all but the top few leaves. Each cutting is about six to eight inches long. These were potted yesterday morning and as off this morning their is no evidence of them wanting to wilt. Will post updates as these plants form roots and begin to grow.

Here are the cuttings after one full day.

top view:
[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3712372399_707c0aba1a.jpg[/img]

side view:
[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2592/3713184036_f8ccc00844.jpg[/img]

[codyjp]

I've not heard of doing this and though this might be the question of the year but... You can do that and still get essentially a new plant out of it?

[rainbowgardener]

Looks great Alex. I've never been very good at getting cuttings to take. Yours are looking good. (For cody -- yup, isn't it cool, get free new plants just from cutting pieces off the old ones and babying them intensely until they get going). My question is why start new ones? My tomato plants that I start in spring usually keep going just fine . .. At the end of the season they are covered in green tomatoes that I bring in to ripen indoors, so why should I bother starting over with new ones?

This is a non-rhetorical question. I was out doing workshift at my CSA (community supported agriculture) farm I get a share of the produce from and noted along with all the spring started tomatoes, now 6 or 7 feet high in the "hoophouse" (greenhouse), they had a whole bunch of baby tomato plants in the field.

[splat42069]

Good luck with your cuttings man. I am also doin the same thing but with water.

I could be wrong but you might want to cover them to keep humidity in and keep them out of full sun. Otherwise in less then a week they might start to wilt.

[hendi_alex]

Upadate on cuttings, just under thirty days old. Most seem to be growing well and will hopefully extend the harvest in the late part of the season.

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3803805815_3876595a83.jpg[/img]

[hendi_alex]

Rainbowgardener, with your short growing season in Ohio, I don't doubt your observation of season long tomatoes. Down here in the humid south, the original plants that are usually placed in the ground in late April, are often diseased or spent by the time late July or early August roll around. The plants may still be producing, but nothing like the pace of fresh new plants Starting some fresh vigorous plants can help extend the harvest season into October and November.

"You can do that and still get essentially a new plant out of it?"

Codyjp, since the cutting has been exposed to diseases, it may not do as well as a new plant. My preference is to start a new batch of seedlings, but as noted in the original post, all of my seedlings, except one, died. The surviving seedling looks a little better than my plants from cuttings. But as a practical matter, I think that it is correct to say that [you get essentially a new plant from a cutting.] The plant will have a brand new root system and will experience that rapid phase of growth and production that happens with all fresh, young plants.

[Duh_Vinci]

...Down here in the humid south, the original plants that are usually placed in the ground in late April, are often diseased or spent by the time late July or early August roll around. The plants may still be producing, but nothing like the pace of fresh new plants Starting some fresh vigorous plants can help extend the harvest season into October and November...

Alex,

I'm so with you on this! Here, in VA, weather is not all too different from your area (just heat rolls on few weeks later), other than that, heat and humidity are a torture!

I think your idea for a late crop is great, in hopes to extend the harvest. Some of my plants (specially in the ground) starting to look a l little tired. Crop is still abundant, but what I think I will do next year is try to raise seedlings in 3 stages, so they are ready to be planted as a 12" plants (or better) in early May, again late May/early June, and lastly (morning/early noon sun only area) in the early July.

I "sorta" did it as such this year, but only few plants, and not intentionally:

While most tomatoes did their great crops and slowing down a little, Bull's Heart, Black Cherry and Golden Gem started to ripen an abundance of fruit about 2 weeks ago (all planted about a month later than the main crop). Planted in early July (2 months later) - Yellow Stuffers and 2nd Campary are in partially shady afternoon area (yet full first rays of sun till 13:00 or so) are started to set their first fruit about 1-2 weeks ago.

Call me crazy, but 3 weeks ago, I planted 4 seeds, early varieties - Kalinka and Frühe Liebe, both 45-48 days. I will baby them at home for a month or so, harden them off, and by the time they ready to hit the ground, weather will cool off some, and I may have a chance to get couple of weeks of last crop for 2009.

Good luck to all with your late crop adventures and please, continue sharing your experiences!

Regards,
D

[hendi_alex]

Duh_Vinci, we are on the same page with that adjustment. Next year I'll put fresh plants in the ground in April, May, and June. Will also try to keep a continuous supply of transplants in reserve, as replacements as the need may arrise. A month ago my plants were absolutely stunning. Now most are dead vines with a few remaining tomatoes trying to ripen. Hopefully, next year I'll also be diligent and use the suggested practice of spraying plants with diluted milk and diluted hydrogen peroxide to hold down the disease.

[hendi_alex]

Late tomato plants.

This was my only survivor from a group of seeds planted in July. It is a 'Super Sioux' planted in a large container. It is pretty healthy looking for a tomato plant grown in S.C. during August.
[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2454/3852283223_dc1fc6d06d.jpg[/img]

These two plants were from the cuttings shown earlier, where the top was cut from a tall 'Sweet Cluster' plant. I will repot two or three other plants this afternoon.

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3583/3852285335_73f8499d20.jpg[/img]

This plant is wilting a bit, but will do fine, and is already perking up during the late afternoon and mornings. The soil fell completely from the rootball when it was being transplanted a few days ago.
[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3454/3853075852_3f0b0c5d20.jpg[/img]

[Earl K]

Alex,Glad to see healthy tom. plants in our heat.I actually purchased a Heatwave on Aug. 08 and is coming along great.All my others have died.Great news is Duh-Vinci is sending me some seeds that will become a great fall crop.Gotta have that fresh homegrown.Keep up the good work

[hendi_alex]

Got my new camera so decided to try it for a short video updating late planted tomatoes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/15582147@N04/3889173983/

[Duh_Vinci]

Looking good Alex!

I'm definitely sticking to the 3 stage planting next year! I really think it is worth the effort, even if the last planted vines would bring a small crop. So for that reason, I possibly want to consider a variety that holds fruit well off the vine...

Regards,
D

[tedln]

I tried some cuttings in July, but they all finally died from the heat. I started some more cuttings last week in water in the shade. They are doing fine, but the fine roots haven't appeared yet. They are producing more blooms even without roots. I may put them into the soil this week even if the roots haven't develped. Our day temps have dropped from the low 100's to the low 90's. Humidity is still high, but I think they can make it. I added about five inches of really good compost to my beds and it should give the cuttings a good start.

Ted

[hendi_alex]

Here are a few of those cuttings as they look today. I ended up planting about five of them and all have forms tomatoes that are finally beginning to ripen, but just one or two at a time so far.

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2441/3931808164_a5919c09b0.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3931026279_cded5b0452.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2647/3931026569_30e99d96e0.jpg[/img]

Next year I'll start both cuttings and fresh seedlings earlier. Will start one batch in mid June and will start a second batch the first or second week in July.

Here is my one plant that survived from a late started seed. The variety is 'Super Sioux'.

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/3931807776_91970a7548.jpg[/img]

[hendi_alex]

Here it is September 28th and the tomato plants are still going. Looks like we will have tomatoes up until frost or beyond. Since all of the plants are in containers, I may move them to the greenhouse to allow a few more tomatoes to ripen into November or early December. The tomatoes are ripening slowly but appears that maybe 50-100 tomatoes will get a chance to ripen in the next month, unless we get a surprise early frost. Will keep the fingers crossed!

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2559/3962351967_ec81ea1cc3.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2565/3963125096_009107951a.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2596/3962349415_fa5da5795c.jpg[/img]

[tedln]

Alex,

Looking good!

Like you, I have a lot of tomatoes growing on the plants I planted last March plus some I planted in July. I also hope they begin to ripen before the first frost. Mine are planted in the ground, so I can't move them to the green house. I am thinking about constructing a small green house around them.

Ted