Tomato Plant Cuttings

[Ornery_Pony]

Tomato plants grow great from cuttings. In one week sitting in jars of water I get lots of roots started. One more week potted up in damp soil and presto, they are ready to go into my garden.

I start some from seed, buy a few (for variety) and anything I pinch off early enough in the season I'll root as cuttings. I easily plant around 20 tomato plants and we still never have enough for making fresh pico de gallo! I should probably take end of season cuttings for winter tomatoes but I haven't tried that yet. I think I will this next winter.

[applestar]

Looking good! Yeah I think when the plants start taking off and strong side shoots start to grow, those suckers make really vigorous cuttings, but even wimpy ones grow amazingly well.

So far, I'm growing way too many seedlings (varieties) so that there are hardly enough space to plant those let alon additional cuttings ...but that didn't stop me from experimenting

I found that while cuttings are taking root, they can be less vigorous than the seedlings that I was also caring for at the same time. This can make them be a bit more susceptible to diseases and pests despite appearances to the contrary. So slightly closer watch and care are needed. You also need to be careful about taking cuttings from plants that are already diseased.

[gixxerific]

Very nice I am in the same boat as Apple way too many plants going to be doing cuttings.

Love the variety of ways people get-r-done

[Ornery_Pony]

I've personally had the opposite - that my seedlings tend to be a little harder to get growing vigorously and my cuttings take off fast and seem to be stronger. I do my seedlings in a large bin or a deep, full non-sectioned tray and then pot them up into 5 inch pots as soon as they have their first real leaves out. Still, they seem to be more suseptable to problems for me. I think that may be due to my taking the cuttings later when it's warmer and so they can go into the ground almost at once, not having to be kept in a chilly house heated by a wood stove.

Yes, very important that your cutting stock be strong and healthy, and precautions made to clean your tools.