I am going to take some cuttings from a sun baby tomato. There are about 6-8 of them. Do they need to go in a heated propagator & can they go in a single pot? Some of them are not very big but I need to get it planted & want to plant it deep & that is where some of them are.
No they do not need to..but it helps..
yes they can go in a single pot....if they are big enough not to drown you could do it in class of water too.. ;)
I put mine in jiffys..then they do not need disturbing anymore and after rooting you can put them straight into larger container/ground if needs to be..
glass of water + 1 week.
If only everything else was so simple :D
How big does the parent plant need to be before taking cuttings?
Neil
If you parent plant has produced big enough cuttings for you to handle...
then it is big enough ;)
...what I took cuttings from are about 10" tall but as they are bush tomatoes they tends to make side shoots early on..and those are about 2"-3"
I took the side shoots from tomatoe plants last year, put them in water. They were far stronger than the plants grown from seed and gave a good amount of fruit. Waited until the shoots were apx 4" long before I took them. Put them in water, they were well rooted in about 3 weeks. I have recently bought a tomato plant just to use for side shoots.
Now's the right time to be doing this - cuttings you are taking in late July ain't going to do much before the season is over. Sure you knew that anyway!
I was just wondering because i've recieved some plants from JayB, and after reading this thought I might be able to multiply them. They are only about 4" high.
Neil
Yep, just don't be too hasty to pinch off those side shoots..you can let them go a bit and then return back into law and order... ;)
Thanks. :)
Neil
Quote..what I took cuttings from are about 10" tall but as they are bush tomatoes they tends to make side shoots early on..and those are about 2"-3"
Can you successfully take cuttings from bush tomatoes then? I thought it was just the vines.
Yes you can take from bush too... ;D..and I often do...it is quicker way to get more plants and quicker to get them to fruit too than doing it all from seed... ;D
Quote from: SueK on May 02, 2010, 07:40:56
Quote..what I took cuttings from are about 10" tall but as they are bush tomatoes they tends to make side shoots early on..and those are about 2"-3"
Can you successfully take cuttings from bush tomatoes then? I thought it was just the vines.
I often use the lower branches from bush varieties, because they drag on the ground if left on.
All this makes very interesting reading, I didnt know you could do it with bush varieties.
The only problem with taking cuttings from a bush variety is you are in effect pruning it which would mean loss of fruit on the parent plant.XX Jeannine
This will be the third year that I have taken sideshoots as cuttings. Remember that the cuttings are the same age as the parent plant and will fruit within a few days of the parent.
When I worked in forestry there was a forester who took a cutting from the top of a cedar tree and grafted it onto a root stock, they were then able to pick the cones standing at ground level.
As said in the other thread, I wiat till they are non-bendy, dip in rooting powder & plant up. They are the ones that go to the Village plant sale.
Tim could you tell me how long they are at that stage. I have never bothered to do this before but am doing so now.Thank you XX Jeannine
[ Remember that the cuttings are the same age as the parent plant and will fruit within a few days of the parent.[/quote]
I rooted sideshoots for the first time last year (after reading about them on here, natch!) and the subsequent plants (from Ailsa Craig) extended my picking season into December, they were weeks behind the parent plant - maybe because I didn't start doing it till June? Whatever, I'm going to do it again this year, including trying with bush varieties.
Sorry I didn't get the quote right. How do you get it to appear in that shaded box?
3-4", Jeannine? Near 2 are too small.
Smashing Tim looks good to me XX Jeannine
I have been spreading the word about taking tomato cuttings for years, they soon catch up too and are exactly like the host plant.
At first people did not believe it could be done but the tomato is one of the easiest plants to take cuttings from. I have taken huge ones of 10" which sprouted undetected, just to see if they would grow and they wilted a little but soon recovered. As soon as they are big enough to handle comfortably is fine and you do not need to snip or cut , just rip them off.
I take cuttings from geraniums and fuscias (which I can never remember how to spell) too. It can save a fortune with plant buying. To buy tiny plugs early of just one plant and use it for cuttings. I do the same with herbs when they get woody, I take a cutting from the tips. Rosemary, Thyme, and so on. There is not much to lose if the cutting does not take.
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Thank you Robert, I thought that was what I'd done - I shall go to the computers board and play around there!
I grow special varieties from seed but I still need Gardeners Delight and Sungold and for these it's a lot easier and cheaper to buy a couple of the biggest, earliest plants and take cuttings. If you can afford to take the top of a big plant as a cutting it accelerates the production of axil shoots.
Shoots taken in June or later don't need special treatment - you can even just trim the bottom leaves off and push them straight into moist soil.
If you find a really long shoot (or breakage) over 150mm it's best to get most of it into the soil - you don't need to put it in vertically, you can lay it in a shallow drill as long as you mulch well - laying a brick over the buried bit works really well.
Cuttings have the same maturity as the parent plant - doesn't mean they won't be a bit later than the parent but late cuttings are always better than late seedlings.
Give it a go.