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29-03-2006, 05:36 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible

writes:

Almost all the seedlings are broken just above the soil line. Out of
twenty four early tomatoes, I know have six, and one of those might
not make it. I buried the damaged part of the stem, but it was droopy
this morning.

So sorry, Penelope. :-(

If it were me, I'd still keep all of them potted (at their previous soil
line); their root systems are still there and would have more strength
than new seedlings. You may just have most of them recover and be up to
what they would have been, only six or so weeks later. It's been amazing
to me what has recovered after similar disasters. One year, my young
"helper" broke off a branch of one of my heirloom tomatoes while I was
caging it, the whole idea of getting help was to keep the branches from
being broken. (He actually jammed the cage down on the fork between the
branches.) Figuring it would have a chance if it was put in water versus
no chance on the compost pile, I put it in water. It rooted and went on
to give a good crop of tomatoes (after being planted, of course).

Last spring some idiot broke off my three-year-old paw-paw tree to nearly
ground level. They grow so very slowly that it's discouraging. I wrote
it off as gone but decided to continue to care for it and it is growing,
amazingly. It will never catch up to its sibling but it will still look
impressive by the time they are 15! Who knows, maybe eventually it will
catch up.

Though not relying on them recovering, give it a try. You may be richly
rewarded. They say by the end of July, you can't tell which tomatoes were
set out in the garden in April or May, or something like that. Truth is
that I cannot tell which tomatoes were set out three inches high and eight
inches high by the end of July, and no difference in yield by mid-August.
In fact, I think the smaller ones did better though not quite as early,
and I've planted same varieties side by side to test it.

Good luck! After all, the dratted weeds keep growing if the roots are
still there, and tomatoes are as hardy as many weeds.

{{{ Penelope's tomatoes }}}

Glenna