I have had horrible luck with my tomato root stimulator cuttings.

I get less than half of them to survive. I make a 4 inch cutting
from the live plants I want to propogate(Ugly Tomato) and dip the
wetted cut end in the rootone powder and shove it into a 4 inch pot
with potting soil in it. I keep it moist for 2 weeks and look for
growth, but usually there is no growth and no roots when I pull it out
and throw it in the trash.


Any suggestions.

I haven't had much luck with the rooting hormone stuff (in general)
either; somewhere I read that the shelf life of that stuff is
microscopic - by the time you buy it, there's no life in it. I'm sure
other folks have better luck with it.

tomatoes, my spring seedlings seem to want to get up out of their
pots sometimes; they develop the rootlings waaaayyy up their stems.
You might try a couple things:

I have successfully layered a mature plant before - tip a branch down
to the ground, scrape the branch a little where it will be under the
soil, pile on some dirt, give it a few weeks et voila, cut the little
guy offa the main plant.

You can try this with a less mature specimen by dropping some moist
soil into a baggie and tying it around the tomato branch - esp. if the
main plant is too young to tip over or have large enough branches to
reach the ground. Bring the soil to it, as it were. The baggie
should be cut open 'cause you're wrapping the soil around the plant,
like a dirt bandage. A large enough plant could support more than one
of these, I imagine.

Good luck!

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 06:45:26 -0500, Homer wrote:

I have had horrible luck with my tomato root stimulator cuttings.

I get less than half of them to survive. I make a 4 inch cutting
from the live plants I want to propogate(Ugly Tomato) and dip the
wetted cut end in the rootone powder and shove it into a 4 inch pot
with potting soil in it. I keep it moist for 2 weeks and look for
growth, but usually there is no growth and no roots when I pull it out
and throw it in the trash.

Any suggestions.

Hi Homer,putting the cuttings around the edge of the pot works best for me.
--
Regards From
Wane Smooth

Help feed the Hungry,goto
http://www.thehungersite.com
It's Free!

In article ,
Homer wrote:

I have had horrible luck with my tomato root stimulator cuttings.

I get less than half of them to survive. I make a 4 inch cutting
from the live plants I want to propogate(Ugly Tomato) and dip the
wetted cut end in the rootone powder and shove it into a 4 inch pot
with potting soil in it. I keep it moist for 2 weeks and look for
growth, but usually there is no growth and no roots when I pull it out
and throw it in the trash.


Any suggestions.

YES!!! :-)

When I worked for my Botany professor in the college greenhouse about 27
years ago, he had me do some tomato pruning and propagating.

Without using any rooting compound, I just stuck the cut pieces into a
bucket of water and left them in the greenhouse.

They in turn were under daily sprayers.

I managed to make 40 plants out of 6.

Try some fertilized water vases like you would propagate ivy.

When they sprout a good set of roots, pot them in very wet soil and go
from there. Be sure to mist them for at least a few days.

Hope this helps?
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

A good substitute for rooting hormone is ground willow twigs. Just place
some willow twigs in a blender with a little water & chop finely. Pot your
cuttings & soak with the willow water. They always root quickly for me.
Steve
"gonzo" wrote in message
ups.com...
I haven't had much luck with the rooting hormone stuff (in general)
either; somewhere I read that the shelf life of that stuff is
microscopic - by the time you buy it, there's no life in it. I'm sure
other folks have better luck with it.

tomatoes, my spring seedlings seem to want to get up out of their
pots sometimes; they develop the rootlings waaaayyy up their stems.
You might try a couple things:

I have successfully layered a mature plant before - tip a branch down
to the ground, scrape the branch a little where it will be under the
soil, pile on some dirt, give it a few weeks et voila, cut the little
guy offa the main plant.

You can try this with a less mature specimen by dropping some moist
soil into a baggie and tying it around the tomato branch - esp. if the
main plant is too young to tip over or have large enough branches to
reach the ground. Bring the soil to it, as it were. The baggie
should be cut open 'cause you're wrapping the soil around the plant,
like a dirt bandage. A large enough plant could support more than one
of these, I imagine.

Good luck!

In article . net,
"Steve Peek" wrote:

A good substitute for rooting hormone is ground willow twigs. Just place
some willow twigs in a blender with a little water & chop finely. Pot your
cuttings & soak with the willow water. They always root quickly for me.
Steve

We have Willows down by the river.

I'll have to give that a shot!
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

"Homer" wrote in message
...

I have had horrible luck with my tomato root stimulator cuttings.

I get less than half of them to survive. I make a 4 inch cutting
from the live plants I want to propogate(Ugly Tomato) and dip the
wetted cut end in the rootone powder and shove it into a 4 inch pot
with potting soil in it. I keep it moist for 2 weeks and look for
growth, but usually there is no growth and no roots when I pull it out
and throw it in the trash.


Any suggestions.

Make sure you keep them moist and use STERILIZED soil or a clean sand and
vermiculite or peat moss mix. Regular soil is full of bacteria and fungi.
They'd probably be more inclined to rot than root.

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:08:51 -0500, "Garbodanno"
wrote:


"Homer" wrote in message
.. .

I have had horrible luck with my tomato root stimulator cuttings.

I get less than half of them to survive. I make a 4 inch cutting
from the live plants I want to propogate(Ugly Tomato) and dip the
wetted cut end in the rootone powder and shove it into a 4 inch pot
with potting soil in it. I keep it moist for 2 weeks and look for
growth, but usually there is no growth and no roots when I pull it out
and throw it in the trash.


Any suggestions.

Make sure you keep them moist and use STERILIZED soil or a clean sand and
vermiculite or peat moss mix. Regular soil is full of bacteria and fungi.
They'd probably be more inclined to rot than root.

You guys are great. Lots of new ideas.

In article ,
Omelet wrote:

In article . net,
"Steve Peek" wrote:

A good substitute for rooting hormone is ground willow twigs. Just place
some willow twigs in a blender with a little water & chop finely. Pot your
cuttings & soak with the willow water. They always root quickly for me.
Steve

We have Willows down by the river.

I'll have to give that a shot!

Do a Google for "willow water". There's actual science behind that
old wive's tale. (Auxins are abundant in willows.)

I tried it on an apple softwood cutting this spring. It didn't work,
because I didn't plant the cutting in a sterile medium. My bad.
I learned something though... : )

Jan in Alaska