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rescue my tomato cutting
Let me give the short story first. I have a couple tomato cuttings in
a mason jar of tap water. I fertilized two days later with a weak KNO3 and (NH4)2SO4. They began producing roots. After about three weeks, the roots were several inches long. Then I changed the water to one with a weak wash from Vigoro's Citrus & Avocado food. Within a few days, there was substantial root dieback plus dead spots on the all but the youngest leaves. I rinsed the stems and put them back in plain tap water. Now, two days later, the dieback seems to have stopped. Anyone have experience getting sucker's such as these going again? I'd really like to get them rooted then finally transplant to soil. Keeping this line going is also an objective. The details are as follows: In March I took a couple cuttings, top 3 to 6 inches of suckers from a tomato plant that had been very productive in August thru early October. The plant had over wintered outside (tomatos are grown commerically in "choice parts" of southern Calif. year around). My tomato patch is not one of the "choice parts." We are located on the North side of a hill. In April thru October it's OK. By November, my tomato plants start getting mildewed, blossoms fall off, if they haven't open they hang with no visible development. Fruit that hasn't ripened by mid-November also stops developing. So usually I turn off the water and pull my plants about mid November. This year, altho I stopped wateromg as usual, I was busy with other things and left one plant in the ground thru February - the only water it got was rain. But we had a very wet year here, I suppose the rain kept these shoots alive since the base of the plant was not much more than a husk. I cut the surviving shoots (two, 1 six inches, the other about 2.5 inches), put them in a quart jar (foil wrapped) of tap water. They sat there for about 2 weeks without wilting but also without rooting. Then I added a several onion seed sized crystals of pottassium nitrate and one ammonium sulfate crystal the size of a radish seed. A few days later I finally had some roots and the foloiage had greened up a bit. That was the good news. Then I went shopping for Chelated micros with no results. After finding my best source closed (a stall at the Carlsbad Flower Exchange), I visited several of the retail garden centers. Finally, at the local Armstrongs Nsy, I saw some fertilizer advertised as "complete with minors" at a relatively decent price, 12$ for 40 lbs (18 kilos). It was a Vigoro product labeled "for citrus and avocados." What really caught my eye were the "complete with minors": Magnesium 1.5%, Sulfur 9.2%, Boron 0.02%, water soluble copper 0.01%, water soluble iron 0.001%, water soluble manganese 0.01%, molybdenum 0.0005%, water soluble zinc 0.01%. (The majors we 6.5 % N from some ammonium salt, 3.5 % N from a slow release coated urea, available p2o5 4%, soluble k2o 10%.) I had the idea that a pinch of this might be just what these cuttings needed (the other 9.99.. lbs hopefully will be good for our Nectarine and Peach trees). I took roughly 0.1 grams of it, dumped it into a cup of water and tested by taking a tsp (20ml?) and adding it to the mason jar with the cuttings. Bad idea! The next time I looked in, several days later, the root tips were dieing and there are lots of dead or dying spots in the leaves, especially the older leaves. I immediately changed the solution back to tap water. Today, two days later, they are still living. One of the cuttings, the smaller one, had about 80% dieback of the roots, stumps about 1 mm to 1.5 mm remain but there also appears to be a new bump of new root starting to grow. The roots of the other cutting are much better, many filamentous roots an inch or two long still remain. Any ideas on what I should do next? This Vigoro product is not homogeneous. Also, doesn't the water soluble Copper looks high relative to the other micros? Thank you very much - Bob in Calif. |
Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message .com from "Bob" contains these words: Any ideas on what I should do next? Yes. But it would be off-topic in a gardening group. Janet not if it involved propogation! (;-) pk |
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pb - They were very tasty last September - October. And lots of them
with good size etc. etc. The blossom bud on one cutting might be a bit stale as its been vegetating there since last November. You're welcome to come look but it does look a lot like a high school biology experiment. Janet - It's good to see you still remember what your mommie taught you - if you can't say something nice ... |
I am sorry to sound rude,but what are you going on about!So you took two
cuttings,they rooted why the hell would you want to fertilize them at this stage.Once they have rooted well,pot them up let them get on with growing then when they are at the flowering stage start fertilizing with a high potash feed,i.e. tomato feed. I don't get what all the fuss is over ,for two tom plants! It surely shouldn't be made to be that much trouble! -- Thanks Keith,England,UK. "Bob" wrote in message oups.com... Let me give the short story first. I have a couple tomato cuttings in a mason jar of tap water. I fertilized two days later with a weak KNO3 and (NH4)2SO4. They began producing roots. After about three weeks, the roots were several inches long. Then I changed the water to one with a weak wash from Vigoro's Citrus & Avocado food. Within a few days, there was substantial root dieback plus dead spots on the all but the youngest leaves. I rinsed the stems and put them back in plain tap water. Now, two days later, the dieback seems to have stopped. Anyone have experience getting sucker's such as these going again? I'd really like to get them rooted then finally transplant to soil. Keeping this line going is also an objective. The details are as follows: In March I took a couple cuttings, top 3 to 6 inches of suckers from a tomato plant that had been very productive in August thru early October. The plant had over wintered outside (tomatos are grown commerically in "choice parts" of southern Calif. year around). My tomato patch is not one of the "choice parts." We are located on the North side of a hill. In April thru October it's OK. By November, my tomato plants start getting mildewed, blossoms fall off, if they haven't open they hang with no visible development. Fruit that hasn't ripened by mid-November also stops developing. So usually I turn off the water and pull my plants about mid November. This year, altho I stopped wateromg as usual, I was busy with other things and left one plant in the ground thru February - the only water it got was rain. But we had a very wet year here, I suppose the rain kept these shoots alive since the base of the plant was not much more than a husk. I cut the surviving shoots (two, 1 six inches, the other about 2.5 inches), put them in a quart jar (foil wrapped) of tap water. They sat there for about 2 weeks without wilting but also without rooting. Then I added a several onion seed sized crystals of pottassium nitrate and one ammonium sulfate crystal the size of a radish seed. A few days later I finally had some roots and the foloiage had greened up a bit. That was the good news. Then I went shopping for Chelated micros with no results. After finding my best source closed (a stall at the Carlsbad Flower Exchange), I visited several of the retail garden centers. Finally, at the local Armstrongs Nsy, I saw some fertilizer advertised as "complete with minors" at a relatively decent price, 12$ for 40 lbs (18 kilos). It was a Vigoro product labeled "for citrus and avocados." What really caught my eye were the "complete with minors": Magnesium 1.5%, Sulfur 9.2%, Boron 0.02%, water soluble copper 0.01%, water soluble iron 0.001%, water soluble manganese 0.01%, molybdenum 0.0005%, water soluble zinc 0.01%. (The majors we 6.5 % N from some ammonium salt, 3.5 % N from a slow release coated urea, available p2o5 4%, soluble k2o 10%.) I had the idea that a pinch of this might be just what these cuttings needed (the other 9.99.. lbs hopefully will be good for our Nectarine and Peach trees). I took roughly 0.1 grams of it, dumped it into a cup of water and tested by taking a tsp (20ml?) and adding it to the mason jar with the cuttings. Bad idea! The next time I looked in, several days later, the root tips were dieing and there are lots of dead or dying spots in the leaves, especially the older leaves. I immediately changed the solution back to tap water. Today, two days later, they are still living. One of the cuttings, the smaller one, had about 80% dieback of the roots, stumps about 1 mm to 1.5 mm remain but there also appears to be a new bump of new root starting to grow. The roots of the other cutting are much better, many filamentous roots an inch or two long still remain. Any ideas on what I should do next? This Vigoro product is not homogeneous. Also, doesn't the water soluble Copper looks high relative to the other micros? Thank you very much - Bob in Calif. |
...you took two cuttings,they rooted
at the point I added a bit of ammonium sulfate and saltpeter they had not rooted and the leaves were looking beat up.. Inspection showed they were not rotting. I am aware that in general one doesn't fertilize when trying to root why the hell would you want to fertilize them at this stage? That was very dilute fertilization -- and the results prove it didn't hurt and more than likely, it helped the root growth Once they have rooted well,pot them up let them get on with growing then when they are at the flowering stage start fertilizing with a high potash feed,i.e. tomato feed. I don't get what all the fuss is over ,for two tom plants! It surely shouldn't be made to be that much trouble It's been my experience that few people know that tomatos can be propagated by cuttings and fewer yet, myself included, have a good idea of how to go about it. I have heard long and often that, as a rule, roots developed in a solution, such as by hydroponics, are somehow different than roots developed in soil and that water roots will rapidly rot when put in soil. I know of some exceptions, Ipomoea species for example, but I don't know how it is with tomatos. Have you actually done this? Thank you, Bob |
"keith ;-)" wrote in message ... I am sorry to sound rude,but what are you going on about!So you took two cuttings,they rooted why the hell would you want to fertilize them at this stage.Once they have rooted well,pot them up let them get on with growing then when they are at the flowering stage start fertilizing with a high potash feed,i.e. tomato feed. I don't get what all the fuss is over ,for two tom plants! It surely shouldn't be made to be that much trouble! There's no telling what those merkins will do. Odd lot they are. I mean, they even post gobbledegook to U.K. newsgroups. |
"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message ... The message .com from "Bob" contains these words: Any ideas on what I should do next? Yes. But it would be off-topic in a gardening group. Oohhh, that is naughty! -- alan reply to alan(dot)holmes27(at)virgin(dot)net |
In case some poor soul stumbles on this instead of some of the other
fine reports on the web. Further research (on the web) shows tomato cuttings root easily - with tap water or weak rooting solution. Sounds like the rooting hormones give you more roots but whether the difference is worth the trouble appears to depend on your circumstances9 are you in a rush? not in a rush, quality of tap water, etc.). Reports of using only tap water, reported 14 days for good roots. Roots developed in water, according to several reports, transplant into soil very nicely. Some people report that its almost difficult to get a cutting not to root! One can bury an unrooted cutting, in the right circumstances, and it will still root nicely. Here are two links that worked for me: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...95dd ca6e1ad4 http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...ac73 168c2787 As you can probably see, I just searched the newsgroups via google for "tomato cuttings" ... Happy Gardening ;) |
In article .com, Bob
writes You're welcome to come look but it does look a lot like a high school biology experiment. Being polite might I enquire just why you are going to so much trouble and why you didn't actually just shove the cuttings into gritty compost and leave them? Why are these tomato plants so valuable that you have to go to such extreme measures to keep them going? Aren't the seeds any good? If you are growing things on such a 'scientific' scale why not grow the plants in isolation and use the seed from the resulting fruit. Janet -- Janet Tweedy Dalmatian Telegraph http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk |
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