The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Muc on February 09, 2012, 12:14:20 pm
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In previous years when I was late planting tomato seeds, I bought a nice plant from a garden centre and propagated more from the unwanted shoots at the leaf axils. They grow very easily if you just stick them in compost and you end up with a succession of plants. This year I've started seed. I know it's early but I only need one to germinate.
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That is a great idea Muc :thumbsup:
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I have rooted the cuttings before but have never got them to fruit. We must have too shrt a summer for that , but they do take very easily for those that want to give it a go.
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I have the tomatoes sown already but this is a largely frost-free area (haven't had snow for 15 years - just rain).
I've heard of people in the US treating tomatoes as perennials and they call them tomato 'vines'.
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ive done this with cuttings too, they do root quite quickly, but i would cut the leaves in half to slow respiration.
cucumbers and peppers will also take.
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to get a whoppng big root and consequently the advantage of greater feeding the plant let the plant grow to about 15 inches long . gently remove the bottom 9 inches of leaves and plant the tomato by laying it in a 4 inche deep trench so that the last toree or four inches of leaves are poking up out of one end of the trench .
cover the trench over & water it well . mark where the burried root is for feeding puirposes etc.
All along the buried bit you will get hundreds of surface feeder roots the plant will quickly overtake the position whence it staerted from and go on to give you outstanding criops in a shorter time . don't waste the plant by letting it produce hundreds of flowers .. stop the plant at the fouth or fifth truss .
Don't let the leaves come in contact/( grow to the soil for this is a disease area that will transmit all sorts of maladies to the tomato plant.