Striking tomato cuttings

[Murray]

Here is a shot of one of three cuttings I took off a Beefsteak tomato bush and placed in a grow bed.
It has been there 4 days now and appears to be doing ok (as are the others)
I took all the side shoots off the cutting with a very sharp knife and buried the cutting into the gravel about 150mm (6")
They looked a bit sick for the first 24 hours, but appear to have taken.

It will be interesting to see how it goes.
Has anyone else tried this ?

[fishfood]

Here is a shot of one of three cuttings I took off a Beefsteak tomato bush and placed in a grow bed.
It has been there 4 days now and appears to be doing ok (as are the others)
I took all the side shoots off the cutting with a very sharp knife and buried the cutting into the gravel about 150mm (6")
They looked a bit sick for the first 24 hours, but appear to have taken.

It will be interesting to see how it goes.
Has anyone else tried this ?

Yes i had excelant resultes last year

[anniefish]

Hi Muray,
I knew a man who did hydroponics and he always took out some of the lateral shoots and popped them beside the tomato plants to grow. He used sawdust as his medium and was very successfull. Maybe your cuttings would take a bit quicker if you used a finer medium to start them off? though they look fine.
Cheers Anniefish

[Laurie]

Hi, Murray.
We do it all the time in hydroponics. When the laterals are about 6 inches, as you say, cut them with a sharp knife, then we put them in a jar of water, when they get roots on, plant them deep in your media, this will make them a stronger plant. They will grow as good as the parent plant. Cost effective.

In commercial hydroponics, the tomato plants grow to anything up to 30 ft. long.
Hope this is of some interest.

Laurie.