Every time you thin out and cut back, you end up with tomato cuttings in your hands - far too good to dispose of in the compost. Use the strongest specimens to propagate your favorite varieties. Here's how.
How do I propagate tomatoes through cuttings?
To obtain tomato cuttings, use strong shoots that grow from leaf axils. Defoliate two thirds of the shoots, place them in pots with vegetable soil and water them thoroughly. They root quickly in partially shaded locations and can later be repotted or planted outdoors.
Stinginess – the misunderstood tomato cuttings
If you want to harvest large, plump tomatoes, you can't avoid regular thinning. This refers to the removal of shoots that sprout from the leaf axils. Every tomato plant naturally strives to branch as lushly as possible. This takes so much energy that there is less energy left for the fruit. A stingy instinct is therefore undesirable, no matter how strong and he althy it may be.
With a length of 5 to 10 centimeters, a stingy shoot makes the ideal tomato offshoot. If you feel like having more tomato plants in the short term, simply use the most impressive specimens for propagation.
This is how cuttings become new tomato plants
Tomato cuttings should be processed without a long delay so that they do not dry out. Here's how to do it in no time:
- Fill pots with vegetable soil (€13.00 on Amazon) or a mix of compost, clay, sand and bas alt flour
- defoliate two thirds of each tomato cutting and plant it
- Water thoroughly, do not wet the shoot
- tie the cuttings to small wooden sticks to support them
Rooting progresses rapidly in summer temperatures. It is advisable to initially place the delicate plants in a partially shaded location. Once they have rooted through the cultivation container, the offspring are repotted or planted outdoors. Then they thrive in sunny locations, bloom and produce delicious tomatoes this season.
Get cuttings from bush tomatoes
Not all tomato varieties can be used. Bush tomatoes, for example, stop growing on their own to concentrate on producing fruit. If you want one or more offshoots, choose a side shoot above the first branch. In this case it is usually a fruit shoot; The loss of which a vital tomato plant can easily cope with.
Tips & Tricks
The rooting of tomato cuttings is even quicker if you place the shoots in a glass with willow water. There are natural growth hormones in abundance there. You can easily make willow water from one-year-old willow pieces that you pour boiling water over and let steep for 24 hours.
