When I grew up I can always remember that tomatoes were a staple that my dad grew every summer. They were relatively easy to grow, you could always use the produce, and as I was still a child they were a plant that he could teach me many of the basics of gardening with. Even techniques such as pruning.
 |
| Our Roma tomato patch |
For those that haven't had that background, tomato plants have what are called "laterals" that grow along the main stem and can grow into a new stem. Generally gardeners will remove some/most/all of these to concentrate growth and production of tomatoes to one main stem.
 |
| Lateral (red arrow), coming off the main stem. Laterals always grow at the junction of the leaf and stem. |
I've recently read about how those laterals can be used for propagation of new plants. Where I really am interested in trying this is with heritage varieties of tomatoes. I've tried growing lots of varieties of tomatoes, but the germination rate isn't very high, and they often grow a bit slower than some other varieties so I haven't ended up having the full season to get a harvest. With this new way I've come across, I'm thinking that I could justify buying a heritage variety as a seedling early in the season and then propogate further plants from that seedling. If that's within a greenhouse by early summer I should have 3-6 reasonably established plants from that one seedling.
I figure it is worth experimenting so I'm giving it a go using my Roma Tomatoes as a trial. Our garden has four strong Romas growing this year so there are lots of laterals to choose from. Romas also generally have strong laterals - the laterals might be as thick as the stem they are growing off.
Once I worked out which laterals looked strong, I placed them into the base of a soft drink bottle. It isn't rocket science, but so far appears to be working well. I simply leave it near the garden (in full sun) so that I can keep the water topped up.
 |
| Tomato cuttings after around a week. New white roots showing best on middle cutting. |
After the roots have grown a reasonable length I'll transplant into some potting mix and put in a shadehouse to get established. It might be a bit late to end up with some highly productive plants, but if I can get them growing at least I'll be able to have a go next year!
