This behaviour is easy to observe in my "Maskotka" tomato plants, which this year I am growing in a 3-foot-tall wooden planter, so that they trail down towards the ground.
Although gravity is ensuring that the bulk of the plant cascades downwards, individual shoots still want to grow upwards.
Wherever a tomato plant forms a leaf, it also produces a side-shoot between that leaf and the main stem.
When growing a tomato plant vertically (using the so-called "cordon" method), these sideshoots are normally removed or "pinched-out". Some people call this process "pruning".
Now, imagine that the plant is NOT vertical, and the sideshoots have NOT been pinched out. What happens? The sideshoots grow vertically upwards until they in turn get too tall to support themselves and flop over. Now the best bit: where the stems touch soil, they produce roots. I have dug out an old photo that demonstrates this...
I can't demonstrate this, because I haven't done it myself, but just imagine: you grow one tomato plant in a long raised bed. When it topples over, lay it along the length of the bed and let it continue to grow. Wherever a sideshoot appears and begins to grow upwards, support it with a cane, and help it to form roots by covering the main stem with soil at the point where the sideshoot emerges. When you have got enough strongly-rooted sideshoots, you could (if you want to take this risk), sever the main stem on either side of each shoot, making a number of separate plants.
The technique I have described is known as "layering", but there is also another way to get more tomato plants... When/if you remove sideshoots, plant them immediately into moist compost, or even just place them in a jar of water. They usually root very quickly and go on to become clones of their parent plant. I did this very successfully last year.
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| Freshly-planted sideshoots |
That is really interesting Mark. I always think it is a waste composting all those side shoots I pinch out but I will have a go at trying to run some on this summer. I have been growing Maskotka outside in hanging baskets for the last few years-just one plant per basket-and they do really well and are less prone to the dreaded early blight than the Tumbling Tom varieties I found. Thank you Mark for today’s top gardening tip!!
ReplyDeleteInterresting but to be honest I wouldn't really want any more tomato plants.
ReplyDeleteAn allotment neighbour of mine was waxing lyrical about "Sweet Aperitif" tomatoes, saying they were the sweetest cherry toms you can grow. I'd not heard of this particular variety. 10 minutes later he came back with a tray of side shoots from his greenhouse,randomly shoved into some compost. Lo & behold a couple of weeks on they are growing strongly, having been just left to themselves in my polytunnel. I'd never heard of this method of propation before; now I'm looking forward to seeing how they fruit.
ReplyDeleteI am filing this tip away in the memory bank. I usually throw the pinched bits in the compost heap.
ReplyDeleteMark I really enjoy your blog. We have decided no garden this year. We have several farmer's markets close by and the work involved is getting too hard. But I am curious if you agree that tomato plants can be toxic to other plants. We had a tomato plant that we let sprawl onto a nearby lilac and the lilac died. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI have hung up most of my vegetable growing boots too Carol (but not all) - after 50years. We have a superb farm shop in our village. Tomatoes are one of the few veg I am still growing! Although every part of a tomato -other than the fruit- is toxic to eat I am not aware it is toxic to other plants. Perhaps Mark will know.
DeleteI cannot see a tomato harming a lilac although it might smother certain small plants!
I never heard of this technique but I doubt it would give you more harvest. In my experience the pruned plants deliver more ripe tomatoes than those that aren't pruned...
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of the layering method before, but I always only grow one tomato plant, then leave the sideshoots to grow a few inches before pinching them all off and planting them out straight away. I always end up with a whole load of amazing tomatoes and so much less effort of starting seeds (and it takes up so much less room). Once I've got about 5 plants from the sideshoots, I start pinching out the new sideshoots so the tomatoes can develop.
ReplyDeleteApril is quite right Mark, tomato cuttings are very easy to root
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