Tomato advice

[Yasai]

I’m so behind with planting everything out this year and have ruined various seedlings because of it but anyway... my Black Cherry seedlings are as long as the canes that will be supporting them when I eventually plant them out and yet, they have no more than three or four branches. I’m thinking of cutting them, from the bottom, and then putting them in water to root. What dya fink?

[Snoop Puss]

I think I'm not entirely sure what your situation is.

Are you saying that your seedlings are 2 metres tall? And that you have four main stems? Are you able to post a photo?

[RedThorn]

Any “armpits” you can nip off and plant?

[mrbadexample]

If you chop the bottom off and wait for it to root I think it'll struggle. The plant sounds too large to maintain itself properly with no root system.

However, you can plant it in a deep pot and wind it round the inside so that you reduce the height. Just bend it gently so that it doesn't break. If you do break it by mistake, then go with your plan.

[Babru]

As a new tomato grower, I've been potting up my tomatoes right up to the bottom leaf, as I understand the plant will root from the buried stem.

If you find some long tom style pots, perhaps this would do the trick Yasai? And even be better in the long run!

[Mark_Riga]

Sounds like it is short of light. Plant it out as deep as you can and if you need more growth on it and are stuck for height, you could try nipping out the growing point to encourage side shoots from lower down. It's supposed to be grown as a cordon but that is not law of physics.

[Yasai]

Sorry it has taken so long to reply to everyone. Thanks very much for all of your advice. In the end, I potted the tallest ones into mfb and curved the stems into a U shape and covered with compost. One snapped and is currently in water, the others were okay last time I checked. I’m wishing very much that this year I had just stuck to growing tomatoes only. Other stuff is either not germinating, bolting or getting dug up or ravaged by wildlife and I’m struggling to find the will to do any gardening at all. Hey ho. Thanks anyway.