Planting tomatoes on their side

[Gwen11ian]

I've read from a few different sources that you can plant out your tomatoes on their side in soil up to their first leaves, that they'll then grow straight up and the buried stem will then sprout roots for added support and water uptake. Has anyone tried this? Will tomatoes actually grow roots out of their stem? Could you just plant it deep instead? Wouldn't that be better for dryer weather?

[Cutecumber]

Tomatoes will root from their stem, yes, but you don't need to put them on their side, just bury them deeper.

This is quite commonly done.

[rustylady]

You can plant them horizontally, but why bother? When re-potting mine I plant them with the lowest leaves at compost level. Yes tomatoes (and cucumbers) can make new roots from buried stems, but they really shouldn't need to.