The Armpit Challenge

[StephenH]

I'll certainly have a go at growing new plants from my armpits (if you see what I mean), not competitively because I haven't got room for all the extra plants, but just out of curiosity.

[SunnyU]

That's sounds really interesting. I'll take part just to see what happens...

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

I'll join in, I'll sow a F1 Sungold in a few weeks.

[Flummery]

I don't really have the room as I'm growing out my own selections and crosses but I'll be interested in the results. I feel this could be a way forward!

PS - I adore the phrase 'Did anything affect your armpits?' How my imagination takes off!

[di]

I'll give it a go.
I'm planning on planting a few early(ish) seeds with the kiddies tonight,perhaps I'll make it a mini challenge between them.

[Aberdeenplotter]

This does work but you do need to start off with the original seed quite early so that you will be able to ripen the fruits from the sideshoots. The only noticeable thing you will find is that the first truss will be noticeably lower than the first truss on a seed sown plant. Other than that, you should have remarkable uniformity in the appearance and performance of your plants which being produced from vegetative propogation methods will all be clones of the parent plant.

[Bigmallly]

Count me in (just for fun). Last year the armpits gave better results than the parent plant so looking forward to more of the same. Good luck everyone.

[Sylvan]

I did the same, as soon as I could comfortably grab them I pulled them off and to be honest, just banged them in the ground for an experiment - despite reading about putting them in water first..

most of them grew, one was huge in the end. Left it a bit late in doing it, so no toms were ripe but them all went in the green tom chutney!

I did that a few years ago, but not till quite late in the season, so didn't actually get any tomatoes from them.

It'll be interesting to see if I can produce any from earlier armpits, but if I'm going to try it I'd better not sow too many more seeds this year. How many years can I expect my seeds to last?

[zazen999]

Tom seeds can last donkey's years!

Last year I bought one Sungold plant and had at least 20 armpit plants from it, and all produced.

That £2.99 went a long long way

[Sylvan]

Tom seeds can last donkey's years!

Does it make a difference whether the packets have been opened or not?
I have about 4 different varieties that I'm waiting to open next year and the year after. If opening them won't reduce the lifespan of the seeds I'd love to try one of each (with armpits).

[bramble]

It won't harm the life of the seeds if you open the packet. Just make sure you fold the packet up well in their foil wrappers and keep them in a cool dry place.

[Sylvan]

Thanks Bramble. That's great to know.

[maytreefrannie]

A few days ago I sowed a few tomato seeds in pots - saved seeds. I marked one pot as the Challenge Contender. There are three seeds of Gardener's Delight in it. So if/when these germinate I choose one of the seedlings and keep track of the armpit results. Is that the idea?

Last year I got some tomatoes from armpit plants, even though they'd been planted fairly late.

Anyway, count me in.

[growerkari]

Ooooooooo fun! I love keeping journals, records & notes, I can use this as an excuse to buy a shiney new notebook & pen!

Are there any varieties of tomatos which people would recommend for an experiment such as this? I'm not really very clued up about the different types of tomatos yet

[zazen999]

I'm going for an expensive one! Thus I'll be growing F1 Sungold.

My seeds will be sown for this today or tomorrow.

Photos to come.