Scrooge tomato cloning.

[Jimmy]

Given the price of seed or shop bought plants buying more than a few toms can be expensive.

What I do is buy say three from the shop and plant them in the greenhouse.
When it comes to pinching out the shoots let them grow a bit bigger before you pinch out.

Then plant the shoots in another grow bag.
They are nearly 100% guaranteed to root.
From three plants you should easily be able to get 6 more.
Granted they will be a bit behind the others , but should soon catch up.
Or just limit them to less trusses.

Process doesn't work on grafted tomatoes.

Anyone else use this process ?

Jimmy

[ladylottie]

Given the price of seed or shop bought plants buying more than a few toms can be expensive.

What I do is buy say three from the shop and plant them in the greenhouse.
When it comes to pinching out the shoots let them grow a bit bigger before you pinch out.

Then plant the shoots in another grow bag.
They are nearly 100% guaranteed to root.
From three plants you should easily be able to get 6 more.
Granted they will be a bit behind the others , but should soon catch up.
Or just limit them to less trusses.

Process doesn't work on grafted tomatoes.

Anyone else use this process ?

Jimmy

I have a feeling that some grapes on here do this already - they call the shoots they nip off "armpits".

[binley100]

We certainly do .......in fact it can become an obsession

[Tripmeup]

Eagerly awaiting my armpits to grow longer before pinching them off to try this

[binley100]

Already got some on the go ........ as if I didn't have enough tom plants as it is

[veggiechicken]

I put 3 into water 2 days ago and i think there are little roots starting already!!

[chris]

Yep I do it. This year, I'll be doing as someone else here does and over-wintering some. Everything they're leggy, I'll take the tops off them, or a sideshoot and pot them on, etc until spring.

Worth a shot anyhow

[Bren In Pots]

I've got one armpit potted up and another went in water yesterday.

[Incy]

Yup I also do this and in fact successfully overwintered a couple of sideshoots last year which are still going strong now. Had my first ripe tomato off them in early March....

[Shadylane]

Yep I do it. This year, I'll be doing as someone else here does and over-wintering some. Everything they're leggy, I'll take the tops off them, or a sideshoot and pot them on, etc until spring.

Worth a shot anyhow

I did this. One or two didn't make it, one has had small fruit on (unripened) for ages, one has recently just set fruit and started to come to life and another has had flowers on since about Feb I think (also set fruit a while back) but is sitting doing nothing at the mo. It's deffo worth a go, though next year I'm going to try it with different varieties.

[Potstubsdustbins]

The easiest way has others have said is pop them into water for a couple of days until the roots form and then pot into compost.

Colin

[flowertot]

I'm going to give this a try - if only to annoy my dad! He's most unamused I now know more about growing Tomatoes than he does (what he doesn't know is its all tips I've got off here :-))

[Snadger]

The really scroogy types usually gather armpits from there armpit grown plants. (Not mentioning anyone tho)

[alldigging]

I stuck two in pots of compost last year and they grew fine. Not huge but one had quite a few tomatoes on.
Might have done better but it was only in a small pot.

[Pa Snips]

I popped one into water a couple of days ago, there's no sign of roots yet and it's looking very droopy and miserable.